John Hartle

Record type: Motorsport Biographies

Biography: Age 25, John Hartle comes from Vicars Cross, Chester.

John first rode in the Island in the 1953 Manx Grand Prix, finishing 21st in the Junior race and 15th in the Senior (winning the Newcomer's Award for the latter performance). He began the 1954 season with a fourth at Scarborough, and went on to win the Cadwell Park Coronation Cup - then came the Manx Grand Prix. After finishing third in the Junior race, he was well in the lead in the Senior but ran out of petrol only ten miles from the finish.

As a member of the 1955 Norton team, John was sixth in the Junior TT and 13th - after pushing from Hiliberry - in the Senior race.

He won the 350 c.c. Swedish G.P. and was second in both classes of the Ulster.

In 1956 he was again under the Norton flag; at Silverstone he won the 350 c.c. championship in deplorable weather conditions, and was going well in the 500 c.c. race when he overslid on a bend and spilled.

John put up a most impressive display in the 1956 TT series. Riding "works" Bracebridge Street models, he was second behind John Surtees' M.V. in the Senior race at 95.69 m.p.h. and was placed third in the Junior event behind Kavanagh and Derek Ennett in the Junior race. His speed on his 350 c.c. Norton was 85.75 m.p h.

He was second in the 1957 German Grand Prix, and crashed when leading the Junior TT, which put him out of both Lightweight and Senior races.

Last year, turning to M.V.'s, he was unlucky in the TT, retiring in both the Junior and Senior races, but on the Continent he was second to his team-mate John Surtees in several events, including both 350 and 500 c.c. classes of the Dutch and German. He finished the season as runner-up World Champion in both classes.

He has started the year well by winning the 500 c.c. class of last month's Austrian Grand Prix.

(TT Special, 8 June 1959, p.22)

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