A Look at video Inspiration: The Legend of “Mike the Bike” at Mallory Park

This week, we’re remembering Mike Hailwood’s legendary comeback on a 1978 NCR Ducati 900, one of a small batch of racers produced by NCR (and similar to this one recently listed on BaT). Part One of the comeback tour was his 13th victory at the Isle of Man TT after 11 years away from the course, and today we’re focusing on Part Two: his followup victory at the Mallory Park post-TT International Motorcycle Race just a week later.

From the jump, a gaggle of racers including Hailwood, John Cowie, and Phil Read battled it out for first place. By lap seven, the Cowie-Read-Hailwood trio became the main attraction, and the contest was tighter than most four-wheeled action we’ve seen. We’ve queued the footage up to start halfway through the 20-lap race, just after Hailwood overtakes Read’s factory Honda, when he sets his sights on Cowie’s Peckett & McNab Kawasaki. Hailwood and Cowie’s battle for first mades for some close and exciting racing and, in the end, Hailwood took the win. The spectacle ultimately showed why the skill displayed by “Mike the Bike” remains the stuff legends are made of.

Here’s the backstory:

Hailwood retired from motorcycle racing when Honda closed the door on their Grand Prix efforts in 1967, after dominating in multiple classes for most of the decade. He then turned to four-wheeled racing, where he also achieved a good measure of success until a crash at the Nurburgring during the 1974 German Grand Prix left him with a severely broken leg, effectively ending his automotive racing career. He moved to South Africa and started a construction business, but remained a legend with moto racing fans, and shared their feeling that his early retirement had left some business unfinished.

Steve Wynne, patron saint of Ducati in the UK, was instrumental to Hailwood’s comeback. Wynne and his team, Sports Motorcycles, were determined to achieve victory in the fledgling Formula One class at the 1978 Isle of Man TT, and he connected with Hailwood at a support race in Silverstone in 1977. Hailwood had grown bored with his dalliance in South Africa, and eagerly flung his leg over the team’s Ducati 900SS, referring to it as “an old fashioned bike I understand”—like donning an old pair of leather gloves. With a legally binding “spit shake,” the two joined forces—and Hailwood piloted the Ducati to his 13th Isle of Man TT victory at the age of 38, after 11 years away from the Snaefell Mountain circuit.

Cover image: Ducati Forum