Hailwood was born at Langsmeade House, Great Milton in Oxfordshire, the only son and elder child of Stanley William Bailey Hailwood, a millionaire businessman and managing director of a motorcar sales company, as well as a successful motorcycle dealer who had raced motorcycles in the pre-World War II era. He learned to ride at a young age on a minibike in a field near his home. He was educated at Purton Stoke Preparatory School, Kintbury, and Pangbourne Nautical College, but left early and worked briefly in the family business before his father sent him to work at Triumph motorcycles.
Hailwood saw his first race at the age of ten with his father, and first spectated at the Isle of Man TT races in 1956. He first raced on 22 April 1957, at Oulton Park, finishing in 11th place. In 1958 he won ACU Stars at 125 cc, 250 cc, and 350 cc classes, earning him the Pinhard Prize, an accolade awarded yearly to a young motorcyclist under 21 for the most meritorious achievement in motorcycle sport. He teamed with Dan Shorey to win the Thruxton 500 endurance race and finished in four classes of TT race with one podium.
By 1961, Hailwood was racing for up-and-coming Japanese factory Honda. In June 1961, he became the first man in the history of the Isle of Man TT to win three races in one week, winning the 125 cc, 250 cc, and 500 cc categories. He lost the chance at a fourth race when his 350 AJS failed with a broken gudgeon pin whilst leading. Riding a four-stroke, four-cylinder 250 cc Honda, Hailwood won the 1961 250cc world championship.
In 1962, Hailwood signed with MV Agusta and went on to become the first rider to win four consecutive 500cc World Championships. In February 1964, during preparations for the US Grand Prix, he set a new one-hour speed record on the MV 500 cc, recording an average speed of 144.8 mph (233.0 km/h) on the oval-shaped, banked speed-bowl at the Daytona circuit. The previous record of 143 mph (230 km/h) was set by Bob McIntyre on a 350 cc Gilera at Monza in 1957. Hailwood then won the GP race in the afternoon of the same day.
During 1965, Hailwood entered selected UK events for the Tom Kirby Team. In heavy rain, he won the 1965 Hutchinson 100 Production race at Silverstone on a BSA Lightning Clubman, beating the Triumph Bonnevilles entered by Syd Lawton. World Champion Phil Read and works employee Percy Tait also contested the race. Hailwood lapped at 83 mph (134 km/h) to establish his winning lead.
After his successes with MV Agusta, Hailwood returned to Honda and won four more world titles in 1966 and 1967 in the 250 cc and 350 cc categories. By 1967, he had won 12 times on the Isle of Man mountain course. He won what many historians consider to be the most dramatic Isle of Man race of all time — the 1967 Senior TT — against his great rival Giacomo Agostini. In that race he set a lap record of 108.77 mph (175.05 km/h) on the Honda RC181, a record that stood for the next eight years.
After suffering breakdowns in 1967, Hailwood relocated to South Africa where he started a building business with former motorcycle Grand Prix rider Frank Perris. For 1968, Honda pulled out of Grand Prix racing but paid Hailwood £50,000 (equivalent to over £870,000 at 2020 value) not to ride for another team. Hailwood continued to ride Hondas during 1968 and 1969 in selected race meetings without World Championship status, including European events in the Temporada Romagnola. He also appeared at Mallory Park and, in 1969, rode a Seeley at the Mallory Park Race of the Year.
Hailwood had already started to race cars and, with no factory team available to compete against MV Agusta, he decided to pursue a career in car racing. He placed third in the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans as co-driver of a Ford GT40 with David Hobbs.
In 1970, Hailwood was lured back into bike racing by the BSA team, riding a Rocket 3 at the Daytona 200 race in Florida. The machine failed due to overheating. He again rode for BSA at the 1971 Daytona race, qualifying on the front row and leading before breaking down again.
