Meetings 1951 - 1970

TT 1955

The 1955 TT will be remembered as the first year that British machines failed to win a single TT!

It will also be remembered as the year it was proclaimed that Geoff Duke, riding the 500cc Gilera, had achieved the first 100mph lap of the Mountain Course.

After the third lap of the Senior it was announced that Duke had lapped in 22minutes 39 seconds - a speed of exactly 100mph. Minutes later the celebrations came to an abrupt halt when that time was confirmed, but it was explained that it represented a speed of just 99.97mph.

Duke swallowed his disappointment, however, dominating throughout to give Gilera their first TT victory.

Bill Lomas, riding the Italian Moto Guzzi, took the Junior honours after a race-long battle with Norton mounted Scotsman, Bob McIntyre. It was the first foreign machine victory in the Junior class.

The Lightweight (250cc) race was transferred to the Clypse Course for a nine-lap race. It turned into a superb all-Italian battle between Bill Lomas's MC and the Guzzi of Cecil Sandford, who led for the first seven laps. Lomas then took the initiative and took the chequered flag.

The Ultra-Lightweight was even closer, producing a nail-biting duel between the MV's of Italian Ubbiali and Swiss newcomer Luigi Taveri.
Taveri was the early leader, but Ubbiali had been runner-up on three previous occasions and was determined to win, which he did.

The German BMW factory gained the first of their many TT sidecar victories in a race reduced to nine laps, Walter Schneider taking the chequered cloth.