Gary Hocking

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox motorcycle rider Template:Template other Gary Stuart Hocking MBE (30 September 1937 – 21 December 1962) was a Rhodesian former professional motorcycle road and car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1958 to 1962, most prominently as a member of the MV Agusta factory racing team where he won the Template:MGP 350cc and 500cc world championships.

Early life

Hocking was born in Caerleon, near Newport, Monmouthshire, in south-east Wales, but grew up in Southern Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980) where he attended Gifford High School. As a teenager, he began racing motorcycles on grass tracks. Before long, he had moved on to road racing circuits.

Motorcycle racing

He left Rhodesia to compete in Europe in 1958 and made an immediate impact, finishing 3rd behind the works MV Agustas at the Nürburgring. He was sponsored by Manchester tuner/dealer Reg Dearden, who provided him with new 350 and 500 cc Manx Norton racing motorcycles. He spent the winter of 1958/1959 with the Costain family at their home in Castletown on the Isle of Man, learning the Mountain Course with George 'Sparrow' Costain, an established rider for the Dearden team, who had won the Senior Manx Grand Prix on a 500 Dearden-tuned Manx in 1954. In the Junior TT of 1959 Hocking finished 12th from 22nd on the grid.

File:Gary Hocking (Rhodesië) op MV Agusta Winnaar 500cc, Bestanddeelnr 912-6398.jpg

Hocking in action during the 1961 500cc Dutch TT.

In 1959, Hocking was offered a ride by the East German MZ factory and finished second in the 250cc championship. During practice for the 1959 Junior TT, his 350 Manx Norton, and the machines of teammates Terry Shepherd and John Hartle, were fitted with the top-secret works 350 cc Desmodromic engine, but they ran standard engines for the actual race. MV Agusta offered Hocking full factory support for the 1960 season and he repaid their confidence by finishing 2nd in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc classes.

Following the retirement from motorcycle racing by defending champion, John Surtees in 1961, Hocking became MV Agusta's top rider and went on to claim dual World Championships in the 350 cc and 500 cc classes, in a dominant manner against little factory mounted opposition.

Auto racing

Hocking was deeply affected by the death of his friend, Tom Phillis at the 1962 Isle of Man TT. After winning the Senior TT, he announced his retirement from motorcycle racing and returned to Rhodesia. He felt motorcycle racing was too dangerous and decided a career in auto racing would be safer. He entered the Danish Grand Prix, Gold Cup and Rand Grand Prix, achieving two fourth places.

Later that year, on 22 December, he was killed during practice for the 1962 Natal Grand Prix at the Westmead circuit. His car, a Rob Walker entered Lotus 24, ran off the edge of the track at the end of the long right hand corner and somersaulted end over end twice. Hocking's head struck the roll hoop and he died some hours later in the Addington hospital in Durban. It is possible that the car suffered a front nearside suspension failure, and it is also possible that incorrectly reassembled steering – Hocking asked for a change on this item – might have been the cause; whatever was the reason, this caused the car to veer sharply to the left and somersault as he was going uphill and was approaching the crest of the rise. It is also likely that he was dehydrated and lost consciousness from that. He had been entered for the South African Grand Prix shortly awards, which would have allowed him to make his world championship debut, but following his death this was withdrawn. He was 25 years old.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Source:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	8	6	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	Points	Rank	Wins
1958	500cc	Norton	IOM	NED 6	BEL	GER 3	SWE 4	ULS	NAT					8	6th	0
1959	125cc	MZ		IOM	GER	NED	BEL	SWE	ULS 2					7	9th	0
		MV Agusta								NAT 6
	250cc	MZ		IOM	GER	NED	BEL	SWE 1	ULS 1	NAT				16	2nd	2
	350cc	Norton	FRA 2	IOM 12	GER 2			SWE	ULS	NAT				12	4th	0
	500cc	Norton	FRA 3	IOM	GER	NED	BEL 2		ULS	NAT				10	5th	0
1960	125cc	MV Agusta		IOM 2	NED 2	BEL 5		ULS 2	NAT 5					18	2nd	0
	250cc	MV Agusta		IOM 1	NED 2	BEL 2	GER 1	ULS	NAT					28	2nd	2
	350cc	MV Agusta	FRA 1	IOM	NED 2			ULS	NAT 1					22	2nd	2
1961	250cc	MV Agusta	ESP 1	GER	FRA	IOM NC	NED	BEL	DDR	ULS	NAT	SWE	ARG	8	8th	1
	350cc	MV Agusta		GER		IOM 2	NED 1		DDR 1	ULS 1	NAT 1	SWE		32	1st	4
	500cc	MV Agusta		GER 1	FRA 1	IOM NC	NED 1	BEL 1	DDR 1	ULS 1	NAT	SWE 1	ARG	48	1st	7
1962	350cc	MV Agusta	IOM 2	NED		ULS	DDR	NAT	FIN					6	8th	0
	500cc	MV Agusta	IOM 1	NED	BEL	ULS	DDR	NAT	FIN	ARG				8	5th	1

Formula One results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WDC	Pts.
Template:Ifnumber	RRC Walker Racing Team	Lotus	Climax	NED	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA	RSA WD	–	–

Non-championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
1962	Tim Parnell	Lotus 18/21	Climax Straight-4	CAP	BRX	LOM	LAV	GLV	PAU	AIN	INT	NAP	MAL	CLP	RMS	SOL	KAN	MED	DAN 4	OUL Ret	MEX
	Rob Walker Racing Team	Lotus 24	Climax V8																			RAN 4	NAT DNS

References

Template:S-endTemplate:500 cc/MotoGP Motorcycle World ChampionsTemplate:350 cc Motorcycle World ChampionsTemplate:Authority control