1957 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1957 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the ninth F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix season. The season consisted of six Grand Prix races in five classes: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc and Sidecars 500cc. It began on 19 May, with German Grand Prix and ended with Nations Grand Prix in Italy on 1 September.

Season summary

1957 marked the end of a Golden Era in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. There had been an impressive variety of machinery competing during the 1950s including, works teams from AJS, Norton, Gilera, MV Agusta, Moto Guzzi, and BMW. That's six factories taking part with singles, twins and four-cylinder machines. Include privateer Nortons and Matchless and it made for a colorful competition.^[1]

Then the Italian firms dropped a bombshell by announcing they would pull out of racing at the conclusion of the 1957 season, citing escalating costs and dwindling motorcycle sales.^[1] MV Agusta initially went along with the pull out before reconsidering.^[1] The firm would go on to claim 17 consecutive 500cc crowns.

1957 would also mark a new era in other respects with the banning of the dustbin fairings due to their dangerous instability in crosswinds.^[1] Another harbinger of change was the introduction of two-stroke engines in competition. An East German firm named MZ placed respectably in races at the Nürburgring although few people viewed the two-strokes as a threat to the mighty four-strokes.^[1]

1957 Grand Prix season calendar

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 500cc winner	Report
1	19 May	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Carlo Ubbiali	Carlo Ubbiali	Libero Liberati	Libero Liberati	Hillebrand / Grunwald	Report
2	7 June	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain	Tarquinio Provini	Cecil Sandford	Bob McIntyre	Bob McIntyre	Hillebrand / Grunwald	Report
3	29 June	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen	Tarquinio Provini	Tarquinio Provini	Keith Campbell	John Surtees	Hillebrand / Grunwald	Report
4	7 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	Tarquinio Provini	John Hartle	Keith Campbell	Libero Liberati	Schneider / Strauß	Report
5	10 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Dundrod Circuit	Luigi Taveri	Cecil Sandford	Keith Campbell	Libero Liberati		Report
6	1 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Carlo Ubbiali	Tarquinio Provini	Bob McIntyre	Libero Liberati	Milani / Milani	Report

Standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Only the four best races were counted in all five classes: the Sidecars, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc championships.

500cc final standings

Pos Rider Bike GER MAN HOL BEL ULS NAC Pts 1 Libero Liberati Gilera 1 2 1 1 1 32 (38) 2 Bob McIntyre Gilera 2 1 Ret 2 20 3 John Surtees MV Agusta Ret 2 1 Ret Ret 4 17 4 Geoff Duke Gilera 3 2 10 5 Jack Brett Norton Ret 4 2 Ret 9 6 Walter Zeller BMW 3 Ret 3 Ret 8 7 Keith Bryen Matchless / Norton / Moto Guzzi 13 6 3 5 7 8 Dickie Dale Moto Guzzi 4 4 6 9 Alfredo Milani Gilera Ret 3 4 10 Bob Brown Gilera 3 4 11 Terry Shepherd MV Agusta 5 Ret 6 6 4 12 Derek Minter Norton 16 9 4 3 13 Geoffrey Tanner Norton 28 4 3 14 Ernst Hiller BMW 6 5 3 15 Mike O'Rourke Norton 29 10 5 2 16 Keith Campbell Moto Guzzi Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret 2 = Umberto Masetti MV Agusta Ret Ret 5 2 18 Hans-Günter Jäger Norton / BMW 13 Ret 6 13 1 19 Alan Trow Norton 6 1 20 John Hempleman Norton Ret 7 Ret 11 0 21 Carlo Bandirola MV Agusta 7 0 = Alistair King Norton 7 0 = Bob Matthews Norton 7 0 = Ernst Riedelbauch BMW 7 0 25 Jimmy Buchan Jr. Norton 9 8 0 26 Roger Barker Norton 10 8 0 27 Gerold Klinger BMW Ret Ret Ret 8 0 28 Eugen Hagenlocher BMW 8 0 = Peter Murphy Matchless 8 0 30 Alois Huber BMW 9 11 0 31 John Clark Moto Guzzi Ret Ret Ret 9 0 = John Hartle Norton Ret Ret Ret 9 0 33 Jackie Wood Norton Ret 10 0 34 Giuseppe Cantoni Gilera 10 0 35 Ken Tostevin Norton 10 18 11 0 36 Bernard Codd Norton 11 0 = Jacques Insermini Norton 11 0 38 Denis Christian Matchless Ret 12 0 39 Austin Carson Norton 12 0 = Frank Fox Norton 12 0 = Francesco Guglieminetti Norton 12 0 = Priem Rozenberg BMW 12 0 43 Fred Wallis BSA Ret 13 0 44 Kees Koster Norton 13 0 = Nico Tagli Gilera 13 0 46 Ralph Rensen Norton Ret 14 0 47 Peter Davey Norton 14 0 = Anton Elbersen Norton 14 0 49 Derek Powell Matchless Ret 15 0 = George Catlin Norton 15 Ret 0 51 Vernon Cottle Norton 16 0 52 Dennis Chapman Norton Ret 17 0 53 George Costain Norton 17 0 54 Dick Thomson Norton / Matchless Ret Ret 18 0 55 John Denton Norton 19 0 = Jimmy Jones Norton 19 0 57 Harry Lowe BSA 27 20 0 58 John Anderson Norton 20 Ret Ret 0 59 Harry Grant BSA Ret 21 0 60 Louis Carr Matchless 21 0 61 Martin Brosnan Norton 22 0 = Stan Setaro Norton 22 0 63 Tommy Holmes BSA 23 0 = Arthur Wheeler Moto Guzzi 23 0 65 Ray Fay Norton 24 0 = Jimmy Hayes AJS 24 0 67 Bob Coulter BSA 25 0 = Ken Tully Norton 25 0 69 M.S. Hall Norton 26 0 = Ken Willis Norton 26 0 71 Bill Roberton Norton 30 0 72 Roly Capner Norton 31 0 73 Ernie Barrett Norton 32 0 74 Robert King Norton 33 0 75 Arnold Jones AJS 34 0 76 Basil King Norton 35 0 77 Llewellyn Ranson Norton 36 0 78 Bob Rowbottom Norton 37 0 79 Joe Glazebrook AJS 38 0 - Noel McCutcheon Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - Martinus van Son Matchless Ret Ret 0 - Andy Aharonian BSA Ret 0 - Sven Andersson Norton Ret 0 - Piet Bakker Norton Ret 0 - John Banks Norton Ret 0 - Bill Beevers Norton Ret 0 - Raymond Bogaerdt Norton Ret 0 - Joe Brindley Norton Ret 0 - Stan Cameron AJS Ret 0 - Paolo Campanelli Gilera Ret 0 - Fabio Ceredi Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Dave Chadwick Norton Ret 0 - Jacques Collot Norton Ret Ret 0 - Giuseppe Colnago Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Ronald Cousins Norton Ret 0 - René Deschamps Norton Ret 0 - Bob Ferguson Matchless Ret 0 - Enrico Galante Norton Ret 0 - Ulf Gate Norton Ret 0 - Martino Giani Gilera Ret 0 - Walter Hancock BSA Ret 0 - Eric Hinton Norton Ret 0 - Heinz Kauert Matchless Ret 0 - Rudolf Knees BMW Ret 0 - Guy Ligier Norton Ret 0 - Robert Lilley Norton Ret 0 - Giuseppe Mantelli Gilera Ret 0 - Kurt Maul Norton Ret 0 - Robert McCracken Norton Ret 0 - Bernard Morle Norton Ret 0 - Albert Moule Norton Ret 0 - Andrew Mustard BSA Ret 0 - Pierre Nicholas Norton Ret 0 - Jules Nies Norton Ret 0 - Frank Norris Norton Ret 0 - George Northwood Norton Ret 0 - Grenville Pennington BSA Ret 0 - Harry Plews Norton Ret 0 - Brian Purslow Norton Ret 0 - Charlie Salt BSA Ret 0 - George Salt Norton Ret 0 - Karl-Heinz Scheifel Matchless Ret 0 - Toni Schmitz Norton Ret 0 - Brian Setchell Norton Ret 0 - Casper Swart Norton Ret 0 - Percy Tait Norton Ret 0 - Don Tickle Norton Ret 0 - Hermann Vogt Matchless Ret 0 - Danny Walker Norton Ret 0 - Trevor Williams Norton Ret 0 - Ian Yeates Norton Ret 0 - Gianvittorio Ziglioli Moto Guzzi Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike GER MAN HOL BEL ULS NAC Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

