Ulster Grand Prix
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The Ulster Grand Prix is a motorcycle road race that takes place on the Dundrod circuit near Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first races took place in 1922 and in 1935 and 1948 the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme gave it the title Grand Prix d'Europe. The Ulster Grand Prix was included as one of the races in the inaugural 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, a place it held until 1971.
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[edit] History
Thomas Moles, motorcycle enthusiast and Member of Parliament, helped to push through parliament the first Road Races Act, which made it legal for the Clady Course to be closed for the first Ulster Grand Prix on 14 October 1922. That first race had 75 entries in four classes (250cc, 350cc, 600cc and over 600cc).[1] The race has been held on three different circuits. The 20.5 mile Old Clady circuit was used from 1922 until 1939 and included a notoriously bumpy 7-mile straight. It also ran across part of the grass runway at RAF Aldergrove and for the first two years of its existence the pits were on the Seven Mile Straight, by Loanends Primary School.[1]
In 1926 the 500cc race was won by Graham Walker on a Sunbeam. He also won the 1928 Senior race on a Rudge. In the 1936 Lightweight (250cc) event, Ginger Wood and Bob Foster, both on New Imperials, crossed the line so close, that after over 200 miles of racing, it took the judges an hour to decide that Wood was the winner by one-fifth of a second. Foster was, however, adjudged to have achieved the fastest lap. The 1939 Grand Prix was almost called off, but went ahead in spite of an entry of only 60 riders.[1]
After World War II the new Clady circuit was used that, due to road improvements, was now 16.5 miles in length and in use between 1947 and 1952.
In 1953 the race was moved to the 7.401 mile Dundrod circuit where it is still held. The event was cancelled in 1972 because of the political situation in Northern Ireland and in 2001, during the Foot-and-mouth crisis, when the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT were cancelled, the race was held.[2]
The 2007 Grand Prix attracted an entry of 162 riders, including 38 new riders, and took place on 18 August 2007, sponsored by The Belfast Telegraph.[3]
[edit] Famous riders
Joey Dunlop won twenty four Ulster Grand Prix races during his career with Phillip McCallen winning fourteen races. Besides these two, no other rider has won more than nine races during the 78-year history, though three have won nine races. Some of the famous riders include: Stanley Woods (7 wins), Jimmy Guthrie, Jimmy Simpson, Artie Bell, Les Graham, Freddie Frith (3 wins), Geoff Duke (3 wins), John Surtees (6 wins), Ray Amm, Carlo Ubbiali (5 wins), Bill Lomas (3 wins), Mike Hailwood (7 wins), Giacomo Agostini (7 wins), Phil Read (3 wins), Bill Ivy (3 wins), Bob McIntyre, Gary Hocking (3 wins), Tom Herron (5 wins), Ron Haslam (5 wins), Jon Ekerold, and more recently Mick Grant, Wayne Gardner, Steve Hislop, Robert Dunlop (9 wins) and Carl Fogarty. The most recent rider to join the famous riders group is Guy Martin (5 wins)
[edit] FIM World Championship rounds
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† The race saw only four competitors and was not counted as a round of the World Championship.
‡ The race was stopped by bad weather, and the FIM excluded the race from the World Championship.
[edit] See also
- Grand Prix motorcycle racing
- List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons
- List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Eddie McIlwaine. "10 things you didn't know about the big event", Belfast Telegraph, 17 August 2008, p. 15.
- ^ Ulster Grand Prix 2001 - Preview (retrieved 10 September 2006)
- ^ Victoria O'Hara. "Revved up for race", Belfast Telegraph, 17 August 2008, p. 15.
