Great Read: Mike Hailwood's underrated F1 adventure

Motorcycle world champ turned F1 hopeful | View in browser FROM OUR ARCHIVE, APRIL 2016 | PAUL FEARNLEY Great Read: 'Mike the Car' – Hailwood's underrated F1 adventures Motorcycle legend Mike Hailwood was tragically killed on this day in 1981. Two stabs at F1 yielded no victories, but don't be fooled by the record books. Hailwood was good enough to win at racing's top echelon, says Paul Fearnley in today's Great Read Mike Hailwood took easily to Formula 1. Its driving aspect at least. At the second time of asking, that is. His first was premature, beset by distraction, frustration and unease. A living god on two wheels one week, lumbered with a four-wheeled dog the next, he railed against claustrophobic cockpits and cloistered paddocks. "I'm always glad to get back to a motorcycle meeting," he admitted in 1964, a season of unbroken motorbike success with MV Agusta cleft by a shattered F1 dream. "The motorcycle gang are much more friendly..." READ MORE PHOTO: GRAND PRIX PHOTO SPORTS CARS | ANDREW FRANKEL Ferrari's sports car return: out to avenge 312PB's crushing defeat Ferrari's return to top-level sports car racing comes 50 years after its last works effort — the astounding Ferrari 312PB. But it didn't bow out of competition in the way that it arguably deserved... Is it a coincidence that Ferrari's most successful period in sports car racing coincided with one of its least successful times in Formula 1? Certainly if you look at Ferrari's fortunes in grand prix racing after it quit the sports car scene at the end of 1973, there seems to be a case to be made. In 1973 there was not a single F1 podium finish in 15 rounds, and a grand total of three points – three – from the last 12 races of the season resulting in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.  The following year without a sports car team to to support? Three wins, eleven podiums and P2 in the Constructors' followed by outright championship wins for the next three years on the trot. Ferrari had learned you could no longer fight at the top level on two different fronts as it had in the 1950s and early 1960s... READ MORE PHOTO: DPPI SHOP PROMOTION Bestsellers: Motor Sport shop Mike the Bike – AGAIN | Ted Macauley | Paperback Valentino Rossi Career Tribute Signed Collage Valentino Rossi's Yamaha YZR-M1 Bike| MotoGP | Pit lane Prints | Art Print The World's Greatest Race | Motor Sport Magazine | Collector's Edition Bookazine Slow Burn - The Growth of Superbikes & Superbike racing 1970 to 1988 | Bob Guntrip | Hardback Valentino Rossi - Yamaha – 2018 | David Johnson | Limited Edition print Share this newsletter: Stay up to date  Update your preferences to select the content you wish to receive.   UPDATE NOW  Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy. Motor Sport magazine, 18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE Company no. 05471049, Vat no. 871 544 60