Eric Fernihough

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The winners of the 13ème Grand Prix de l'UMF in 1932: Eric Fernihough, Leo Davenport , Jimmie Simpson and Stanley Woods (from left to right).

Eric Crudgington Fernihough (born February 17, 1905 in Birkenhead , Cheshire , England , † April 23, 1938 in Budapest , Hungary ) was a British motorcycle racer .

Career

In 1927, at the age of 22, Eric Fernihough took 13th place in his only TT participation in the lightweight class (up to 250  cm³ ) on a New Imperial .

In the first half of the 1930s he competed in numerous international races for Excelsior . In April 1930 he won the prestigious North West 200 race in Northern Ireland in the 175 category. At the 1930 European motorcycle championship , which was held on July 13 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium as part of the Xth Belgian Grand Prix , Fernihough finished behind the local DKW driver Yvan in the 175 cm³ class Goor ranked second. In the further course of the season, the Briton celebrated another international success with his victory at the UMF 175 cm³ Grand Prix on the Circuit de Pau in France .

In June 1931, Eric Fernihough won the UMF Grand Prix with his vehicle for the second time in his career, which was held that year in Montlhéry and was also the EM round of the season. This time he prevailed against Goor in the 250-kilometer run of 175 cc and crowned himself the 175 cc European champion with a lead of around 30 seconds . The Briton also won the Belgian Grand Prix and the 250cc race at the North West 200 this year.

In the 1932 season, Eric Fernihough won the 175 cc runs at the Dutch TT , the UMF Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. In 1933 Fernihough won the Grand Prix of the UMF in the 175 cc class on Excelsior for the fourth time in a row.

In 1935 he improved on a Brough Superior the lap record on the in southwest London situated Brooklands Bahn, one of the fastest race tracks of that time at all, to 123.58  mph (198.88  km / h ).

In 1936, Eric Fernihough set a new world record over the flying mile for solo motorcycles on Brough Superior with 163.82 mph (263.64 km / h) . The following year he improved on a Brough with a turbocharged 1000 cm³- JAP -Engine in Hungarian Gyon the world record over the flying kilometer for solo machines at 169.79 mph (273.25 km / h). On top of that, he set a new record for sidecars with 137 mph (220 km / h) .

The prestigious world record for the flying solo kilometer in particular was so hotly contested at the time that Fernihough lost the record he had wrested from BMW driver Ernst Jakob Henne in the same year to Italian Gilera driver Piero Taruffi .

In addition to his work as a driver, Eric Fernihough also prepared engines for racing.

The accident site in Gyón in 2012. ( Location )

Deadly accident

Eric Fernihough had a fatal accident on April 23, 1938 while attempting a world record on today's 5-ös főút in Gyón near Budapest in Hungary. He came off the road with his Brough Superior JAP , possibly because of a gust of wind , and fell seriously. He was then taken to Budapest, most likely seriously injured. Ulloi ut 78, Budapest , mentions the location of the University Hospital of Semmelweis University as the place of death on his death certificate .

statistics

title

North West 200 Victories

year class machine Average speed
1930 250 cc Excelsior 53.76  mph (86.52  km / h )
1931 250 cc Excelsior 59.56 mph (95.85 km / h)
1932 250 cc Excelsior unknown

More victories

(colored background = European championship run )

year class machine run route
1930 175 cc Excelsior 11ème GP de l'UMF Pau
1931 175 cc Excelsior 12ème GP de l'UMF Montlhéry
175 cc Excelsior XI. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
250 cc Excelsior Swedish TT Onsala
1932 175 cc Excelsior VIII. Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
175 cc Excelsior 13ème GP de l'UMF Reims
175 cc Excelsior XII. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
1934 175 cc Excelsior 14ème GP de l'UMF Dieppe

References

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fernihoughs TT statistics. www.iomtt.com, accessed June 2, 2010 (English).
  2. ^ A b Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto - Palmarès des Championnats d'Europe (1924-1937 et 1947-1948). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed June 2, 2010 (French).
  3. ↑ Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 5th partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924-1937); 1930. racingmemo.free, accessed June 2, 2010 (French).
  4. ^ Steffen Ottinger: DKW Motorradsport 1920–1939 . From the first victories of the Zschopau two-stroke model at track races to the European championship successes. 1st edition. HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028611-7 , p. 50 .
  5. ↑ Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 5th partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924-1937); 1931. racingmemo.free, accessed June 2, 2010 (French).
  6. ↑ Vincent Glon: L'Histoire de la course moto; 5th partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924-1937); 1932. racingmemo.free, accessed June 2, 2010 (French).
  7. ^ Brooklands Motoring History. www.brooklands100.org, archived from the original on October 30, 2007 ; accessed on June 2, 2010 (English).
  8. ↑ 1938 Brough Superior SS80 Vontage Classic Antique Motorcycle. (No longer available online.) Blogs.myspace.com, September 15, 2009, archived from the original on February 7, 2009 ; accessed on June 2, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.myspace.com
  9. ^ Alan Cathcart : Scene: Brough Superior 8/75 SS 100 - The big hammer. (No longer available online.) Www.motorradonline.de, April 4, 2008, archived from the original on September 7, 2012 ; Retrieved June 2, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.motorradonline.de
  10. ↑ Dorcas, an innovative 'Special' hill climb car from the thirties, fitted with BSAFWD transmission and drive, built and raced by the Glegg brothers. (No longer available online.) Www.bsafwdc.co.uk, archived from the original on August 25, 2009 ; accessed on June 2, 2010 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Fernihough, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fernihough, Eric Crudgington (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Birkenhead
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1938
Place of death Budapest , Hungary