Gary Hocking

It was dubbed 'the race of the century'. A field of more than seventy of the greatest motor cycle riders in the world — including such famous champions as Mike Hailwood and Phil Read — made that glorious billing a reality for the 1962 Isle of Man Senior (500 cc) Tourist Trophy race.

Acknowledged as the world's most gruelling and most coveted race, thousands of enthusiasts had transformed the quiet island by picking vantage points on the famous 37¾-mile mountain circuit, to watch the world's best riders try to master the uneven surfaces, tight corners, brick walls and bridges on the most gruelling road circuit of them all.

It was 7 June and among those at the start-line was the slight, lithe figure of Rhodesia's Gary Hocking, astride his potent snarling Italian MV Augusta machine.

Already the reigning double world champion for 1961 in the 350 cc and 500 cc classes, he desperately wanted to win this race to crown his short but spectacular career.

He had never won this Senior TT — a race with the special aura which had made it the greatest spectacular of its kind — and now needed it to gain every worthwhile laurel in the sport

Two days earlier, in the 350 cc TT race, his close friend Tom Phillis of Australia had been killed, while a few days before that, Hocking himself had been fortunate to survive a 120 mph crash during Isle of Man practice. Distraught at the death of Phillis, the courageous young Rhodesian sought the advice of his father, who was there.

"I have no doubt about the right course . . . give up racing," said Arthur Hocking. And as he wheeled his MV to the start of the Senior TT, Gary left behind a promise to his parents that, win or lose, this would be his last race.

Hocking quickly surged to the front on the tortuous circuit, with constant gear-changes taking the hurtling metal of the bikes from sea level up to 1300 ft., through villages, past front gardens and out into the countryside.

On the second of the six laps, Hocking gave an incredible display of cornering and opened a fifteen-second gap on Hailwood, shattering the lap record of 105,75 mph in the process. Going into the final lap he knew he held a huge advantage on the struggling pack, so was able to ease up a little.

Yet incredibly, when he flashed past the chequered flag, he had covered the 226,4 miles in 2 hr. 11 min. 14 sec. at a record average speed of 103,51 mph. It
was, the critics agreed, the greatest ride yet seen in the Senior TT.

Hailwood lost his chance with a pit stop on the fourth lap while Read retired on the last lap, both had been unable to stay with the blazing pace set by the Rhodesian.

It was a victory which underlined his indomitable courage, for Hocking's practice crash would have deterred a lesser man from competing. It had been in the dawn of 28 May that Hocking slammed into the back of another Rhodesian, Graham Smith, at about 120 mph on a bend.

Hocking's MV burst into flames, but he was thrown clear, escaping with cuts and bruises, while Smith suffered a fractured hip. Said a TT official who witnessed the crash: "It is incredible both riders are alive."

Hocking kept his word, and after his Senior TT success, announced his retirement. "I had decided to retire at the end of the year, but it upset me so badly when Tom was killed," said Hocking. "After seeing so many good blokes kill themselves on motor cycles I asked myself what more there was in the game for me? I am sick of the sight of men killing themselves on motor cycles," adding: "But it's quite a thing to forget forever the smell of engines and grease and I only hope I will have enough will-power to stick to my decision. I'm not going to turn to racing cars . . . I'm going to do my best to keep out of the game altogether."

Six months later Gary Hocking was dead. He died at the age of twenty-five in an ambulance on the way to Addington Hospital, after crashing his Lotus Climax V8 car at Westmead, Durban, while practising for the Natal Grand Prix.

It was 21 December 1962 when he left the track at close to 100 mph on a corner known as Devil's Leap.

The lust for racing was in his blood and he had been unable to resist the temptation to return to it Only a few short weeks after his retirement he borrowed Les Tempest's Cooper-Bristol car and had his first four-wheeled race at Salisbury's Marlborough track, in which he did not finish. He then bought his own car — a Cooper Climax — and drove with mediocre success in Europe, though back in South Africa he had a fine win at Kyalami and also won the Rhodesian Grand Prix.

