Jimmie Simpson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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).

Jimmie H. Simpson (* 1898 ; † 1981 ) was a British motorcycle racer .

Simpson was a works driver for many years, first with AJS and later with Norton and one of the most successful racing drivers before the Second World War .

Characteristics

Jimmie Simpsons driving style was considered extremely brutal and material murder. In many races he usually took the lead early. He often won by a large margin, but just as often he retired due to technical defects, as his driving style was too demanding for the machines of the time. This was particularly evident at the Isle of Man TT , the most important race of the time. Simpson was always the first rider in TT history to lap the Snaefell Mountain Course at average speeds of 60  mph (97  km / h ), 70 mph (113 km / h) and 80 mph (129 km / h), but still walked due to his constant racing bad luck as "Unlucky Jim" ("Unhappy Jim") in the history of the race.

Because of his many lap records, he is honored with the Jimmy Simpson Trophy at the Isle of Man TT . This is won annually by the driver who drives the absolutely fastest lap of a TT week.

Career

Beginnings

Jimmie Simpson first competed in the Isle of Man TT in 1922 . He started in the senior race, the 500 cc class, on a Scott and retired after just half a lap with damage to the tank of his machine.

Works driver at AJS (1923–1928)

In 1923 he switched to AJS Simpsons first TT outing for the manufacturer from Wolverhampton in the junior race (350 cm³) of the same year was very typical for him. He set a new lap record in his class with an average speed of 59  mph and led the race by over a minute when he was eliminated by a fall.

Also in 1924 he could not finish in both junior and senior races. At the 1924 European motorcycle championship , the first ever in the history of motorcycle sport, which was held as part of the Grand Prix of Nations on September 6, 1924 at the Circuito di Milano in Monza , Italy , Simpson won ahead of the locals Isacco Mariani and Mario Saetti the 350 cm³ barrel and became the first ever European champion in this category. This was also his first major victory on mainland Europe .

In 1925, Jimmie Simpson competed in the 350 and 500 TT on the Isle of Man as well as the sidecar race, which he finished fifth. He finished third in the junior run, and dropped out again in the half-liter class. In July of that year, the Briton won the 500 cc race for the 6ème Grand Prix de l'UMF in Montlhéry on a Sunbeam .

In 1926, Simson celebrated the best TT placement of his career up to then on AJS with second place behind Alec Bennett in the junior race. A little later he won the half-liter run at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the Austrian Rupert Karner (Sunbeam) and the Irish Stanley Woods ( Norton ) and thus crowned himself for the first and only time in his career the 500 cc European Champion . In August Simpson also won the 350 race at the Berlin AVUS for the German Grand Prix, which is only being held for the second time .

The 1927 season was the most successful in Jimmy Simpson's career to date. At the Nürburgring, which had just opened a few weeks earlier, he won the 350 series for the German Grand Prix, which this year also ran at the European Championship , and was thus European champion in this class for the second time ahead of compatriot Frank Longman . A little later, the Briton also won two 350 cc races for the Grand Prix of Belgium, Switzerland and Austria .

Between his races, Jimmy Simpson worked as a test driver for the AJS road machines. His philosophy was simple but effective. With an extremely brutal driving style, he relentlessly exposed the weaknesses of every machine. Up to and including 1928, Simpson contested a total of twelve TT races for the manufacturer from Wolverhampton, but only crossed the finish line four times. His best place was second in the 1926 junior race.

Norton works pilot (from 1929)

In 1929 Jimmy Simpson joined Norton . In the first season for the manufacturer, his TT bad luck remained true to him. He was eliminated in both the junior and senior TT races. In 1930 he prevented Rudge from triumphing three times by taking third place in the rainy 500cc race . On August 31st of that year, Simpson won his first international victory for the manufacturer from Birmingham by winning the half-liter run for the first ever Swedish Grand Prix in Saxtorp .

