Best seat in the house…

By George! We’re not quite sure how to take this photo, taken during the 1978 Senior TT. Coming around Signpost Corner is hardened road racer George Fogarty being confronted by a man with a camera, sat on the actual pavement taking snaps… We understand that the whole ‘health and safety’ thing hadn’t really kicked off by the late-1970s, but, while most spectators for the race were amassed up on the banks as per usual, one intrepid (we’d take a guess at amateur) photographer wanted to get a shot from a different angle.

George Fogarty of course, is famous for being father of TT winner and four-time World Superbike champion Carl, as well as being the man who (it could be argued) cost Barry Sheene the win at Silverstone in the 1979 500cc Grand Prix against Kenny Roberts. George baulked Sheene on the final lap of the circuit and the American would beat the Brit by threehundredths of a second. But let’s not forget that George was a handy enough road-racer as well, in his time, so much so that in 1977 he came 2nd to Joey Dunlop in the Jubilee TT and earned himself a place as Mike Hailwood’s team-mate on the Ducati for the legendary Formula 1 race. For the Senior race, as seen here, he was Suzuki-mounted and would come home a creditable 4th in the race, behind winner Tom Herron and podium finishers Billy Guthrie and Chas Mortimer.

1983 would be George’s last TT and by 1984 George would also indulge in his last season of short-circuit racing, which would coincide with Carl’s first. At the same meeting together it was fitting that George would win his last ever race, while Carl would take 11th on his dad’s old Formula 2 Ducati. George would help out his son as much as he could in the youngster’s early career, one that would see young Carl win the 1985 Lightweight Newcomers Manx Grand Prix before taking three TT wins.

As to what happened to our photographer here, we’d love to know. Was he collared, cuffed and put in a Manx cell or did he just get some amazing shots?

● Want more Isle of Man TT content, both modern and historical? Then you need to look out for Island Racer 2023, which is on sale April 20.

Classic Racer Archive

Tony Rutter scooped his first of seven Isle of ManTT race wins 50 years ago.

Tony – who passed away in March 2020 – enjoyed a long career: three decades riding a wide range of different machines. Many felt Rutter was one of the most underrated riders of his generation.

Born in the West Midlands, Tony started racing aged just 20 and was soon heading to the Isle of ManTT in 1965 for the first time.The Island was to be the home of some of his biggest successes, the first coming with a podium alongside Giacomo Agostini in 1972 in the JuniorTT. He would snatch his first win on the course in 1973 in the same class with an average speed of 101.99mph. He would take his secondTT win in the same class in 1974, taking the Formula 2 win in 1981, the Senior 350ccTT win in 1982, a further Formula 2 win the same year, repeating this again in 1983 before his final Isle of Man victory in the 1985 Formula 2 event.

Tony would more importantly become Formula 2 world champion with Ducati in four successive seasons from 1981-1984 thanks in part to those F2TT wins. He would also be a leading light at the North West 200, taking nine NW200 wins, the first of which came in 1973. He would famously also tie for a win at the event in 1977 with Ray McCullough – a dead heat! Rutter would also take five Ulster GP wins during his long career.

With a career spanning three decades, he would ride small and large capacity machines, two-strokes and four-strokes and on short circuits (he won the ACU British 350 title in 1971 and the 250 in 1973) and road circuits.

Sadly, a big crash at Montjuïc circuit just a month after his finalTT win in 1985 saw him badly injured, and while he made a comeback things were never the same. Tony raced on until 1991, mainly on the roads, by which time his son Michael – who would also go on to considerable short-circuit and roads success – was also racing.

This year Michael (tied withTony on seven wins) will take part inTT 2023 where his start tally should surpass that of his father.

Classic Racer Archive