Bill Ivy

William David Ivy (27 August 1942 – 12 July 1969) was an English professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Maidstone, Kent. He died during practice for a race in East Germany.

The early years

Ivy started racing motorbikes at Brands Hatch, Kent, UK in 1959. His first race bike was a 50cc Itom. Entering his first TT race in 1962 on a Chisholm Itom, he later progressed to ride a variety of machinery on UK short circuits including Honda, Bultaco, Yamaha, Norton, Cotton, and Matchless machines. He joined the Tom Kirby racing team in May 1965.

The Grand Prix Years

Ivy's big break into Grand Prix motorcycle racing came towards the end of 1965, when he was selected as a stand-in and flown to Japan in October by Yamaha due to regular rider Mike Duff crashing in practice for the Japanese GP, suffering a broken thigh. Ivy finished fourth in the 125 cc race and third in the 250 cc class, the highest-placed of the Yamahas. In 1966, he won his first race as a regular rider for the works Yamaha team in the first race of the year, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuic Park Circuit, Barcelona in Spain, and took three more wins—not enough, however, to beat Swiss rider Luigi Taveri, who beat Ivy to the title by six points. Bill Ivy (2) leads Yoshimi Katayama (6) during the 1967 125cc Dutch TT. In 1967, Ivy dominated the 125 cc championship: he won eight out of twelve races to claim the World Championship by 16 points over Phil Read. On top of this, he won two 250 cc races in France and Belgium.

In 1968, Ivy and teammate Phil Read controlled both the 125 and 250 cc championships. In the process Ivy also became the first 125cc rider to lap the famous Isle Of Man TT Mountain Course at over 100 mph. As the season progressed, Yamaha ordered them to win one title each, with Ivy scheduled to win the 250 cc championship and Read the 125 cc championship.

Film stuntman Ivy was the motorcycle riding stand-in in two films. He was in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball as the stunt man, wearing a blond wig to make him look more like the character in the action sequence. He was also in the 1968 film The Girl on a Motorcycle for the medium to distant shots of Marianne Faithfull's character.

Death

Despite showing some impressive results in Formula Two, in order to further fund his car racing, Ivy was enticed back to motorcycling by an offer from Jawa in 1969 to race their 350 cc motorcycle. He was thrown from the bike, his helmet came off. He and the bike slid off the track where he impacted an unprotected fence post before bouncing back to the edge of the racing surface. His helmet was recovered from the opposite side of the track.

Ivy died from injuries received in the impact with the fence post. Injuries were listed as a fractured skull, brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs and a large puncture to at least one of his lungs.

Ivy was taken back to Ditton, near Maidstone, Kent where a service took place at St. Peter's Church, followed by a private service and cremation at Medway Crematorium, in Blue Bell Hill Village, Kent.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results Points system from 1950 to 1968: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1969 onwards: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins 1962 50cc Chisholm Itom ESP- FRA- IOM25 NED- BEL- GER- ULS- DDR- NAT- FIN- ARG- 0 – 01963 50cc Sheene ESP- GER- FRA- IOM7 NED- BEL- FIN- ARG- JPN- 0 – 0 125cc Bultaco ESP- GER- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- ULS- DDR- FIN- NAT- ARG- JPN- 0 – 0 1965 125cc Yamaha USA- GER- ESP- FRA- IOM7 NED4 DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN4 6 13th 0 250cc Yamaha USA- GER- ESP- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN3 4 16th 0 350cc AJS GER- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 – 0 500cc Matchless GER- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 – 0 1966 125cc Yamaha ESP1 GER- NED1 DDR3 CZE3 FIN- ULS- IOM1 NAT3 JPN1 40 2nd 4 250cc Yamaha ESP- GER3 FRA- NED- BEL6 DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- IOMNC NAT- JPN- 5 12th 0 350cc Yamaha GER- FRA- NED- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- IOM- NAT- JPN2 6 11th 01967 125cc Yamaha ESP1 GER- FRA1 IOMNC NED2 BEL- DDR1 CZE1 FIN2 ULS1 NAT1 CAN1 JPN1 56 1st 8 250cc Yamaha ESP- GER- FRA1 IOMNC NED2 BEL1 DDR2 CZE2 FIN2 ULS3 NAT2 CAN- JPN6 46 3rd 21968 125cc Yamaha GER- ESP- IOM2 NED- DDR2 CZE- FIN2 ULS1 NAT1 34 2nd 2 250cc Yamaha GER1 ESP- IOM1 NED1 BEL- DDR1 CZE2 FIN- ULS1 NAT2 46 2nd 5 1969 350cc Jawa ESP- GER2 IOM- NED2 DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- YUG- 24 10th 0