But he returned from overseas in late 1962 with a contract to drive for millionaire sponsor, Rob Walker, in the 1963 world championship Formula One. The Walker stable Lotus Climax, originally earmarked for Stirling Moss, was specially imported for him to drive in the South African Grand Prix series . . . but fate stepped in and a great Rhodesian lost his life.
 A verdict of misadventure was recorded when an eyewitness told the inquest that he thought Hocking had driven too fast and too wide into the corner. But John Love, Rhodesia's South African champion driver, disagreed. "Gary would have been another Jim Clark," he said. "Great drivers are born, not made, and Gary had fantastic natural ability. I don't believe that crash was his fault... he was too good to just lose it."

It was Hocking — universally known as 'Sox' because of his reluctance to wear them — who fulfilled the dream of the great Ray Amm to win a world motor cycling championship for Rhodesia.

Born at Newport, Wales, in 1937, Gary Hocking came to Rhodesia at the age of ten with his parents. He went to school at Bulawayo Technical School, and as a schoolboy disliked motor cycles. But his interest was stimulated when he left school and bought an old Jawa to ride to work.

He so enjoyed the exhilaration of throwing it round bends that he bought a Triumph T100 which he entered for a meeting at Bulawayo's Umgusa Speedway where he won his first race in the rain at the age of seventeen. He bought his first new machine, a T110, while his mentor, the former Rhodesian champion Ken Robas, lent him a 350 Manx Norton.

Later he took over the Ridgeback built by John Love and he began to overcome all local opposition, first in Rhodesia and then in South Africa.

In the Heany 100 in June 1957, the nineteen-year-old startled the experts and showed his real flair when he beat the veteran Beppo Castellani.

An incredibly shy young man, Hocking nevertheless was riding high in confidence as he headed for England in 1958 with no set plans, no machine and little money. All he possessed was a full measure of courage and determination.

Norton chief, Reg Dearden, lent Gary a machine for the Dutch Grand Prix and he showed his potential by finishing sixth in the 500 cc event, ahead of all other
Commonwealth riders. He also came third in the West German Grand Prix.

After a little more than a year in Europe, Hocking came home with a two-year contract with MV Augusta, the famous scarlet Italian machine. It was a meteoric rise and the Rhodesian was not to disappoint his backers.

He joined the feared MV team in 1960 as number two rider to Italy's Carlo Ubialli. In this role he won the Isle of Man Junior (250 cc) TT, the 250 cc German and Italian Grands Prix and the 350 cc French and Ulster Grands Prix and finished second in the 125 cc TT. This sort of form brought him second place in three world championship tables for the year — the 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc.

The Italian 250 cc Monza race was won at an average speed of 109,72 mph and Hocking came desperately close to clinching the world title in this class. With one race to go he was two points behind Ubialli but had to retire with mechanical problems.

For 1960 he had to be content with second place in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc championships behind Ubialli and Britain's brilliant John Surtees. But in 1961 he was MV's only rider and he concentrated on the 350 cc and 500 cc classes to take both world titles with ease, beating Hailwood into second place in
the 500 cc class.

In just three full seasons overseas, Hocking had-risen to double world champion — an unprecedented success story. He was Rhodesia's first world champion in a major sport.

The four-cylinder MV Augustas were well nigh invincible by the early 1960s, but Hocking was not without serious opposition. Both he and Hailwood were mounted on MVs for 1962, the British rider switching from Honda and Norton.

Hailwood pipped Hocking in the 350 cc TT race after the Rhodesian had led from the start, only to be caught finally and beaten by 5,6 seconds. But Hocking took the prized Senior 500 cc TT race, to crown an astonishing career and also to coincide with his award of the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Retirement was brief and Hocking soon turned to serious car racing, finishing fourth in the Copenhagen Grand Prix, and driving in the 201-mile International Gold Cup which Jim Clark won in his Lotus 125. Hocking, in an obsolete Lotus, drove brilliantly, according to London reports, pushing his car to sixth position before blowing up in the final few laps.

His talent obvious, Hocking signed the fateful contract to drive Formula One as the sole driver for 1963, for Walker, friend and sponsor of Sterling Moss. The way was open for the Rhodesian to emulate Moss . . . until tragedy struck at Durban.