During his Formula One career, Hailwood participated in 50 Grands Prix, debuting in the British Grand Prix on 20 July 1963 and achieving two podium finishes with a total of 29 championship points. He was in contention for victory at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix: the first five finishers were covered by only 0.61 seconds, and Hailwood was fourth, 0.18 seconds behind winner Peter Gethin. He won the 1972 Formula Two European title and ran three full seasons in the European Shellsport F5000 series 1969–71, finishing second in the 1972 Tasman F5000 series in a 5000-engined TS8 F1 chassis.
Hailwood was recognised for his bravery at the 1973 South African Grand Prix, when he pulled Clay Regazzoni from his burning car after the two collided on the third lap. Hailwood's driving suit caught fire, but after being extinguished by a fire marshal he returned to help rescue Regazzoni, an act for which he was awarded the George Medal — the second-highest gallantry award that a British civilian can receive.
In 1974, Hailwood drove a works Yardley-sponsored McLaren M23 and sometimes outpaced team leader Emerson Fittipaldi. He left Formula One after being badly injured at the 1974 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and retired to New Zealand, where he was involved with a marine engineering business together with former McLaren manager Phil Kerr.
In 1977, Hailwood travelled to Australia to ride large-capacity Ducatis in long-distance races and a 30-lap event on a Yamaha. In April 1978, he entered a 3-hour long-distance event with Australian co-rider Jim Scaysbrook, and also rode at the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix on a 750 Yamaha.
In May 1978, Hailwood rode a demonstration at a Donington Park national motorcycle race day, re-acquainting himself with the TT course. On 3 June 1978, after an 11-year hiatus, Hailwood made a comeback at the Isle of Man TT in the Formula I race — a World Championship class based on large-capacity road machines first introduced for 1977. Riding a Ducati 900SS provided by Manchester dealership Sports Motorcycles, he won the F1 race at age 38. He finished 12th in the 250 cc Junior event, 28th in the 500 cc Senior race (affected by a faulty steering damper), and DNF in the Classic (1000 cc) race. He was awarded 'Man of the Year' for 1978 by Motorcycle News.
Hailwood raced at the 1979 Isle of Man TT before retiring for good at age 39. In that final appearance, he rode a two-stroke Suzuki RG 500 to victory in the Senior TT, then used the same bike in the Unlimited Classic, losing by two seconds to Alex George on an 1100cc Honda over six laps.
Following his retirement from motor sport, in late 1979, Hailwood established a Honda-based retail motorcycle dealership in Birmingham named Hailwood and Gould, in partnership with former motorcycle racer Rodney Gould.
On Saturday 21 March 1981, Hailwood set off in his Rover SD1 with his children Michelle and David to collect some fish and chips. As they returned along the A435 Alcester Road through Portway, Warwickshire, near their home in Tanworth-in-Arden, a lorry made an illegal turn through the barriers onto the central reservation and their car collided with it. Michelle, aged nine, was killed instantly. Mike and David were taken to hospital, where Mike died two days later from severe internal injuries at the age of 40. David survived with minor injuries. The lorry driver was fined £100.
Hailwood's funeral was on 1 April 1981. Attendees from the motorsport world included Giacomo Agostini, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Alan Jones, John Watson, Gilles Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, and Carlos Reutemann. Hailwood had claimed to have been told by a fortune teller in South Africa that he would not live to 40 and would be killed by a truck.
Hailwood retired with 76 Grand Prix victories, 112 Grand Prix podiums, 14 Isle of Man TT wins, and 9 World Championships, including 4 World Championships in 500cc. The FIM named him a Grand Prix "Legend" in 2000. He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001.
After his 1978 Isle of Man TT victory, Ducati offered a 900SS-based Mike Hailwood Replica for sale; approximately 7,000 were sold. In 1981, a section of the Snaefell Mountain Course was named Hailwood's Rise, leading to the highest point at Hailwood's Height. In 1984, Pauline Hailwood officially opened the Mike Hailwood Centre, a multi-purpose building at the TT Grandstand in Douglas, operated by the Mike Hailwood Foundation. Hailwood was awarded the Segrave Trophy for 1979 in recognition of his Isle of Man exploits in the Senior and Classic TTs.
In 1964, together with British commentator and journalist Murray Walker, Hailwood published a book, The Art of Motorcycle Racing.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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