Gilera 500cc 4 cylinder factory racer Reg Armstrong Ulster Grand Prix 1956 photo

Description

A superb and rare photo of the magnificent Gilera factory rider
Reg Armstrong
(starting number
22
) , seen in action with his
500cc four cylinder Gilera works racer
during the
1956
500cc Ulster Grand Prix
which was ridden on
August 11, 1956
. Unfortunately he was forced to retire from the race due to mechanical problems. However that year he won the German GP on Gilera and he finished 5TH in the 500cc World Championship with the photographed machine!
During the race, Geoff Duke would ride the fastest lap with a record speed of
94.47 mph
(
152,03 km/h
). The race was won by John Hartle (Norton) with an average speed of
85.66 mph
(
137.86 km/h
), followed by Bob Brown and Peter Murphy (both Matchless).
Reg (Reginald) Armstrong
was born in
1926 in
Liverpool
, but he grew up in
Dublin
. He was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and raced for AJS, Velocette, Norton, NSU, and Gilera. He then became team manager for Honda's racing team in 1962 and 1963, and they won five world championships in that time. He was also in his lifetime an agent for NSU, Honda, and Opel. He competed in Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championships and at the Isle of Man TT, usually placing highly. He was born in
Liverpool
in 1926. His family returned to
Dublin
within a few years. Armstrong did not have a privileged background, but his father started a successful motor factoring business in
Dublin
and supported his early motorcycle racing as much as he could. A cousin, Harry Lindsay taught him to ride during the Emergency (as World War II was referred to in the
Republic
of
Ireland
) and both rode 16H Nortons. Both joined the Irish Defence Forces, with the petrol ration a prime consideration. In 1946, Armstrong rode a pre-war Norton Manx at the
Bangor
Castle
races in
Northern Ireland
. His was fifth in his second race, a handicap event, the Mid-Antrim 150, and then failed to finish at the Skerries 100. He put in an entry for the 1946 Manx but was refused as his 18th birthday was on the same day as the race. He borrowed a 500 cc engine and put it into his Norton, and entered the 1947 Senior Manx race without success. In the 1948 Skerries 100 he rode a Tom Arter AJS 7R to success, boosting his confidence enough to purchase a Triumph GP, with the help of his cousin Harry. He set fastest lap for at the Cookstown 100 on that Triumph, at 74.79 mph, and at the 1949 Cookstown 100 raised it to 75.84 mph. AJS soon invited him to ride an AJS Porcupine at Ansty, and he managed to come fourth. AJS then signed him for the inaugural 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. Armstrong took fourth in the Swiss Grand Prix, fifth at
Belgium
, fifth in
Holland
, third at the Ulster Grand Prix, sixth at
Monza
, and crashed at Silverstone. Freddie Frith was 350 cc world champion, with Armstrong finishing in second. At the 1950 Isle of Man TT Armstrong came sixth in the Senior TT on a Velocette. He came sixth in the 500 cc class, and seventh in the 350 cc class for the 1951 Grand Prix World Championship, and was then offered a place for the 1952 season on the Norton team. Armstrong won his first ride for Norton, the 500 cc class in the
Leinster
200. He then won the German Grand Prix, and the Isle of Man Senior TT. It was Armstrong's most successful season so far, coming third in the 500 cc 1952 World Championship, and second in the 350 cc. In the
Republic
of
Ireland
, Reg was now the agent for NSU and Honda. From 1953 to 1955, Armstrong rode successfully for Gilera and NSU. In 1953 he came second on a Gilera in the 500 cc class, and second in the 250 cc class on an NSU. In the 1954 he came fifth on a Gilera in the 500 cc class, and ninth in the 250 cc class on an NSU. In 1955 he came second on a Gilera in the 500 cc class. In the 1956 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season he came fifth on a Gilera in the 500 cc class, but growing business interests demanded more of his time and he announced his retirement from motorcycle racing. In 1962, Honda asked Armstrong to become their racing team manager. They won three World Championships that year and two more the following year. By now, however, Armstrong's Ringsend plant ceased assembling NSUs and changed over to Opels, Armstrong now being the Irish agent for them. In 1964 Reg tried his hand at car racing driving with limited success. He became a good clay pigeon shooter, representing
Ireland
in the 1978 World Championships, held in
Korea
. In November, 1979 the 52 year old Reg died in an accident while returning to his Ashford home.