Hocking's parents asked for his body to be flown to them in Newport, Monmouthshire, for burial, and the family wishes were met.

Bulawayo businessman, John Wells, who originally sent Hocking overseas with an introduction to Reg Dearden, on hearing of his death said: "I'm choked. I thought 'Sox' would never kill himself. He never took chances and was always the supreme master of his machines, whether two-wheeled or four. We have lost one of the greatest sportsmen this country has ever produced."

- BYROM.

William Raymond Amm

 

"Amm killed by skid in Italian motor cycle gold cup race" — that was the front-page headline in the Rhodesia Herald on 12 April 1955. which stunned the nation.

For Ray Amm, a fearless rider who put the country's name at the forefront of the sporting world, was truly one of Rhodesia's most famous sons.

The fateful day was 11 April 1955, at Imola, when Amm's 350 cc four- cylinder MV Augusta, in second place, skidded and crashed into a steel standard on the 22nd lap of the Italian Gold Cup.

Eye witnesses said that at first it appeared that he was in control of his machine as it skidded, but he careered into the pole and was rushed to hospital, where he died twenty minutes later.Amm was just twenty-seven and it was his first race for the famous Italian MV firm, though he was already known and respected throughout the racing world for his expertise as the number one works rider for British Norton. In just four years on the overseas circuit he had built a record of spectacular successes and wasacknowledged as one of the worlds leading Grand Prix riders.

He was never a world champion, though he was the first Rhodesian to venture to Europe and he sparked the country's remarkable record in international motor cycling — an incredible eight world titles between Gary Hocking (2) and Jim Redman (6).

News of Amm's death brought widespread grief. At Imola a crowd of about 1 000 gathered at the hospital for the procession which took the body to a candlelit chapel, where ten motor cycle mechanics, in blue overalls, kept vigil all night.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Imola in silent tribute when Amm's body left by car for Rome, from where it was flown to his beloved Rhodesia for burial.

People of all ages and races mourned at Amm's funeral, illustrating his immense popularity. The Salisbury Baptist Church was packed and scores stood outside in tribute. The service was relayed to the streets by loudspeakers and the Rev. Sidney Hudson-Reed said: "He earned national and international honoursand procured a multitude of friends and admirers." We are gathered to recognise the honour which Ray Amm has brought to his country, not only in his achievements but much more in the manner of his achieving them."

Amm's most notable triumphs came in 1953 at the rugged and mountainous Isle of Man — the toughest test on two wheels — where he won both the Senior (500 cc) and Junior (350 cc) world championship Tourist Trophy races.

Not only was he the first overseas rider to win an international TT, but in making it a double he accomplished a feat achieved by only four other riders at that time. They were P. Hunt (1931), S. Woods (1932 and 1933), A. Guthrie (1934) and the famous Geoff Duke (1951). Like Amm, all four had been mounted on Nortons.

Amm's average speeds of 93,85 mph (Senior) and 90,52 mph (Junior) broke Duke's TT records of 1951 and 1952 respectively, while at the time of his death the Rhodesian held the Isle of Man TT lap record of 97,41 mph.

He crowned his 1953 successes by winning the 350 cc and 500 cc internationals at a major meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1952 Amm had won the Grand Prix of Nations for Norton, while in 1954 he took the chequered flag first in the Ulster Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix, finishing runner up that year to Duke in the 500 cc class and to Fergus Anderson in the 350 cc class of the world championships.

William Raymond Amm was born at Salisbury on 10 December 1927, and was educated at Prince Edward School. He started racing in 1946 at the age of nineteen and was schooled on the oiled-dirt surfaces of Coro Park in Salisbury, and Umgusa Speedway in Bulawayo. Among the riders of his day were Charlie Harrison, Phil Snyman, Colin Graves, Hymie Stanger, Jack Riley, and John Love who was then on bikes.

Riding a second-hand AJS which had cost him £90 Amm fell off five times in his first race, coming last. Despite this it was clear to the experts that 'Ammy had real class and the next season he bought and hotted-up a 500 cc Norton, and proceeded to break the lap records on every track in the country, in only his second year.

