Stanley Woods

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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).

Stanley Woods (born 1903 or November 1904 in Dublin , † July 28, 1993 in Castlewellan , County Down ) was an Irish motorcycle racer .

Woods won a total of 29 Grand Prix races and the Isle of Man TT ten times in his career .

Life

Woods was one of the most famous motorsport athletes in the world in the years before World War II and was very popular. He is also known as The World's First Motorcycle Superstar (Dt: The world's first motorcycle superstar) .

He was born the son of a Toffeehändlers that on a team of Harley-Davidson visited his customers and transported his goods in the sidecar. After Woods had converted the machine back into a solo motorcycle, he contested his first road race with it in 1921 , which he had to end prematurely due to an accident. Stanley Woods continued his father's business. Later, every time he took part in the TT on the Isle of Man , it is reported that he brought a pack of toffee back to the boy scouts who were serving the scoreboards as recognition. At the time of the Second World War, he trained as commander of the 2nd Cavalry Squadron for the Irish Army motorcyclists . Woods was chairman of the TTRA (TT Riders Association). In 1996 the Irish Post issued a postage stamp with his portrait in his honor.

Career

Stanley Woods wrote to well-known motorcycle manufacturers around 1920/21 with the request to sign him, but without success. He gained attention in 1922 when he competed in the TT on a privately acquired Cotton . The motorcycle caught fire while stopping for fuel. Woods cleared it and finished the race fifth. For the following years he was under contract with Cotton. In 1929 he moved to Norton . Although the global economic crisis reduced his salary - and with it his racing budget - considerably, he won the Tourist Trophy for Norton. In 1933 the Irishman left the English manufacturer and had brief interludes with Husqvarna in Sweden and DKW in Germany before going under contract with the Italian company Moto Guzzi . In 1939, after the last TT until the end of the war, Woods ended his active career with a victory on a Velocette . Woods topped the Isle of Man TT's all-time leaderboard until he was ousted by Mike Hailwood's eleventh win in 1967 . The Dutch TT in the Netherlands won Stanley Woods six times and participated in the prestigious Grand Prix of that time in Europe in part, in which he was able to win victories over again. In the mid-1930s, it dominated European races. For the golden anniversary of the TT in 1957, he drove a 350cc Moto Guzzi once again over the Snaefell Mountain Course .

statistics

title

  • 1927 - 350 cc vice European champion on Norton
  • 1931 - 500 cc vice European champion on Norton
Velocette KTT Mk VIII

Isle of Man TT victories

year class machine Average speed
1923 Junior (350 cm³) Cotton 55.73  mph (89.69  km / h )
1926 Senior (500 cm³) Norton 67.54 mph (108.7 km / h)
1932 Junior (350 cm³) Norton 77.16 mph (124.18 km / h)
Senior (500 cm³) Norton 79.83 mph (128.47 km / h)
1933 Junior (350 cm³) Norton 78.08 mph (125.66 km / h)
Senior (500 cm³) Norton 81.04 mph (130.42 km / h)
1935 Lightweight (250 cm³) Moto Guzzi 71.56 mph (115.16 km / h)
Senior (500 cm³) Moto Guzzi 84.68 mph (136.28 km / h)
1938 Junior (350 cm³) Velocette KTT Mk VIII 84.08 mph (135.31 km / h)
1939 Junior (350 cm³) Velocette KTT Mk VIII 83.19 mph (133.88 km / h)

More victories

year class machine run route Average speed
1924 over 600 cm³ New Imperial (980 cm³) Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 72.71  mph (117.02  km / h )
1925 over 600 cm³ New Imperial (980 cm³) Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 65.26 mph (105.03 km / h)
1927 500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Circuit de Meyrin
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
500 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
1928 350 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton UMF Grand Prix Bordeaux
1930 500 cc Norton Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 80.56 mph (129.65 km / h)
500 cc Norton Grand Prix of the L'UMF Circuit de Pau
1931 500 cc Norton Grand Prix of Germany Nürburgring
350 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 86.43 mph (139.1 km / h)
1932 350 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton UMF Grand Prix Circuit de Reims-Gueux
500 cc Norton Belgian Grand Prix Spa Francorchamps
350 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 85.15 mph (137.04 km / h)
1933 500 cc Norton North west 200
350 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe
500 cc Norton Swiss Grand Prix Bremgarten
500 cc Norton Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 87.43 mph (140.7 km / h)
1934 250 cc Moto Guzzi Barcelona Grand Prix Circuit de Montjuïc
500 cc Moto Guzzi Barcelona Grand Prix Circuit de Montjuïc
1935 500 cc Husqvarna Swedish Grand Prix Saxtorp
1936 250 cc Velocette Barcelona Grand Prix Circuit de Montjuïc
1939 350 cc Velocette Ulster Grand Prix Clady Circuit 91.65 mph (147.5 km / h)

References

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mac McDiarmid: The magic of the TT: a century of racing over the Mountain . Haynes, Yeovil 2004, ISBN 1-84425-002-4 .
  2. ↑ Jim Reynolds: Obituary: Stanley Woods. The Independent, July 31, 1993, accessed September 20, 2015 .
  3. ^ Stanley Woods. The Vintagent, December 22, 2013, accessed September 20, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Oliver Barbour: 2 Cavalry Squadron History. eircom.net, accessed on September 20, 2015 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Woods, Stanley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH 1903 or November 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Dublin
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1993
Place of death Castlewellan