In 1978, Mike Hailwood returned to the Isle of Man TT after eleven years away and won the Formula One race on a Ducati. His motorcycle racing comeback had begun earlier.
In 1977, the nine-time world champion entered Australia’s Castrol Six Hour endurance race alongside Jim Scaysbrook. Rediscovering the enjoyment of riding mattered to him. After the severe ankle injury he sustained in the 1974 German Formula 1 car race, life without competition had been difficult. The Australian outing gives the comeback a tangible earlier chapter.
Also in 1977, Hailwood met Manchester’s Steve Wynne at Silverstone. Riding a Ducati prepared by Wynne led to a plan for the following year’s TT. There, aged 38, Hailwood took victory on the 900 SS, securing a lasting place in Ducati’s racing history.
A Senior victory followed in 1979: his fourteenth and final TT win. Hailwood’s return therefore extends beyond the single celebrated race on the Ducati.