Jimmie Guthrie

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Memorial in Guthrie's hometown of Hawick
Sachsenring
Guthrie's Memorial on Snaefell Mountain Course , Isle of Man , with Ramsey in the background .
Plaque on Guthrie's Memorial

James "Jimmie" Guthrie (born May 23, 1897 in Hawick , Roxburghshire , Scotland , † August 8, 1937 in Chemnitz ) was a British motorcycle racer .

Career

Jimmie Guthrie drove his first race in 1923. In 1930 he took his first win on an AJS. From 1931 until his death in 1937 he was a works driver for Norton . Guthrie was a successful racing driver in various classes, in 1935 and 1936 he was European champion in the 500 cc class. In 1937 he was able to win the European title in both the 350 and 500 class. Guthrie was also victorious in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy six times .

Deadly accident

Guthrie had a fatal accident on August 8, 1937 during the race for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring . He fell two minutes ahead, on the last lap in the last section of the track.

The cause of the accident was never fully clarified. Three possible causes of the accident are taken into account: two technical defects (loss of oil or breakage of the rear axle) and one [deliberate] mistake by a German driver. Guthrie's Norton team named a technical defect as the cause, while Stanley Woods , who also took part in the race, named a German driver as the cause in a 1992 interview.

Memorial stones

Two memorial stones commemorate the racing driver. At the Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man in the Mountain Section shortly after Ramsey , where he in his final senior TT retired, moved to the new Guthrie's Memorial . Another stone is at the scene of the accident at Sachsenring. A memorial was erected to him in Guthrie's hometown of Hawick.

statistics

title

Isle of Man TT victories

year class machine Average speed
1930 Lightweight (250 cm³) AJS 64.71  mph (104.14  km / h )
1934 Junior (350 cm³) Norton 79.16 mph (127.4 km / h)
Senior (500 cm³) Norton 78.16 mph (125.79 km / h)
1935 Junior (350 cm³) Norton 79.14 mph (127.36 km / h)
1936 Senior (500 cm³) Norton 85.08 mph (136.92 km / h)
1937 Junior (500 cm³) Norton 84.43 mph (135.88 km / h)

North West 200 Victories

year class machine Average speed
1934 500 cc Norton 80.37  mph (129.34  km / h )
1935 500 cc Norton 78.99 mph (127.12 km / h)
1936 500 cc Norton 81.28 mph (130.81 km / h)
1937 500 cc Norton 82.17 mph (132.24 km / h)

Race wins

(colored background = European championship run )

year class machine run route
1930 350 cc Norton Grand Prix of Germany Nürburgring
1931 350 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
1933 350 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
350 cc Norton Spanish TT Castrejana
500 cc Norton Spanish TT Castrejana
1934 350 cc Norton Spanish TT Circuito de las avenidas de Ensanche
500 cc Norton Spanish TT Circuito de las avenidas de Ensanche
1935 500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton Grand Prix of Germany Badberg square
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
500 cc Norton Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit
350 cc Norton Spanish TT Circuito de las avenidas de Ensanche
500 cc Norton Spanish TT Circuito de las avenidas de Ensanche
1936 350 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Grand Prix of Germany Badberg square
500 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
1937 350 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps

References

literature

  • Gordon Small: Jimmie Guthrie - Hawick's Racing Legend . Ed .: Hawick Archeological Society. Hawick 1997.
  • Paul W. Guthrie: Jimmie G. The extraordinary life and tragic death of a Scottish motorcycle racing champion . Germany 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820872-0-7 .

Web links

Commons : Jimmie Guthrie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erwin Tragatsch: Famous Motorcycles. Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, 1st edition 2000, ISBN 3-613-02038-6 . P. 127
  2. ^ LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling . Facts and Feats. 1982, ISBN 0-85112-255-8 , p. 57
  3. ↑ a b bbc.co.uk Jimmie Guthrie win European Grand Prix 1935 (accessed June 21, 2014)
  4. ↑ Mick Walker: The Norton Manx. Redline Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-9544357-9-0 , p. 26

Remarks

  1. ↑ Stanley Woods (see Walker) speaks 1992 of a "foul". An unnamed German driver is said to have pushed Guthrie off the racing line. Woods names the accident site as a section of the route "Heiterer Blick" with a downhill right-hand bend. Gordon Small names Jimmie Guthrie in his 1997 book . Hawick's Racing Legend, Hawick Archaeological Society , Kurt Mansfeld as a lapped driver who is said to have pushed Guthrie off the track. Guthrie is said to have died in the last corner after Setright and Tragatsch. The BBC report mentions the “Noetzhold corner” (youth curve) as the scene of the accident, a little further from the destination of the 8.6 km long links course. The Guthrie-Stein is now after the section “Heiterer Blick”, the finish line was then in front of the Queckenberg curve. See [1]
personal data
SURNAME Guthrie, Jimmie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guthrie, Andrew James; Jimmy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Hawick , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 1937
Place of death Chemnitz