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Bill Ivy

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For other uses, see Bill Ivy (disambiguation).

Bill Ivy
Bill Ivy at the 1969 Eifelrennen held at the Nürburgring.
NationalityBritish
Born(1942-08-27)27 August 1942
Maidstone, England
Died12 July 1969(1969-07-12) (aged 26)
Hohenstein-Ernstthal, East Germany
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1962 – 1963, 1965 – 1969
First race1962 Isle of Man 50cc Ultra-Lightweight TT
Last race1969 350cc East German Grand Prix
First win1966 125cc Spanish Grand Prix
Last win1968 125cc Nations Grand Prix
Team(s)Yamaha, Jawa
Championships125cc – 1967
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
46 21 42 N/A 23

William David Ivy (27 August 1942 – 12 July 1969) was an English professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Maidstone, Kent. He died during practice for a race in East Germany.

The early years

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Itom 50cc racing motorcycle

Ivy started racing motorbikes at Brands Hatch, Kent, UK in 1959.[1] His first race bike was a 50cc Itom. Entering his first TT race in 1962 on a Chisholm Itom,[2] he later progressed to ride a variety of machinery on UK short circuits including Honda, Bultaco, Yamaha, Norton, Cotton, and Matchless machines. He joined the Tom Kirby racing team in May 1965.[3]

The Grand Prix Years

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Ivy's big break into Grand Prix motorcycle racing came towards the end of 1965, when he was selected as a stand-in and flown to Japan in October by Yamaha due to regular rider Mike Duff crashing in practice for the Japanese GP, suffering a broken thigh. Ivy finished fourth in the 125 cc race and third in the 250 cc class, the highest-placed of the Yamahas.[4] In 1966, he won his first race as a regular rider for the works Yamaha team in the first race of the year, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuic Park Circuit, Barcelona in Spain,[5] and took three more wins—not enough, however, to beat Swiss rider Luigi Taveri, who beat Ivy to the title by six points.

Bill Ivy (2) leads Yoshimi Katayama (6) during the 1967 125cc Dutch TT.

In 1967, Ivy dominated the 125 cc championship: he won eight out of twelve races to claim the World Championship by 16 points over Phil Read.[6] On top of this, he won two 250 cc races in France and Belgium.

In 1968, Ivy and teammate Phil Read controlled both the 125 and 250 cc championships. In the process Ivy also became the first 125cc rider to lap the famous Isle Of Man TT Mountain Course at over 100 mph. As the season progressed, Yamaha ordered them to win one title each, with Ivy scheduled to win the 250 cc championship and Read the 125 cc championship.[1] After securing the 125 cc title, Read ignored Yamaha's orders to tie with Ivy on points. The tie break was decided on overall race times, and Read took the title. Ivy announced his retirement from motorcycle racing, stating he would race Formula Two cars during the next season.[7]

Film stuntman

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Ivy was the motorcycle riding stand-in in two films. He was in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball as the stunt man, wearing a blond wig to make him look more like the character in the action sequence.[8] He was also in the 1968 film The Girl on a Motorcycle for the medium to distant shots of Marianne Faithfull's character.[9]

Death

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Bill Ivy on a 1969 Yemeni stamp

Despite showing some impressive results in Formula Two, in order to further fund his car racing, he was enticed back to motorcycling by an offer from Jawa in 1969 to race their 350 cc motorcycle.[7] The season started promisingly, as he took two second places behind Giacomo Agostini. However, during practice for the fifth race, on the Sachsenring in East Germany, his motorcycle's engine seized due to the breaking up of the lower left hand connecting rod bearing cage, at the very moment he was attempting to reajust with one hand his helmet that came loose.[10] He was thrown from the bike, his helmet came off. He and the bike slid off the track where he impacted an unprotected fence post before bouncing back to the edge of the racing surface.

His helmet was recovered from the opposite side of the track.

Ivy died from injuries received in the impact with the fence post. Injuries were listed as a fractured skull, brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs and a large puncture to at least one of his lungs.

