My brother John and myself are giving a bit of a talk at the Coventry Section this Friday about John racing in the Classic Races at the Manx Grand Prix in 1998 and 1989. I was just looking up a few facts and figures in the 1988 results book and came across a piece about Chris Hayden who rode a Vincent twin in the Senior race in 1988. There is a bit of a feature article about him being presented with a photo-copy of a report of the 1949 Clubman's TT that appeared in the June 1949 edition of "Motor Cycle" when Chris Horn set a Vincent TT course record lap speed of 85.55 mph. Chris Hayden had lapped at 86.24 in practice so was quite pleased.
In the six lap Friday Senior race pitted against against modern 750-1000 Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, etc. Chris obviously finished well down the order against this sort of opposition but did indeed finish. His best race lap is shown as 92.5mph average.
I wonder if this was the last time a Vincent twin engine was raced in the Manx Grand Prix and if the Vincent lap time set by Chris Hayden was bettered?
In the six lap Friday Senior race pitted against against modern 750-1000 Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, etc. Chris obviously finished well down the order against this sort of opposition but did indeed finish. His best race lap is shown as 92.5mph average.
I wonder if this was the last time a Vincent twin engine was raced in the Manx Grand Prix and if the Vincent lap time set by Chris Hayden was bettered?
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