1959 Formula 1 350 TT

Course name: Mountain (post 1914)

Course length: 113.19 miles (3 laps)

Description: 1959 Formula 1 350 TT.

Race report from the IOM Weekly Times 5 June 1959 (p.2), below which is a full list of competitors:

Two Scots Riders Take Formula 1 Honours

Two brilliant Scots riders—Bob Mclntyre and Alastair King—shared the honours in the first Formula I event to be held in international racing. Over three laps of the T.T. Course on Saturday evening Mclntyre won the 500 c.c. class on his Norton in a time of 1 hour 9 minutes 28.4 seconds, a speed of 97.77 m.p.h. Alastair on a 7R A.J.S. won the 350 class, finishing the race in 1 hour 11 minutes 45.4 seconds, a speed of 94.66 m.p.h. The fastest laps in both classes were put up by the respective winners, Mclntyre doing his first lap, from a standing start, at 98.35 m.p.h., while Alastair left his speed-making to the final circuit, completed at a speed of 95.37 m.p.h.

Confined to standard production machines, of which 35 have been manufactured and sold to the public, the Formula 1 class was introduced by the F.I.M. to revitalise international road racing, despite the opposition of the leading manufacturers. And though the entries were lacking in quantity—the results proved that they were not lacking in quality. Out of 16 starters in the 500 c.c. class. 15 men finished, all on British machines. In the 350 class there were 13 starters and 12 finished. The 13th man retiring through physical tiredness caused by working through two nights to prepare his machine. The weather differed from the ideal conditions which favoured the practices and a cold wind was blowing, and the sky was overcast, though it remained dry and clear. These conditions were of greater benefit to the riders than the public, and the Grandstand was by no means full.
Weighing-in of the machines took place in the paddock prior to the race, and shortly before 6-15 p.m. the Governor and Lady Dundas arrived to be greeted by A.-C.U. chairman Mr Norman Dixon, Archdeacon Stenning and his fellow stewards.

350 c.c. CLASS — FIRST LAP
The field of 14 is reduced to 13 by the withdrawal of P. Carr (A.J.S.) and announcer Rev. R. H. Reid states that Scotsman Alastair King has changed over from a Norton to an A.J.S. machine. Riders in this class were also sent off in pairs at 20 second intervals, and at 6-38, some eighty seconds after the last man in the 500 c.c. class was despatched, Roberton (A.J.S. ) and Dave Chadwick (Norton ) pushed their machines away, the latter being first man at Bray Hill. Behind them were Bob Anderson (Norton ) and Jim Redman from South Africa, similarly mounted, while the lone Manx entrant, Sid Mizen, got away with Tom Phillis from Australia (Norton) riding in his first race on the T.T. Course. Because of Carr's withdrawal, Alastair King set off on his own to be followed by the young star Mike Hailwood (Norton), who has done well in practices. By the time Chadwick was at Ramsey with Anderson and Red-man in chase, the Scotsman had picked up five places to lie fourth on the road, and when they reached Keppel Gate announcer David Lay reported that Alastair was third man on the roads, while Anderson had passed Mancunian Chadwick . At 7-5 p.m. all the riders were through save American Ralph Fox (A.J.S.), Joe Glazebrook (Norton ) and D. J. Beckett (B.S.A.). Beckett eventually arrived at the pits and retired. It was learned that he had worked all night long for two nights righting the trouble encountered during practices and felt very tired. When the lap times were shown on the closed-circuit television screens in the Press Box Alastair King had taken the lead with a lap time of 24 mins. 9 sees, a speed of 93.74 m.p.h., some four seconds ahead of Bob Anderson, who was 13 seconds ahead of Mike Hailwood. Manxman Sid Mizen was sixth man on the leader board—only three seconds behind Phillis.

SECOND LAP
While Anderson was doing his best to catch Alastair, who seemed to be increasing his speed, Hailwood was battling to catch Anderson, with Chadwick content to hold his fourth position comfortably ahead of Phillis. Perhaps the best battle was that between Phillis and the Manxman, who dropped a second on this lap to put himself a mere four seconds in arrears. Anderson flies past the pits on to his final circuit as King and Chadwick were signalled at Signpost, and it was the Scotsman who went through second man on the roads—going down Glencrutchery Road at full song. The rest of the field were strung out between the Mountain Box and the start as Anderson, King and Chadwick roared away to Ballacraine with Anderson still leading on the roads. From the short lapse of time before Alastair was signalled there it was obvious that he had increased his speed. The Scotsman's second lap took 23 mins. 50.8 secs., putting him 16 seconds ahead of Anderson, who in turn had increased the gap between himself and Hailwood to about 16 seconds. Though everyone was keenly interested in the King-Anderson- Hailwood battle it was interesting to note that Phillis and Mizen did their second lap at over 90 miles an hour. At the Mountain it was Anderson first through, followed by Alastair, Chadwick and Hailwood. King was reported to be motoring extremely fast and steadily, and as Bob Anderson took the chequered flag the leader was at Signpost on his confident way to victory. He crossed the line, having put up the fastest Junior time of the evening—94.66 m.p.h., a time of 23 mins. 45.6 secs., and finished 20 seconds ahead of Anderson.

Competitors

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