A little bit of trivia, but some might have noticed that Mike is wearing a Premier motorcycle helmet as opposed to his regular, and liveried, Bell. The reason for this is that his usual helmet was damaged by fire the previous weekend at Kyalami when he valiantly extricated Clay Regazzoni from his blazing BRM and he consequently had no time to get a suitably painted Bell replacement.
Reigning European F2 champion Mike Hailwood took 2nd at the Mallory Park F2 season-opener fifty years (+ four days) ago. Just a week earlier he’d heroically saved the life of an unconscious Clay Regazzoni by hauling him from his blazing BRM after they’d collided during the South African GP at Kyalami.
Hailwood’s helmet & overalls were ruined in the fire, so for Mallory he’d hastily sourced a Premier helmet to use – which was essentially a bike racing lid! Happily my Instamatic allowed me to get a half-decent snap of this unusual occurrence as Mike left the paddock for battle in his TS15. Photo and info Stuart Dent
about Mike Hailwood
