His first race was in 1957 at Oulton Park and his
performances then and later were such that by
1961 he was racing for Honda and in that year was
the first man in history to win three races in one
week at the Isle of Man TT, the 125, 250 and 500. In
1962 he signed with MV Augusta and won four
consecutive World Championships. His greatest
rival was the Italian rider, Giacomo Agostini, and
they had a memorable battle in the 1967 Senior TT.
Mike relocated to South Africa in 1968 and pulled
out of GP racing but continued riding at selected
meetings in Europe and the UK and entered into car
racing, competing in a Le Mans race. In 1973 while
competing in the South African GP he collided with
Clay Regazzoni and both cars caught fire. After his
driving suit had been extinguished by the marshalls,
Mike rushed back to help rescue Regazzoni from his
still burning car. He later received the George Cross
for gallantry. a Honda 4 and was looking for information on the
new BMW. I couldn’t help him with the technical
details but was quite happy to accept his invitation
to dinner.
During my conversation with Mike I told him of my Now that I had a suitable steed, I needed to find
information on how to make this ride through Africa.
There was no such thing as the Internet therefore no
overland information sites such as ‘Horizons
Unlimited’, not even Lonely Planet Guides and the
AA could only recommend Michelin maps so I began
to make enquiries elsewhere.
intention to ride down through Africa and he
wished me well and said to call in and see his
family in Durban if they were there at the time
as they had houses in different countries.
After my chat with him I continued circulating and it
appeared that my smart waistcoat had given the
impression that I was one of the BMW promotion
team as I was chatted up by a nice young American
man called John. He worked in IT in London, owned
But what about my own transport?
I had left my new BMW R60/5 in Australia and only
had enough money to buy an old BSA A7. This
leaked so much oil that the kick start was usually too
slippery to use so I mainly bump-started it, a skill I
had learnt on the race-track in West Australia. As my
savings increased I was on the lookout for another
old model BMW and found a 1957 R50 going cheap.
This became my new love. She had the original
separate saddle seats, a tiny back light and was
lacking both a side or main stand so, until I had them
fitted, I had to lean her up against a lamp-post or
shop window.