He was taken back to Ditton, near Maidstone, Kent where a service took place at St. Peter's Church, followed by a private service and cremation at Medway Crematorium, in Blue Bell Hill Village, Kent.[11]

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

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Points system from 1950 to 1968:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6
Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1969 onwards:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins
1962 50cc Chisholm Itom ESP
- 		FRA
- 		IOM
25 		NED
- 		BEL
- 		GER
- 		ULS
- 		DDR
- 		NAT
- 		FIN
- 		ARG
- 		0 – 0
1963 50cc Sheene ESP
- 		GER
- 		FRA
- 		IOM
7 		NED
- 		BEL
- 		FIN
- 		ARG
- 		JPN
- 		0 – 0
125cc Bultaco ESP
- 		GER
- 		FRA
- 		IOM
NC 		NED
- 		BEL
- 		ULS
- 		DDR
- 		FIN
- 		NAT
- 		ARG
- 		JPN
- 		0 – 0
1965 125cc Yamaha USA
- 		GER
- 		ESP
- 		FRA
- 		IOM
7 		NED
4 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		ULS
- 		FIN
- 		NAT
- 		JPN
4 		6 13th 0
250cc Yamaha USA
- 		GER
- 		ESP
- 		FRA
- 		IOM
NC 		NED
- 		BEL
- 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		ULS
- 		FIN
- 		NAT
- 		JPN
3 		4 16th 0
350cc AJS GER
- 		IOM
NC 		NED
- 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		ULS
- 		FIN
- 		NAT
- 		JPN
- 		0 – 0
500cc Matchless GER
- 		IOM
NC 		NED
- 		BEL
- 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		ULS
- 		FIN
- 		NAT
- 		JPN
- 		0 – 0
1966 125cc Yamaha ESP
1 		GER
- 		NED
1 		DDR
3 		CZE
3 		FIN
- 		ULS
- 		IOM
1 		NAT
3 		JPN
1 		40 2nd 4
250cc Yamaha ESP
- 		GER
3 		FRA
- 		NED
- 		BEL
6 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		FIN
- 		ULS
- 		IOM
NC 		NAT
- 		JPN
- 		5 12th 0
350cc Yamaha GER
- 		FRA
- 		NED
- 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		FIN
- 		ULS
- 		IOM
- 		NAT
- 		JPN
2 		6 11th 0
1967 125cc Yamaha ESP
1 		GER
- 		FRA
1 		IOM
NC 		NED
2 		BEL
- 		DDR
1 		CZE
1 		FIN
2 		ULS
1 		NAT
1 		CAN
1 		JPN
1 		56 1st 8
250cc Yamaha ESP
- 		GER
- 		FRA
1 		IOM
NC 		NED
2 		BEL
1 		DDR
2 		CZE
2 		FIN
2 		ULS
3 		NAT
2 		CAN
- 		JPN
6 		46 3rd 2
1968 125cc Yamaha GER
- 		ESP
- 		IOM
2 		NED
- 		DDR
2 		CZE
- 		FIN
2 		ULS
1 		NAT
1 		34 2nd 2
250cc Yamaha GER
1 		ESP
- 		IOM
1 		NED
1 		BEL
- 		DDR
1 		CZE
2 		FIN
- 		ULS
1 		NAT
2 		46 2nd 5
1969 350cc Jawa ESP
- 		GER
2 		IOM
- 		NED
2 		DDR
- 		CZE
- 		FIN
- 		ULS
- 		NAT
- 		YUG
- 		24 10th 0

References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bill Ivy.
  1. ^ a b "Bill Ivy – motorcycle GP rider tribute". ozebook.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  2. ^ Classic 50 Racing Club Entries List, 1962 TT race Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 June 2013
  3. ^ Motor Cycle Britain's Top Circuits Supplement, 1966 Accessed 2 June 2013
  4. ^ Motor Cycle, 28 October 1965. p.627. Racing Line by David Dixon. Accessed 8 December 2015
  5. ^ Motor Cycling Race report, Accessed 18 June 2013
  6. ^ a b "Bill Ivy career statistics at MotoGP.com". Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Motorsport Memorial -". www.motorsportmemorial.org.
  8. ^ "James Bond: Top 5 motorbike moments". Express. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Famous Motorcyclists". dropbears.com. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  10. ^ "The year 1969". Racing Memory (French language). Retrieved 15 November 2006.
  11. ^ [1] Find A Grave Memorial Retrieved 3 June 2013
  12. ^ "Race Results - iomtt.com: The World's #1 TT Website". www.iomtt.com.
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