Wal Handley
| Wal Handley | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||
| Born |
5 April 1902 Aston, Birmingham, England |
||||||||||||||
| Died | 15 November 1941 (aged 39) | ||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Walter Leslie Handley (5 April 1902 – 15 November 1941) born in Aston, Birmingham, known as Wal Handley, was a champion British inter-war motorcycle racer with four wins at the Isle of Man TT Races in his career. Later he also raced cars in the 1930s, and died in a World War II aircraft accident while serving as pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Walter Leslie Handley was born on 5 April 1902. He had a hard childhood. His father died of cancer when he was only nine and he soon had to help by working. He was just over 12 years old when he left school early and tried a variety of jobs before joining the OK motorcycle firm. He became a Junior Tester and general helper. His motorcycle career began with reliability trials, hill climbs and speed trials. In 1922 he took his opportunity to ride an OK in the first Lightweight TT race in the Isle of Man. The story of his setting off in the wrong direction of the course in practice is well known but the ridicule in the Press stung him into action and on race day he gained a fastest lap from a standing start but his lead ended on the second lap with a broken inlet valve. His ill luck continued into 1923 but in the Lightweight Race after leading for the first three laps he managed to finish in eighth place with an average speed of 47.8 mph. He was awarded the Nisbet Shield by the ACU Stewards for pluck and endurance after suffering a ‘packet of troubles’. By 1924 he had joined the Rex Acme Company but with his ill luck continuing he was beginning to earn the unwelcome tag of ‘Unlucky Handley’. This was after suffering mechanical failures in all his TT races when in the lead. Then in 1925 his luck changed dramatically, he became the first rider to win two TT races in one week and three fastest laps. His first TT victory was the Junior TT. He won at the record speed of 65.02 mph with a fastest lap of 65.89 mph. After nearly three and a half hours in the saddle; it was over 35 minutes faster than the previous year’s winner. Of the 50 starters, only 14 managed to finish and only four gained replicas because of the high speed set by the winner.
The following year he finished second in his first Senior TT. He had been delayed by over seven minutes with plug trouble. He piloted his 60 degree Rex Acme V-twin through the field from 22nd to finish runner up to Stanley Woods who had won the first seven lap Senior TT by 4 mins 21 secs. In the following year in the Lightweight TT he beat the Italian challengers by over eight minutes. In 1929 he gained a second place with his AJS in the Junior TT; then later in the week the Senior TT got off to a wet start and several riders slid off their bikes in the opening lap at Greeba Bridge including Wal. He was unhurt and quickly moved fallen riders and their machines off the road preventing further calamities before going to get help. On 21 June 1929 the ACU Secretary, Tom Loughborough sent Wal a letter thanking him for thinking of others by giving up his own chances.
...
Wikipedia