Meetings 1951 - 1970

TT 1956

The 1956 races saw a continuation of the Italian mastery of the solo classes, but at least the British fans gained some consolation when 22-year-old John Surtees gave MV Agusta their first Senior victory.

It was also John's first TT win, despite the fact he had to use his reserve machine because the first choice MV had been extensively damaged when he hit a cow in practice.

The Junior proved to be a three-way battle between Surtees, Bill Lomas and Ken Kavanagh. Lomas led for the opening five laps, but then retired with mechanical problems at the Guthrie Memorial. Surtees led by less than one second from Kavanagh, but then dropped out at the Stonebreaker's Hut, leaving Kavanagh a trouble-free run to the finish and his first TT Victory.

The sad decline of British fortunes continued in the popular Sidecar class despite the considerable efforts of Pip Harris and Bill Boddice. A clean sweep for the German BMW factory seemed likely when Willi Noll, Fritz Hillebrand and the 1955 winner, Walter Schneider, controlled the opening stages of the race.

However at the end it was Hillebrand to grabbed the lead with three laps to go and maintained his advantage till the flag.

Italian Carlo Ubbiali gave MV a Lightweight and Ultra-Lightweight double in two very different races. In the 125 Ultra-Lightweight he won with nearly five minutes to spare from the Montesa's of Cama and Gonzalez.

Ubbiali was involved in a tremendous Lightweight battle with the NSU of Ulsterman Sammy Miller, which was only resolved when Miller pulled out on the fifth lap at the Creg. Taveri crashed at Governor's Bridge and MV-mounted Roberto Colombo emerged in second place, with NSU star Hans Baltisberger third.