The colourful life of motor racing legend Mike Hailwood is to be celebrated in a new BT Sport documentary airing on March 26.
‘Mike Hailwood: An Ordinary Hero’ focuses on a unique and legendary career of a man who in most circles within the world of motorsport is regarded as one of the most naturally gifted motorcycle riders in history.
Premiering at 9.30pm on Wednesday, March 26, on BT Sport 1, with various repeat showings throughout the week, the documentary is the latest in the broadcaster’s acclaimed BT Sport Films strand and also coincides with the start of its exclusively live MotoGP coverage.
As well as featuring touching interviews with Hailwood’s widow Pauline and son David, who was also with his father and sister on the night of their deaths, this feature length documentary includes exclusive interviews with a host of star names from the world of motorsport.
Legendary names such as John Surtees, Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart, Murray Walker and Carl Fogarty will all give their unique perspectives and memories of Hailwood’s unforgettable contribution to motorsport.
Using interviews, archive material, music and originally shot footage from the 1960s and 70s, the film takes looks back to the hedonistic days of motorsport in ‘Mike The Bike’s’ legendary era, charting his achievements as well as his unique character.
It was his untimely death at the age of just 40 alongside his young daughter in a car crash on the evening of March 22, 1981 that shocked the sporting world.
Few sportsmen have made such an indelible impact on the fast moving world of motorsport as Hailwood did.
The son of a millionaire who bought him the best machinery that money could buy, he quickly cast aside the ‘rich man’s kid’ image which had been thrust upon him.
Working his way up the motorcycling ladder, Hailwood earnt the respect and admiration of his peers through the enormity of his talent, the strength of his personality and his outrageous sense of fun.
He won nine motorcycle World Championships between 1961 and 1967, before following in the wheel tracks of John Surtees by turning to four wheels.
Driving for the Surtees team, Hailwood became European Formula 2 Champion and then began his Formula 1 career soon after.
He may well have added a Formula 1 world title to his list of achievements, but his motor racing career ended abruptly in 1974 when he crashed his McLaren on Germany’s daunting Nurburgring circuit.
Disabled by his leg injuries, he retired to New Zealand, but he made a sensational return in 1978, at the age of 38, when at the Isle of Man, the scene of so many of his earlier triumphs, he only to race bikes once again, but took on and beat the entire field at the TT races.
His victorious return to ‘The Island’ has been frequently described as one of the most memorable sporting moments of the last century.
Best remembered for his incredible ability to quickly take any type of machine to its absolute limits, Hailwood was tragically killed in a road traffic accident in 1981, but the memory of ‘Mike the Bike’ lives on proudly among his peers.
‘An Ordinary Hero: The Mike Hailwood Story’ is the latest documentary in the BT Sport Films strand which aim to tell the compelling stories behind sport.
Films to have aired to date include ‘Silver Lining’, a study in the dynamics of sporting relationships and the contrast in emotions between Great Britain’s London 2012 Olympians Gemma Gibbons and Euan Burton.
‘Football Outposts’, where Arsenal fan, author and ex-EastEnders star Tom Watt embarks on a journey to various British football outposts.
‘Winning Ugly’, a look back to the hard playing, hard drinking, win-at-all-costs mentality of sport in the 70’s and 80’s and comparing it to what some would term the slick, professional sporting culture we have today.
The Mike Hailwood film also supports BT Sport’s exclusively live MotoGP coverage, which begins with the Qatar Grand Prix on March 20-23.
‘An Ordinary Hero: The Mike Hailwood Story’ airs on March 26, at 9.30pm on BT Sport 1.
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