Jock Taylor

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.

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 Donington Park. 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.

Death

In the 1982 Finnish Grand Prix, held in Imatra 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. A memorial also stands in Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy, on the old motorcycle racing circuit.

Jock's World championship, and TT 108.29 mph lap record winning Sidecar was bought by friend and fellow competitor Jack Muldoon from Jocks sponsor Dennis Trollope, Jack rescued Jocks Outfit from the 5-man consortium who were supposed to restore the bike to its original condition and display it in a museum in afford Aberdeenshire, that never happened in the four years that lay up in Afford in bits in a shed.

Jack Muldoon and family bought Jock's bike in March 2012 and started the restoration work immediately, the sidecar was completely stripped to a bare chassis, with months spent with strip emery cleaning and polishing the chassis, due to the 26 years it lay at Donington in the museum and then 4 years up in Aberdeen the chassis and all components were covered in rust and everything was seized every component on the bike had to be stripped and cleaned, all bearings in all parts of the chassis were replaced the engine was completely stripped and rebuilt. It was done with the help of Bill Howarth and Dennis Trollope for all the TZ700 parts required in the engine rebuild, Terry Windle, Stuart Mellor, Lockheed, HEL Performance Brake Pipes, Paul Drake Koni Shockers, Yolst Silkoline Oils; by August the restoration was 90% complete it was the first time in 30 years that the TZ700 engine had run, and was paraded at the Jock Taylor Memorial race weekend at East Fortune near Edinburgh in August 2012, 2 miles from where Jock was born and brought up. Jack Muldoon had a deadline to meet with the restoration of Jock's bike, and it was ready in time for the Jock Taylor Memorial Meeting in August.

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. In 2012, the race will be held at East Fortune where Taylor started his racing career nearly 40 years ago.

External links

• Taylor's Rider Profile on the official Isle of Man TT website
• BBC News article on unveiling of memorial, December 2006