MIKE HAILWOOD’S MACHINES PART TWO
‘The fastest teenager on earth.’ That was how the press described Michael Hailwood in 1959. He’d just returned from South Africa – the day before his 18th birthday – with enough silverware to open a candelabra workshop. ‘The amazing teenage motorcycle racer’ became synonymous with his name. The headline was a self-fulfilling prophecy: Hailwood settled for nothing less than to be the fastest man on the planet.
As winter approached in 1957 Stan had sent Mike to South Africa as part of his motorcycle racing apprenticeship. Young Mike – who was all of 17 at the time – was accompanied by Manchester rider Dave Chadwick and mechanic John Dadley. It was the winter after his first season in racing and he was thrust into the deep end, 9000 miles from home.
Mike said: “That Africa
