Geoff Duke

Geoffrey Ernest Duke

Nation:	United Kingdom
Motorcycle world championship
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 62 33 - 29
World title:	6th
World Cup points:	339
Podiums:	50
According to class (es): 250 cc class First start: 1959 German Grand Prix Last start: Grand Prix of Nations 1959 Constructors 1959  NSU , Benelli World Cup balance World Cup tenth ( 1959 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 4th - - - World Cup points: 5 Podiums: 1 350 cm³ class First start: Dutch TT 1950 Last start: 1959 Ulster Grand Prix Constructors 1950-1952, 1958-1959  Norton World Cup balance World Champion ( 1951 - 1952 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 21st 11 - 8th World Cup points: 115 Podiums: 17th 500 cc class First start: Isle of Man TT 1950 Last start: Grand Prix of Nations 1959 Constructors 1950–1952, 1958–1959  Norton  • 1953–1957  Gilera  • 1958  BMW World Cup balance World Champion ( 1951 , 1953 - 1955 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 37 22nd - 21st World Cup points: 219 Podiums: 32

Geoffrey Ernest "Geoff" Duke OBE (born March 29, 1923 in St. Helens , Lancashire , England , † May 1, 2015 in Douglas , Isle of Man ) was a British motorcycle racer . He was six times world champion in the motorcycle road world championship of the FIM .

Career

Geoff Duke's name is synonymous with motorsport because he dominated motorcycle races in the 1950s, won six world titles and five times the difficult Tourist Trophy race on the Isle of Man . Duke became known when he won the Senior Clubmans TT and Senior Manx Grand Prix in 1949 . He became the first post-war motorcycle racing superstar and was known in the racing scene simply as "The Duke" ("the Duke" or "the boss, the chief").

Geoff Duke was with the factory team from Norton romantically involved with the TT races the 1950s. He finished second in the "small class" (350 cm³) and broke the lap and racing records in the senior TT, the large class with 500 cm³ machines.

After winning three world titles for Norton, he surprised everyone when he moved to Gilera in Italy in 1953 . For Gilera he drove three times in a row the world championship in the 500 premier class . His support for a drivers strike for higher entry fees earned him a six-month suspension that dashed hope for a fourth consecutive title. In 1955, he was the first driver to lap the TT route at (initially measured) more than 100 miles an hour, although the value was later corrected to 99.97 mph. As a result, the first 100 lap in 1957 was awarded to racing driver Bob McIntyre , also at Gilera. Duke was unable to start this race due to an injury. His last race was the 1959 Junior TT, which he finished fourth on a Norton. In 1963 his racing team "Scuderia Duke" formed on Gilera to break the power of MV Agusta .

Duke made a well distinguishable figure on the racetracks because he was the first to wear one-piece leather suits - he had instructed his native tailor to make the first of the leather outfits that would subsequently become famous. He was named "Sportsman of the Year" in 1951, won the " Segrave Trophy" of the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) and was named a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1953 .

On the Isle of Man, where he had set so many records and race victories, a point on the hill climb was named after him. Three sharp turns at milestone 32 between Brandywell and Windy Corner have since been called "Duke's". The motorcycle racing association Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) inducted him into the MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2002 .

After retiring from motorcycle racing, Duke became a successful businessman. To mark the centenary of the Tourist Trophy 2007, Duke was honored with a 100 pence postage stamp from the Royal Mail .

Geoff Dukes' funeral procession along the TT Grandstand on Glencrutchery Road in Douglas, Isle of Man before his final lap of the Snaefell Mountain Course.

Geoff Duke died on May 1, 2015 at the age of 92 at the Elder Grange Nursing Home in Douglas, his adopted home on the Isle of Man. The funeral procession on May 10, 2015 led along the start-finish straight of the Isle of Man TT and once around the more than 60 km long Snaefell Mountain Course .

statistics

title

• 1951 - 350 cc world champion on Norton
• 1951 - 500 cc world champion on Norton
• 1952 - 350 cc world champion on Norton
• 1953 - 500 cc world champion on Gilera
• 1954 - 500 cc world champion on Gilera
• 1955 - 500 cc world champion on Gilera
• 33 Grand Prix victories
• Induction into the MotoGP Hall of Fame
• 1 win at the Manx Grand Prix

Isle of Man TT victories

year	class	machine	Average speed
1949	Clubmans Senior	Norton	82.97  mph (133.53  km / h )
1950	Senior (500 cm³)	Norton	86.06 mph (138.5 km / h)
1951	Junior (350 cm³)	Norton	85.73 mph (137.97 km / h)
	Senior (500 cm³)	Norton	92.37 mph (148.66 km / h)
1952	Junior (350 cm³)	Norton	90.29 mph (145.31 km / h)
1955	Senior (500 cm³)	Gilera	97.93 mph (157.6 km / h)

North West 200 Victories

year	class	machine	Average speed
1951	350 cc	Norton	82.54  mph (132.84  km / h )
1955	500 cc	Gilera	97.60 mph (157.07 km / h)

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	motorcycle	run	Victories	Podiums	Points	Result
1950	350 cc	Norton	5	1	5	24	2.
	500 cc	Norton	4th	3	3	27	2.
1951	350 cc	Norton	5	5	5	32	World Champion
	500 cc	Norton	6th	4th	4th	35	World Champion
1952	350 cc	Norton	4th	4th	4th	32	World Champion
	500 cc	Norton	4th	0	2	12	7th
1953	500 cc	Gilera	5	4th	5	38	World Champion
1954	500 cc	Gilera	6th	5	6th	40	World Champion
1955	500 cc	Gilera	5	4th	5	36	World Champion
1956	500 cc	Gilera	1	1	1	8th	7th
1957	500 cc	Gilera	2	0	2	10	4th
1958	350 cc	Norton	4th	1	2	17th	3.
	500 cc	Norton	3	1	1	13	3.
1959	250 cc	Benelli	2	0	1	5	10.
	350 cc	Reynolds-Norton / Norton	3	0	1	10	5.
	500 cc	Reynolds-Norton / Norton	3	0	3	12	4th
total			62	33	50	351

References

Web links

Commons : Geoff Duke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Geoff Duke on the official website of the motorcycle world championship (English).
• Geoff Duke on the Isle of Man TT official website.
• Sports Champions (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paolo Scalera: MotoGP, Geoff Duke: addio al 'Duca di ferro'. www.gpone.com, May 2, 2015, accessed May 2, 2015 (Italian). 
2. ^ TT Course tribute for Geoff Duke. www.iomtt.com, May 8, 2015, accessed February 11, 2016 (English).