Gary Hocking

Gary Stuart Hocking MBE (30 September 1937 – 21 December 1962) was a Rhodesian professional motorcycle road and car racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1958 to 1962, most prominently as a member of the MV Agusta factory racing team where he won the 350cc and 500cc world championships.

Early life

Hocking was born in Caerleon, near Newport, Monmouthshire, in south-east Wales, but grew up in Southern Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980) where he attended Gifford High School. As a teenager, he began racing motorcycles on grass tracks. In the Junior TT of 1959 Hocking finished 12th from 22nd on the grid.

In 1959, Hocking was offered a ride by the East German MZ factory and finished second in the 250cc championship. During practice for the 1959 Junior TT, his 350 Manx Norton, and the machines of teammates Terry Shepherd and John Hartle, were fitted with the top-secret works 350 cc Desmodromic engine, but they ran standard engines for the actual race. MV Agusta offered Hocking full factory support for the 1960 season and he repaid their confidence by finishing second in the 125 cc, 250 cc and 350 cc classes. After winning the Senior TT, he announced his retirement from motorcycle racing and returned to Rhodesia. He felt motorcycle racing was too dangerous and decided a career in auto racing would be safer. He entered the Danish Grand Prix, Gold Cup and Rand Grand Prix, achieving two fourth places.

Later that year, on 22 December, Hocking was killed during practice for the 1962 Natal Grand Prix at the Westmead circuit. His car, a Rob Walker entered Lotus 24, ran off the edge of the track at the end of the long right hand corner and somersaulted end over end twice. Hocking's head struck the roll hoop and he died some hours later in the Addington hospital in Durban. It is possible that the car suffered a front suspension failure, and it is also possible that incorrectly reassembled steering – Hocking had asked for a change on this item – might have been the cause; whatever was the reason, this caused the car to veer sharply to the left and somersault as he was going uphill and was approaching the crest of the rise. It is also likely that he was dehydrated and lost consciousness from that. He had been entered for the South African Grand Prix shortly awards, which would have allowed him to make his world championship debut, but following his death this was withdrawn. He was 25 years old.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Source:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 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 Points Rank Wins 1958 500cc Norton IOM NED BEL GER SWE ULS NAT 8 6th 0 1959125cc MZ IOM GER NED BEL SWE ULS79th0 MV Agusta NAT 250cc MZ IOM GER NED BEL SWE ULS NAT 16 2nd 2 350cc Norton FRA IOM GER SWE ULS NAT 12 4th 0 500cc Norton FRA IOM GER NED BEL ULS NAT 10 5th 0 1960 125cc MV Agusta IOM NED BEL ULS NAT 18 2nd 0 250cc MV Agusta IOM NED BEL GER ULS NAT 28 2nd 2 350cc MV Agusta FRA IOM NED ULS NAT 22 2nd 2 1961 250cc MV Agusta ESP GER FRA IOM NED BEL DDR ULS NAT SWE ARG 8 8th 1 350cc MV Agusta GER IOM NED DDR ULS NAT SWE 32 1st 4 500cc MV Agusta GER FRA IOM NED BEL DDR ULS NAT SWE ARG 48 1st 7 1962 350cc MV Agusta IOM NED ULS DDR NAT FIN 6 8th 0 500cc MV Agusta IOM NED BEL ULS DDR NAT FIN ARG 8 5th 1

Formula One results

Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WDC Pts. RRC Walker Racing Team Lotus Climax NED MON BEL FRA GBR GER ITA USA RSA – –

Non-championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1962 Tim Parnell Lotus 18/21 Climax Straight-4 CAP BRX LOM LAV GLV PAU AIN INT NAP MAL CLP RMS SOL KAN MED DAN OUL MEX Rob Walker Racing Team Lotus 24 Climax V8 RAN NAT