In 1948 he borrowed £300 from his grandmother and bought his first new Norton. He entered the gruelling Port Elizabeth 200 — the most severe test in South Africa — and came seventeenth. But he broke the lap record and people were taking notice of him.

He was invited to the prestigious Isle of Man meeting in 1949, but was unable to go, choosing instead to stay at home to marry his childhood sweetheart Jill Patton on 3 December 1949. The eighteen-year-old Salisbury girl was a keen motor cycle follower.

By now he was Rhodesia's leading rider and in 1950 again tackled the PE 200. This time, starting as scratch man, he came third and again broke the lap record. In the same year he bought another Norton and immediately broke the Coro Park lap record with a time of 1 min. 4,6 sec.

Another invitation to the Isle of Man followed and with a £100 grant from the Salisbury Motor Cycle Club, Amm sold his car and almost all his personal possessions, and in 1951 headed for adventure in England. Travelling with his wife in a caravan in England, he had enough money to buy two Nortons' and he entered both the Senior and Junior TTs, finishing ninth and twenty eighth — a good start on private machines against the world's crack riders and 'works' machines. During the whole season, his wife Jill — an experienced motorcyclist herself — acted as timekeeper.

Amm won the Swiss Grand Prix in 1951 and, just a year after his European debut, he was given a place in the Norton team alongside the great Geoff Duke in 1952. A year later when Duke turned to cars (he later switched back to bikes Gilera) Amm was made Norton team-leader.

He spent four months in Ireland helping to design and build the new streamlined Norton, two of which were made for him to his own specifications. In 1953, Amm agreed to accept a fee of £1 500 a year to ride for Norton, and promptly enhanced his own and the manufacturer's prestige by winning both major TT events.

He might well have repeated this feat in 1954. but after a clear-cut win in the Senior TT, he withdrew from the Junior event because of a mechanical fault

In the 1954 prestige Ulster Grand Prix, Amm defied wind and rain to record a distinction only once before achieved — he won both the 350 cc and 500 cc races. For his week's riding and for the TT races a fortnight earlier, he earned £500, plus expenses, on top of his salary from Norton.

The Rhodesian considered the undulating Manx circuit at the Isle of Man as the toughest in the world. "It is the supreme test for man and machine," he said. Ray Amm's attributes were a keen eye, split-second judgement and nerves of steel. In fact as a youngster he was often criticised for being 'too wild and daredevil'. He was, perhaps, overbold and aggressive at times and prone to gamble with his luck, but he matured into one of the world's great bikemen.

When he was criticised in England for his 'grass track style of riding' and for overplaying the use of his feet when cornering (a style which he proved to be successful), Amm quipped: "I grew up in the saddle . . . and a horse wasn't under it"

Amm's meteoric rise to fame overseas was proof that he was a brilliant rider. In the postwar 'gold rush' for motor cycle talent, the Rhodesian was one of the most shiny nuggets.

Rhodesia's first truly internationally known sportsman, Amm left Norton at the end of 1954 to attempt to become world champion on the powerful scarlet Italian MV Augustas. The Italian factories of MV, Gilera and Moto Guzzi had by 1953 ended Britain's half-century lead in motor cycling, and the championship hopes of individuals now lay with these potent machines.

But Amm's ambition was to end in tragedy at Imola at the outset of his challenge. On his death — Amm's parents heard about it on a BBC news broadcast — a tribute in the Belfast Telegraph said: "His fearless yet confident style of riding appealed to countless thousands. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant riders ever discovered by Ulsterman Joe Craig of Norton."

Until his death, Amm had only suffered two serious injuries on the track. He crashed in the German Grand Prix 'Solitude' near Stuttgart in 1953 and spent a month in hospital there with a back injury. And he crashed at Aintree, England, in 1954 and spent about a month recuperating at Geoff Duke's house at Southport near Liverpool. In 1952 Amm broke a leg, though this did not prevent him from riding in the Italian Grand Prix and winning it. . . with his leg in plaster.

A granite memorial, at first placed near the Coro Park track where he started his career, is now at Sable Comer of Salisbury's Donnybrook Park race-track. Here the name of a great Rhodesian,Ray Amm, is perpetuated.

- BYROM

End

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