The
Ulster Grand Prix
is a motorcycle road race that takes place on the Dundrod Circuit near
Belfast
,
Northern Ireland
. The first races took place in 1922 and in 1935 and 1948 the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme gave it the title Grand Prix d'Europe. The Ulster Grand Prix was included as one of the races in the inaugural 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, a place it held until 1971. It also counted for the TT Championship between 1979 and 1990. According to the race organisers, it is the fastest road race in the world. Thomas Moles, motorcycle enthusiast and Member of Parliament, helped to push through parliament the
first Road
Races Act, which made it legal for the Clady Course to be closed for the first Ulster Grand Prix on
14 October 1922
. That first race had 75 entries in four classes (250cc, 350cc, 600cc and over 600cc). The race has been held on three different circuits. The
20.5 mile
Old Clady circuit was used from 1922 until 1939 and included a notoriously bumpy 7-mile straight. It also ran across part of the grass runway at RAF Aldergrove and for the first two years of its existence the pits were on the Seven Mile Straight, by
Loanends
Primary School
. In 1926 the 500cc race was won by Graham Walker on a Sunbeam. He also won the 1928 Senior race on a Rudge. In the 1936 Lightweight (250cc) event, Ginger Wood and Bob Foster, both on New Imperials, crossed the line so close, that after over
200 miles
of racing, it took the judges an hour to decide that Wood was the winner by one-fifth of a second. Foster was, however, adjudged to have achieved the fastest lap. The 1939 Grand Prix was almost called off, but went ahead in spite of an entry of only 60 riders. After World War II the new Clady circuit was used that, due to road improvements, was now
16.5 miles
in length and in use between 1947 and
1952. In
1953 the race was moved to the
7.401 mile
Dundrod Circuit where it is still held. The event was cancelled in 1972 because of the political situation in
Northern Ireland
and in 2001, during the Foot-and-mouth crisis, when the
North West
200 and Isle of Man TT were cancelled, the race was held. The 2007 Grand Prix attracted an entry of 162 riders, including 38 new riders, and took place on
18 August 2007
, sponsored by The Belfast Telegraph. Joey Dunlop won twenty four Ulster Grand Prix races during his career with Phillip McCallen winning fourteen races and Brian Reid nine wins. Some of the famous riders include: Stanley Woods (7 wins), Jimmie Guthrie, Jimmie Simpson, Artie Bell, Les Graham, Freddie Frith (3 wins), Geoff Duke (3 wins), John Surtees (6 wins), Ray Amm, Carlo Ubbiali (5 wins), Bill Lomas (3 wins), Mike Hailwood (7 wins), Giacomo Agostini (7 wins), Phil Read (3 wins), Bill Ivy (3 wins), Bob McIntyre, Gary Hocking (3 wins), Tom Herron (5 wins), Ron Haslam (5 wins), Jon Ekerold, and more recently Mick Grant, Wayne Gardner, Steve Hislop, Robert Dunlop (9 wins) and Carl Fogarty. The most recent rider to join the famous riders group is Guy Martin (5 wins).
Gilera
was founded by Giuseppe Gilera in the Northern Italian town of
Arcore
, close to the city of
Milan
, in
1909
. In
1935 Gilera acquired rights to the Rondine four-cylinder engine. This formed the
basis for Gileras four cylinder racing machines nearly forty years. From the mid-thirties Gilera developed a range of four-stroke engine machines. The engines ranged from 100 to 500cc. The most famous of which was the 1939 Saturno. After World War II,
Gilera dominated Grand Prix motorcycle racing
, winning the 500cc road racing world championship 6 times in 8 years. Facing a downturn in motorcycle sales due to the increase in the popularity of automobiles after the war, Gilera made a gentleman's agreement with the other Italian motorcycle makers to quit Grand Prix racing after the 1957 season as a cost cutting measure. In 1969 the company was purchased by the Piaggio & Co. SpA -- which now holds six marques and is the world's fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer. In 1992, Gilera made a return to the Grand Prix arena and Piaggio continues to produce small-displacement motorcycles with the Gilera name.
World Championships
1950: 500cc with Umberto Masetti
1952: 500cc with Umberto Masetti
1953: 500cc with Geoff Duke
1954: 500cc with Geoff Duke
1955: 500cc with Geoff Duke
1957: 500cc with Libero Liberati
2001: 125cc with Manuel Poggiali
This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of 1950s motorcycle history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x
30 cm
). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing!
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