Geoff Duke

Geoff Duke
Geoff Duke (1951)
Nationality	British
Born	(1923-03-29) 29 March 1923 St. Helens, Lancashire, England
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1950 - 1959 First race 1950 Isle of Man TT Last race 1959 Nations Grand Prix First win 1950 500 cc Isle of Man TT Last win 1958 500 cc Swedish Grand Prix Team(s) Benelli, BMW, Gilera, Norton, NSU Championships 350 cc - 1951, 1952 500 cc - 1951, 1953 - 1955 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 89 33 50 359 (371) Isle of Man TT career TTs contested 9 (1949 - 1955, 1958, 1959) TT wins 6 First TT win 1949 Clubmans Senior TT Last TT win 1955 Senior TT Podiums 8

Geoffrey Ernest Duke OBE (born 29 March 1923) is a British multiple motorcycle Grand Prix road racing world champion. He was born in St. Helens, Lancashire.^[1]

Career

Duke was a prominent figure in racing in the 1950s, winning six world championships and six Isle of Man TT races.^[1] First entering the Isle of Man Manx Grand Prix in 1948, he retired after four laps of the Junior race. He came to prominence after the 1949 events, finishing second in the Junior race, after remounting due to a spill, and winning the Senior race with a record lap and race-average speeds.^[2][3][4] He also won the 1949 Senior Clubmans TT.^[5] He signed to the Norton works team for the 1950 TT, finishing second in the Junior TT and breaking both lap and race records in the Senior TT.

After winning three World Championships for Norton, he moved abroad to Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Gilera in 1953.^[6] With Gilera, he had a string of three consecutive 500 cc world championships.^[1] His support for a riders' strike demanding more start money led the FIM to suspend him for six months, dashing any hopes for a fourth consecutive title.^[6][7] For 1953 he joined the sports car racing team of Aston Martin (Feltham, Middlesex) to race the DB3.^[8] Teamed with Peter Collins, the pair led the 12 Hours of Sebring until Duke's accident and resulting DNF. In 1955 he was declared the first rider to lap the Isle of Man TT course at 100 mph, though this was later corrected to 99.97.^[9] As a consequence the official first 100 mph lap is credited to Bob McIntyre, also on a Gilera, in 1957. Duke was a non-starter because of injury. His final race was the 1959 Nations Grand Prix. In 1963, he formed a racing team – Scuderia Duke, with riders Derek Minter and John Hartle – to race the 1957 Gileras against Mike Hailwood riding the MV Agusta.^[6]

Later life

Duke was the first rider to wear one-piece leathers - he had enlisted his local tailor to make the first of his now famous one-piece race suits.^[10] He was named Sportsman of the Year in 1951, awarded the RAC Segrave Trophy^[11] and, in recognition of his services to motorcycling, was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1953. Highly honoured by the Isle of Man, where he made so many of his world record breaking rides, a point on the Mountain Course has been named after him. Three sharp bends at the 32nd Milestone between Brandywell and Windy Corner now carry the title 'Duke's'.

After retiring from racing, Duke became a businessman, initially in the motor trade and later in shipping services to the Isle of Man. In 1978 he was instrumental in setting up the Manxline company that introduced the first roll-on-roll-off ferry service to the IOM in competition with the 150-year-old IOM Steam Packet Co.^[12] The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2002.^[13] His son Peter founded Duke Video, a successful publisher specialising in motorsport videos.

World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap. An empty black cell indicates that the class did not compete at that particular championship round.)

References

Footnotes

Books

Walker, Mick (2007). Geoff Duke: The Stylish Champion. MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 9781859835456.