1957 350cc Roadracing World Championship final standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Keith Campbell		Australia	Moto Guzzi	30	3
2	Bob McIntyre		United Kingdom	Gilera	22	2
3	Libero Liberati	7	Italy	Gilera	22	1
4	Keith Bryen		Australia	Moto Guzzi	12	0
5	John Hartle	8	United Kingdom	Norton	11	0
6	Giuseppe Colnago		Italy	Moto Guzzi	7	0
7	Bob Brown	17	Australia	Gilera	6	0
8	Alano Montanari	3	Italy	Moto Guzzi	5	0
9	Helmut Hallmeier		West Germany	NSU	4	0
10	Jack Brett	12	United Kingdom	Norton	3	0
10	Umberto Masetti	14	Italy	MV Agusta	3	0
10	Alfredo Milani		Italy	Gilera	3	0
10	John Surtees	4	United Kingdom	MV Agusta	3	0

1957 250cc Roadracing World Championship final standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Cecil Sandford	5	United Kingdom	Mondial	26	2
2	Tarquinio Provini		Italy	Mondial	16	2
3	Sammy Miller	7	United Kingdom	Mondial	14	0
4	Roberto Colombo		Italy	MV Agusta	10	0
5	John Hartle	8	United Kingdom	MV Agusta	8	1
5	Carlo Ubbiali	1	Italy	MV Agusta	8	1
7	Luigi Taveri	2	Switzerland	MV Agusta	8	0
8	Dave Chadwick		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	7	0
9	Enrico Lorenzetti		Italy	Moto Guzzi	7	0
10	Remo Venturi	6	Italy	MV Agusta	6	0

1957 125cc Roadracing World Championship final standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Tarquinio Provini	4	Italy	Mondial	30	3
2	Luigi Taveri	3	Switzerland	MV Agusta	22	1
3	Carlo Ubbiali	1	Italy	MV Agusta	22	2
4	Sammy Miller		United Kingdom	Mondial	12	0
5	Roberto Colombo		Italy	MV Agusta	11	0
6	Cecil Sandford		United Kingdom	Mondial	9	0
7	Remo Venturi		Italy	MV Agusta	6	0
8	Fortunato Libanori	5	Italy	MV Agusta	5	0
9	František Bartoš		Czechoslovakia	CZ	3	0
9	Dave Chadwick		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	3	0
9	Horst Fügner		East Germany	MZ	3	0

References

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06. 

Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons Unrestricted era 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 Transitional era 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Safety-conscious era 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 MotoGP era 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Moto2 Moto3 2015 Moto2 Moto3 2016 Moto2 Moto3