The 1954 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy was the second race in the 1954 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season and proved highly controversial for course and race changes. The 1954 Junior TT was the first race where the official race distance was reduced from 7 laps to 5 laps. The 1954 Senior TT Race was stopped at half distance due to the weather conditions on the Mountain Section of the course.
The first world championship event for the 1954 Isle of Man TT Races was the 350cc Junior TT Race. The race was led on lap 1 by Fergus Anderson from Gilera team-mate Ken Kavanagh by 10 seconds and Ray Amm riding for Norton a further 6 seconds adrift in 3rd place. On lap 2, Fergus Anderson retires at Kirk Michael with an engine problem and Ken Kavanagh retires at the pits with an engine mis-fire on lap 3. The race is now led by Ray Amm by 24 seconds from Rod Coleman riding for AJS motor-cycles. However, Ray Amm retires at Barregarrow on lap 5 allowing Rod Coleman to become the first New Zealander to win an Isle of Man TT Race at an average race speed of 91.54 mpg.
The new 10 lap (107.90 miles) Side-Car TT held on the Clypse Course is led from start to finish by Eric Oliver and passenger Les Nutt riding a Norton side-car outfit with a "dust-bin" fairing at an average speed of 68.87 mph. The Norton outfit of Bill Boddice/J.Pirie hits a bank at Creg-ny-Baa and flips-over on lap 7, but continues on to finish the race in 6th place. The winner of the 1954 Lightweight TT race, Werner Haas crashed at Governor's Bridge on lap 1 of the 1954 Ultra-Lightweight TT Race, also held on the Clypse Course. This allowed Rupert Hollaus to win the race in 1 hour, 33 minutes and 3.4 seconds at an average race speed of 69.57 mph.
In deteriorating weather conditions and with reduced visibility on the Mountain Section of the course the 1954 Senior TT Race is held after a short delay and starts at midday. Despite the conditions, Geoff Duke riding the works Gilera sets a time of 25 minutes and 41 seconds an average speed of 81.18 mph and leads Ray Amm riding for Norton by 14 seconds on lap 1. On the second lap, Geoff Duke laps in 26 minutes and 23 seconds at an average speed of 86.97 mph and Ray Amm laps at an average speed of 86.49 to reduce the lead to just 2 seconds. Further heavy rain and low cloud on the Mountain Section reduces speed further and the conditions cause 'John Grace' and Ted Frend to retire at the TT Grandstand on lap 2 and Ray Amm uses "feet-down" tactics on the slower corners. The leader, Geoff Duke decides to refuel on lap 3. Ray Amm in second place goes straight through without stopping and laps in 25 minutes and 28 seconds at an average speed of 88.93 mph and now leads Geoff Duke by 32 seconds. At the Windy Corner on lap 4, the visibility is down to 20 yards and a decision is made to stop the race because of the conditions. This allows Ray Amm, due to refuel at the TT Grandstand on lap 4, to win the 1954 Senior TT Race in 1 hour, 42 minutes and 46.8 seconds at an average race speed of 88.12 mph. The controversial decision by race organisers to stop the 1954 Senior TT Race on lap 4, just as the weather started to improve, was protested by the Gilera management. This was on the grounds that the works Norton team were told of the decision allowing Ray Amm to lead the race on lap 3, but the official protest was rejected by the race organisers. During lap 1 of the 1954 Senior TT Race, Simon Sandys-Winsch riding a Junior Velocette crashed at the Highlander and died in hospital a few days later.
Famous quotes containing the words isle and/or man:
“It is so rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands. Behind every man’s busy-ness there should be a level of undisturbed serenity and industry, as within the reef encircling a coral isle there is always an expanse of still water, where the depositions are going on which will finally raise it above the surface.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The new man is born too old to tolerate the new world. The present conditions of life have not yet erased the traces of the past. We run too fast, but we still do not move enough.... He looks but he does not contemplate, he sees but he does not think. He runs away from time, which is made of thought, and yet all he can feel is his own time, the present.”
—Eugenio Montale (1896–1981)