Eric Fernihough

Eric Crudgington Fernihough (17 February 1905 – 23 April 1938) was a British motorcycle racer. He was born in Liscard, Cheshire, United Kingdom in 1905 as the ninth child of Jane and John Fernihough. Eric’s mother was at the time recorded working as a stewardess for the Cunard steamship line and It appears that all but Jane’s grown-up children were then in care. Of the father there is no trace at the time and Jane was to die giving birth to a daughter in December 1908.

Eric was chosen for adoption by Mrs Emily McCalmont at a Merseyside children’s home about 1910. He retained the Fernihough surname.

Eric spent two years from 1920 boarding at Clayesmore School then near Winchester and three years at Cambridge University studying chemistry, engineering and economics. He graduated BA in June 1926 and later acquired an MA.

At Cambridge Eric took up motorcycle racing. From 1926 he had a successful motorcycle racing career on a variety of makes but mainly Excelsiors with JAP engines, initially at Brooklands Motor Course, in Ireland and on the Continent.

Career

In the first half of the 1930s, Fernihough took part in many international races for the Excelsior Motor Company. In April 1930 he won the North West 200 race in Northern Ireland in the 175 cc category. In the Belgian Grand Prix of the same year, Fernihough finished second to the local rider Yvan Goor. In September 1930, he won the 175cc UMF Grand Prix in Pau, France.

In June 1931, Fernihough won his second UMF Grand Prix in the 175cc category and with it the title of European Champion. That year he also won the Belgian Grand Prix and the 250cc category races at the North West 200 and Swedish TT. That year Fernihough recorded 18 firsts and 13 lap records. In 1933 he had 14 firsts and 17 records. In 1934 he had 16 firsts with 18 in 1935 and 10 in 1936.

In 1935, using a 996cc JAP-engined Brough Superior, Fernihough improved the Outer Circuit lap record at the Brooklands, one of the fastest tracks of the time, to .

In 1936, Fernihough set a new flying mile motorcycle speed record for solo motorcycles on his Brough Superior at a speed of . The following year, he improved on this speed, upping the flying kilometre record to . He also set a new record for sidecar motorcycles at .

Fatal accident

On 23 April 1938, Fernihough crashed and was killed while attempting to break the world's absolute motorcycle speed record at Gyón, Hungary.

Statistics

Title 1931 – 175 cc European Champion on an Excelsior

Race wins (yellow background denotes that the race determined the European Championship) Year Class Motorcycle Race Circuit 1930 175 cc Excelsior North West 200 175 cc Excelsior UMF Grand Prix Pau 1931 175 cc Excelsior III. North West 200 175 cc Excelsior UMF Grand Prix Montlhéry 175 cc Excelsior Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps 250 cc Excelsior Swedish TT Onsala 1932 175 cc Excelsior North West 200 175 cc Excelsior Dutch TT Circuit van Drenthe 175 cc Excelsior UMF Grand Prix Reims 175 cc Excelsior Belgian Grand Prix Spa-Francorchamps 1934 175 cc Excelsior UMF Grand Prix Dieppe