From 1931 the Norton single - cylinder four-stroke machines had a degree of reliability that matched their speed and that allowed them to dominate the large classes up to 350 and 500 cm³ at will until the Second World War . In the senior TT run of the year, Simpson was the first rider ever to lap the Snaefell Mountain Course with an average speed of over 80 mph (129 km / h), but later retired again and had to leave the victory to his teammate Percy Hunt . He was able to win the Swedish Grand Prix again in the 500cc category.

In the 1932 season, Jimmy Simpson completed a Norton triple victory in third place in the senior TT race behind Stanley Woods and Jimmie Guthrie . He was eliminated in the junior run. On the European mainland he won the 350 cc races for the UMF Grand Prix in Reims and the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.

In 1933 Simpson was second behind teammate Woods in the senior TT . After winning the 350cc race for the UMF Grand Prix, the Briton also won the 350cc race for the Swedish Grand Prix in Saxtorp, where the European motorcycle championship was held in 1933 . He prevailed against his Scottish teammate Jimmie Guthrie and won the third 350 European title of his career.

Most successful season and end of career (1934)

Even before the 1934 season, Jimmy Simpson decided to end his active career, which was characterized by a few serious accidents, at the end of the year. What followed was the most successful season of his career. In both junior and senior TT he finished second behind Jimmie Guthrie. In the race in the lightweight category (250 cm³ class), Simpson was able to prevail on a Rudge against his brand colleagues Ernie Nott and Graham Walker . On top of that, it set a new lap record for this class and gave the Coventry-based manufacturer the last win in its history on the Isle of Man.

In the following weeks Simpson achieved five more Grand Prix victories on Norton. He won the 350cc race at the Dutch TT on the Circuit van Drenthe in the Dutch Assen , where the EM 1934 has been extended, and thus the fourth 350cc championship of his career. The following weekend, he won the 350 cc race for the German Grand Prix on the Badberg-Viereck in Hohenstein-Ernstthal . A week later Simpson won the 350 and 500 races at the Swiss Grand Prix in Bremgarten, and the following weekend he won the 350cc race of the Belgian Grand Prix for the third time. At the end of the season, Jimmie Simpson also won the 350cc race at the Ulster Grand Prix in Northern Ireland in August .

After the end of his active career, Jimmie Simpson remained connected to racing and the TT as a member of the racing department of the mineral oil company Shell .

Balance sheet

In his 13-year career, Jimmie Simpson won five European Championship titles , making him the most successful driver in the European Championship before World War II . With four titles in the 350cc class, he is the most successful pilot in European Championship history in this category, which was held until 1948.

Simpson achieved around 20 victories at the major national grands prix on the European continent. The Briton took part in the Isle of Man TT a total of 26 times, but could only celebrate one victory.

statistics

title

Isle of Man TT victories

year class machine Average speed
1934 Lightweight (250 cm³) Rudge 70.81  mph (113.96  km / h )

Race wins

(colored background = European championship run )

year class machine run route
1924 350 cc AJS III. Grand Prix of Nations Monza
1925 500 cc Sunbeam 6ème Grand Prix de l'UMF Montlhéry
1926 500 cc AJS VI. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
350 cc AJS II. Grand Prix of Germany AVUS
1927 350 cc AJS IV. Swiss Grand Prix Geneva
350 cc AJS III. Grand Prix of Germany Nürburgring
350 cc AJS VII. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
350 cc AJS I. Grand Prix of Austria Vösendorf
1930 500 cc Norton Swedish Grand Prix Saxtorp
1931 500 cc Norton Swedish Grand Prix Saxtorp
1932 350 cc Norton 13ème Grand Prix de l'UMF Circuit de Reims-Gueux
350 cc Norton XII. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
1933 350 cc Norton 14ème Grand Prix de l'UMF Dieppe
350 cc Norton Swedish Grand Prix Saxtorp
1934 350 cc Norton X. Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
350 cc Norton IX. Grand Prix of Germany Badberg square
350 cc Norton XI. Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton XI. Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
350 cc Norton XIV. Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
350 cc Norton XIII. Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit

References

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vincent Glon: Les Championnats du Monde de Courses sur Route - L'année 1981. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on May 11, 2010 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Simpson, Jimmie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Simpson, Jimmie H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH 1898
DATE OF DEATH 1981