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TT Trivia - Splashdown - 03-09-2007
On your trivia, you make mention of Fred Walker being killed after he crossed the finishing line in 1914.
In fact, as I understand it, F.J. Walker on a Royal Enfield is the only rider in TT history to be awarded a finish posthumously, and he NEVER actually crossed the finishing line. The course that year came along to the top of Bray Hill from the right having turned right at Hillberry. Think the road is called Ballanard road. Anyway, the riders turned sharp right where the fuel station is now, ( it was called Willaston Corner on the Clypse Course), and the start/finish was on the top, level section of Bray Hill, for that year only.
Fred Walker came along to the corner, never made the turn, hit a wooden barrier where you would now go down Broadway, and was killed 100yards short of the finishing line. It was decided to award him 3rd place posthumously.
Now, is there anyone out there with a different version to this sad episode?
- larryd - 03-09-2007
You got it spot on, Nick.
Fred was a Dublin man, and the word at the time (in the contemporary magazines, which of course I have!!) was that he had fallen earlier in the race and perhaps banged his head, leading to his misjudgement at the last corner.
Off the top of my head this is -- given an hour or two, I reckon I could tell you where his earlier "off" was!
:wink:
- PeterCourtney - 03-09-2007
We're timing you larry! :wink:
- cargo - 03-09-2007
Don't worry he'll get it he always does :roll:
- alf885 - 03-09-2007
Hi All, I pose this question about the 1914 Senior TT in as much that one of you experts might be able to confirm the identity of a rider L Cushman. I'm researching this particular rider at the moment but know little about him. Apparently he rode a Premier in the Senior that year, his only year of participation, but got a DNF. Could this L Cushman be the one and the same as a Leon Cushman who drove an Alvis into runner up spot in 1929 at the Ulster TT? He also drove for Crossley in the twenties and was a regular competitor at Brooklands. Trivia indeed but I would be grateful for any help. alf
- larryd - 04-09-2007
Thanks for the confidence, Cargo
:!:
OK - here we go on Fred Walker in the 1914 Junior TT.
On an Enfield, he led lap one by 45 seconds after a standing-start lp record. On lap 2 Eric Williams on a works AJS pulled his lead back to 28 seconds, and when Walker was late at the end of lap 3, having dropped to joint 9th, he threw an inner tube to his pit and it was seen to have been punctured.
Lap 4 saw him up to 7th, and after a very good 5th and last lap he was, as Nick J noted, classified as 3rd.
On that last lap, however, he fell at Hillberry, and was warned by a marshal not to proceed further without seeing to his brakes.
He then approached Willaston corner - at the bottom of Johnny Watterson's Lane where the course turned left into Ballanard Road - with both feet on the road, and fell again.
He immediately remounted and dashed away for the last half mile to the finish - a witness stated that having passed the crossroads and realising his mistake, he braked and actually locked his back wheel and ducked his head before striking the barrier.
Sadly, he lingered for several days before dying.
I would have been back with this sooner, but have only just returned home after an evening at the cabaret known as the MCUI Ulster Centre Council meeting!
Cargo knows all about those . . . . . . . . . . . :wink:
- cargo - 04-09-2007
Well done Larry I had every faith in you.
As for the cabaret............an e-mail will suffice please.
I have alledged news too :wink:
BTW I really am starting to enjoy these tales of TT races past keep em coming.
NickJ what about something from your personal TT experience ?
- Splashdown - 04-09-2007
That's an excellent review of poor Mr Walker's race Larry. Can't help but think that health and safety, not to mention today's very able marshals, may have saved him from his sad ending. Still, he avoided a visit to Ypres and the Somme!
By the way Cargo, sorry I didn't get chance to catch up with you, and discover what the problem was in the Junior. Now just what kind of personal experience at the TT were you looking for? On track, off track, leathers on, leathers off? I must speak to my publisher, don't want to spoil the book. What book?