Jock Taylor
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Jock Taylor (March 9, 1954 - August 15, 1982) was a Scottish World Champion motorcycle sidecar racer.
John Robert Taylor was born in Pencaitland, East Lothian, and entered his first sidecar race at the age of 19, as the passenger to Kenny Andrews (1974). The following year he took part in his first race as a driver.
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[edit] Racing career
Taylor was Scottish Sidecar Champion in 1977. Most of the races were held at Knockhill. He was British Sidecar Champion in 1979 and 1980 at Donnington. In 1980, Taylor and his passenger Benga Johansson won 4 races, and finished on the podium in all seven events. He collected the only "Did Not Finish" of his sidecar TT career on the famous Isle of Man circuit in 1979. He went on to become a four-time TT winner. Two years later, Taylor and Johansson raised the sidecar lap record at the Isle of Man TT to 108.29 mph (ca. 175 km/h), a lap record which stood for 7 years.
[edit] Death
In the 1982 Finnish Grand Prix, held under very wet conditions, Taylor and Johansson's bike slid off the road and collided with a telephone pole along the course. The emergency services were removing him from the wreckage when a second sidecar team slid into them. Taylor was killed in the second accident. He is buried in the cemetery at Pencaitland, and a memorial to him was erected in the village in December 2006.
[edit] Annual Jock Taylor Memorial Race
Every year sidecar racers travel from all over the UK to Knockhill in Scotland to race in the prestigious 'Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy' race.
