Meetings 1931 - 1950

TT 1937

The tide was slowly turning against the British singles, although Norton kept the flag flying in the Senior and Junior races in 1937.

There was a Continental success in the Lightweight class, with Omobono Tenni becoming the first Italian to win a TT race. Stanley Woods returned with a Moto Guzzi and battled in the early stages with the DKW of Ewald Kluge. Woods looked a likely winner when Kluge retired, but he broke down on the last lap at Sulby, and Tenni completed his historic victory in record time. 'Ginger' Wood, riding an Excelsior, almost caught him but had to settle for second place in front of Ernie Thomas's DKW.

Norton totally dominated the Junior, with Guthrie and Frith fighting out a fabulous duel at the front. They shared a new record of 85.18 mph but Guthrie emerged victorious, with Frith and White making it another Norton one-two-three.

Stanley Woods rode a Velocette in the Senior and enjoyed a great race with the Nortons of Guthrie and Frith. Guthrie was leading Woods by a few seconds when he broke down just above the Gooseneck, on the Mountain climb, on the fifth lap, Frith then took up the challenge and shared the lead with Woods going into the hectic last circuit.

Frith won by just 15 seconds after one of the truly great TT laps, the first at 90 mph. Velocette took the manufacturers' award from Norton.

The 1937 Senior turned out to be the last appearance of Jimmy Guthrie on his beloved Mountain Circuit. Later that year he was killed when he crashed while leading the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. A cairn of stones and a simple memorial still stand at the point on the TT course where he stopped in his final race on the Island.