At TT 2016 Roy will reach
yet another milestone in his sidecar racing career it will be his
50th year at the TT.
From a shop in Erdington
Birmingham called Fred Hanks Motorcycles emerged a sidecar dynasty
starting with his father Fred and brother Norman racing on both
Circuits and at the TT. Roy was soon to follow and still
in the same shop as his workplace along
with co owner his sister Beryl
Daniel.
The Hanks family have been
racing sidecars at the TT since 1955.
Not to be outdone and
following in the wheel tracks of father Fred and brother Norman Roy
made his debut at the TT in 1966 at the age of 18, with a finish in
18 place on a BSA with a race speed of 72.92 mph.
Following that he went on to
achieve a high number of excellent finishing positions with
different passengers at the TT
Outside the top 30 two
finishes
30th and 20th two finishes
20th to 10th 13 finishes
10th to 5th 8 finishes
Top 5 include finishing in
5th place 8 times 4th place 11 times 2nd place 8 times
So far
Roy has collected 47 TT Replicas and a fastest lap of over 108 mph.
In 1997 Roy finally achieved
what he set out to do winning Sidecar Race
A with a race
speed of 105.62 mph with his passenger Phil Biggs in Second place
just 2.2 seconds behind was Vince and Graham Biggs and in Third
place Tom Hanks and Steve Wilson
The podium was pretty much a
family affair as Tom is Roy's Nephew both Graham and Phil are
brothers and Vince's Nephews, another interesting fact Vince and Tom
were both passengers for Roy in past TT races, In
the Sidecar Race B Roy and Phil finished in 4th place.
Roy certainly carried on the
family connection his brother in law Gerald
Daniel was also his passenger for four years at the TT. Norman
competed at the TT with a lady passenger Rose Arnold for three years
in 1968 she was the first ever lady to stand on the TT Podium when
they finished second in the sidecar 750 race Rose later became Roy's
wife.
Roy's
achievements during his racing career are to numerous to mention
both in open and the later format of Formula 2 sidecar
classes.
With the
knowledge Roy has about the TT course if you're
a newcomer I'm sure he
will give you good advice on how to tackle the course so don't be
afraid to ask I'm sure he won't mind.
Roy is highly respected both
in and outside the racing paddock. When he is not
racing not only is he hard at work in the shop, he keeps
himself occupied with the following organisations. In 1997 he became a director of the ACU.
He is also Chairman of the ACU Benevolent Fund and has taken over from his late
father as Chairman of the TT Supporters Club.
The
Hank's racing doesn't end there because
following in his wheel tracks at the TT is his daughter Julie
Hanks-Elliot as a passenger and maybe one day as a driver so watch
this space!! Who knows what other sporting events the Hank's name
will appear in!!.
Roy will will start at number 18.
Let's all do
our best to help Roy celebrate this great achievement and milestone
in his racing career get your TT programmes signed
by him and don't forget to acknowledge him as he goes around
the course on practice and race days along with
his passenger Kevin Perry.
I
couldn't end without mentioning his
former passenger and good friend Dave Wells who sadly lost his life
following an accident at Mallory Park in 2011 he is fondly
remembered by the whole of the sidecar racing fraternity. In the 11
years they became one of the most highly successful paring both on
the circuits and road racing earning the nickname the "flying
granddads" winning the ACU/FSRA Super F2 Championship
and many other individual racing podium finishes.
Thank you
for all your help and support you have given to me over years gone
by. Enjoy
your 50th year Roy my good friend come home safe.
Pete
Oulton
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