1953 Clubman 1000 TT

Course name: Mountain (post 1914)

Course length: 150.92 miles (4 laps)

Description: Race report from the TT Special 10 Jun 1953 (p.20) below which is a full list of competitors:
The 1000 c.c. Clubman’s Race
G. P. Douglass Wins at 81.54 miles per hour
By R. Gillespie

The Start, Monday afternoon
It is three years since there has been a 1,000 c.c. Clubman's Race. It was scheduled in 1951 and 1952 but there were insufficient entries. The last event, therefore, was that in 1950, when there were 13 entries, with 11 starters. All the riders were on Vincents and the winner was A. Phillips, who averaged 78.58 m.p.h.

Entries in this year's events were a shade better -16, all on Vincents. Accidents in practice, however, and non-arrivals accounted for eight non-starters, so only eight of the big boys set off this afternoon, after the last of the Junior Clubmen had gone.

All the riders got away easily except J.O. Finch, whose machine was a bit reluctant, and all except L. Floodgate reached Ballacraine on scheduled time, so to speak. It was some time before the news came that Floodgate had crashed at Union Mills , and had fractured a collarbone, but was not seriously hurt.

By Ballacraine on the second lap G. P. Douglass (No. 108) was leading on the road, followed by R. Madson-Mygdal (No. 115), P. L. Peters (No. 105) and D.L. Buss (No. 102). The clocks missed G.P. Clark, (No. 106) at Ballacraine, but he was shown at Kirk Michael with Madsen-Mygdal,. At Ramsey the order was Clark, Douglas, Madsen-Mygdal, and the same applied at the Mountain Box. Five seconds only separated Clark and Douglass at Creg-ny-Baa, and there was no sign of Madsen-Mygdal. Then came the news that he had crashed at Brandywell corner and had retired - fortunately he was unhurt.

So there were only six left! Before the lap leaders were announced, Clark and Douglass were at Kirk Michael on their third circuit, while Buss, Pittam and Peters were recorded at Ballacraine. Douglass, however, was first at Creg-ny-Baa, one minute and 10 seconds before Clark, and as Clark had started half-a-minute before him, this meant that Douglass was leading the race by one minute 40 seconds at this stage.

When the first pair swept past the Start, Peters was shown at the Mountain whilst Buss and Pittam were still at Ramsey. J. O .Finch, at the tail end of the field, was recorded at Kirk Michael. When he finally came past the pits to complete his third lap, the leader was already at Ramsey, well over two minutes ahead of Clark.

No items of interest were reported at the Press Box for the remainder of the race and Douglass came in an easy winner at 81.54m.p.h. - nearly three miles an hour faster than Phillip's speed in 1950. Douglass's average speed was a record for the race, but his best lap, in 27 mins. 21 secs. was 53 seconds outside C. Horn's 1949 record.

After the race we were informed that all the Vincents were "ride-to-work" machines and that the “newest” had over 12,000 miles on the clock.

Competitors

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