MIKE HAILWOOD’S MACHINES
Hailwood must have breathed a huge sigh of relief as the 1967 season drew to an end. Worn out, weary of technical battles with Honda and disappointed at not winning the 500cc championship, the 27-year-old star was ready to start afresh for the 1968 season.
Fate, as ever, had other plans, plans that would shape Hailwood’s career for the next decade. For Mike, the late 1960s and early 1970s marked a period of gradual transition: From two wheels to four. It was a transition that saw Hailwood competing at various non-championship events, including the Daytona 200 and even a Swiss hill climb, alongside establishing himself as a racing car driver.
Let’s go back to the start...
It’s winter 1967 in South Africa, and Mike Hailwood has been nominated not only for an MBE but also as Sportsman of the Year by the Sports Writers’ Association. The latter – as noted in Mick Woollett’s book Mike Hailwood: A Motorcycle Racing Legend – was for ‘contributing most to Great Britain’s sporting prestige during that year’, though really it ought to have been for putting up with such an unyielding machine as the RC 181 (Honda 500/4). If only the Sports Writers’ Association knew the half of it, they would have nominated him three times over.
Indeed, as we saw
