Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood, was a British professional motorcycle racer and racing driver. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest racers of all time. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle world championships from 1958 to 1967 and in Formula One between 1963 and 1974. Hailwood was known as "Mike The Bike" because of his natural riding ability on motorcycles with a range of engine capacities.
Phillip William Read, was an English professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from 1961 to 1976. Read is notable for being the first competitor to win world championships in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc classes. Although he was often overshadowed by his contemporary, Mike Hailwood, he won seven FIM Grand Prix road racing world championships.
Luigi Taveri was a Swiss professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1954 to 1966. Taveri is notable for being a three-time 125cc road racing world champion. Although he specialised in the smaller engined machines, Taveri is the only competitor to have scored points in six Grand Prix classes: 50cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, 500cc and Sidecars. In 2016, he was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.
Dave Simmonds was a British professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1963 to 1972. Simmonds is notable for winning the 1969 125 cc FIM road racing world championship.
Mick Grant is an English former professional motorcycle road racer and TT rider. A works-supported rider for Norton, Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki, he is a seven-time winner of the Isle of Man TT motorcycle race on various makes, including 'Slippery Sam', a three-cylinder Triumph Trident. The son of a coal miner, the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Yorkshireman from Wakefield, was a sharp contrast to the brash, playboy image presented by Londoner Barry Sheene during the 1970s.
Alfred Robert Foster was a British professional motorcycle racer. He competed professionally from 1935 to 1951 and won the 1950 FIM 350cc Grand Prix world championship.
Paul Smart was an English short circuit motorcycle road racer who later entered Grands Prix.
Steve Linsdell,, is a British former professional motorcycle road racer. He specialized in a branch of road racing known as traditional road racing held on street circuits such as the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix.
Peter Williams was a British former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle road racing from 1966 to 1973. He also competed at many levels on home short-circuit races. He raced many times on the Isle of Man TT course from 1966 to 1973. His father was Jack Williams who ran the Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) race department. Williams trained in mechanical engineering and introduced via racing alloy wheels, an innovation which is commonplace on today's road bikes, and was also an early pioneer of solo-motorcycle disc brakes.
Frank Perris was a Canadian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and TT rider from Toronto. Perris was noticed by the Suzuki team after his third-place in the 1961 500 cc World Championship, becoming a contracted-rider from 1962 until 1966. His best season was in 1965 when he won two 125cc Grand Prix races aboard a Suzuki two-stroke, and finished the year in second place in the 125cc world championship behind Hugh Anderson.
Derek Minter was an English Grand Prix motorcycle and short-circuit road racer. Born in Ickham, Kent, with education starting in nearby Littlebourne, he was versatile rider who rode a variety of machinery between 1955 and 1967 at increasing levels of expertise and in varying capacities and classes.
Barry Smith is an Australian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
John Cooper is an English retired garage proprietor who was a prolific short-circuit motorcycle road racer during the 1960s and early 1970s. He also entered selected Grands Prix motorcycle road races. His best season was in 1967 when he finished the year in seventh place in the 500cc world championship. Cooper was a two-time winner of the North West 200 race held in Northern Ireland. He is remembered for his upset victory over the reigning 500cc world champion, Giacomo Agostini at the 1971 Race of the Year held at Mallory Park. Cooper rode a BSA Rocket 3 to finish three-fifths of a second ahead of Agostini's MV Agusta, achieving his fifth victory in the race since 1965.
Keith Turner is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1967 to 1972. He had his best season in 1971 when he finished the year in second place in the 500cc world championship, behind the defending champion, Giacomo Agostini.
Derek Chatterton is a British former professional motorcycle road racer.
John Milns West, was a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Great Britain.
Colin Jordan Seeley was a British motorcycle retailer who later became a motorcycle sidecar racer, motorcycle designer, constructor and retailer of accessories. In 1992 he was involved in running the Norton Rotary race team.
Florian Camathias was a Swiss professional Grand Prix motorcycle and sidecar racer.
Eddie Laycock is a former professional motorcycle racer from Dublin, Ireland.
The MV Agusta 500cc road racers were motorcycles that the manufacturer MV Agusta built and which were used to compete in 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle racing series between 1950 and 1976. 18 500cc world championship titles were achieved with these machines ridden by John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read between 1958 and 1974.
