Eric Fernihough

Eric Fernihough
NationalityBritish
Born(1905-02-17)17 February 1905
[[Liscard], United Kingdom
Died23 April 1938(1938-04-23) (aged 33)
Budapest, Hungary
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Isle of Man TT career
TTs contested1 (1927)
TT wins0
TT podiums0

Eric Crudgington Fernihough (17 February 1905 – 23 April 1938) was a British motorcycle racer.

Career

In 1927, Fernihough made his only participation in the Isle of Man TT, finishing thirteenth in the 250 cc Lightweight TT.[1]

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.[2] In September 1930, he won the UMF Grand Prix in Pau, France.[3]

In June 1931, Fernihough won his second UMF Grand Prix in the 175 cc category and with it the title of European Champion.[4][5] That year he also won the Belgian Grand Prix and the 250 cc category races at the North West 200 and Swedish TT.[2]

In 1932, Fernihough won the 175 cc races at the Dutch TT, the UMF Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix.[6] 1933 saw Fernihough and Excelsior win their fourth consecutive UMF Grand Prix in the 175 cc class.

In 1935, using a supercharged 1000 cc JAP-engined Brough Superior, Fernihough improved the lap record at the Brooklands circuit, one of the fastest tracks of the time, to 123.58 miles per hour (198.88 km/h).[7]

In 1936, Fernihough set a new flying mile motorcycle speed record for solo motorcycles on his Brough Superior at a speed of 163.82 miles per hour (263.64 km/h). The following year, he improved on this speed, upping the flying kilometre record to 169.79 miles per hour (273.25 km/h). He also set a new record for sidecar motorcycles at 137.11 miles per hour (220.66 km/h).[8]

Fatal accident

The place of Fernihough's death: Hungarian Route 5, km 45-46

On 23 April 1938, Fernihough crashed and was killed while attempting to break the motorcycle land-speed record at Gyón, Hungary. For a full account of Fernihough's life and death and the absolute motorcycle speed record before World War 2 see Wright, Terry; Speed Monarch: the short life of Eric Fernihough and the world's motorcycle speed record, Loose Fillings Publishing, Pymble 2024, ISBN 978-0-6459327-06. See also Records du monde/Worlds Records, Secretariat FIM, Chambesy, Switzerland, 1979 but note that this does have some errors, probably of transcription.

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

References

Websites

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Race Results: Eric C Fernihough". The Official Isle of Man TT Website. Duke Marketing Ltd. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b Glon, Vincent. "L'Histoire de la course moto – Palmarès des Championnats d'Europe (1924–1937 et 1947–1948)". Racing Memo (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  3. ^ Glon, Vincent. "L'Histoire de la course moto; 5ème partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924–1937); 1930". Racing Memo (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  4. ^ Ottinger, Stefan (2009). DKW Motorradsport 1920 - 1939 ; von ersten Siegen des Zschopauer Zweitakters bei Bahnrennen bis zu den Europameisterschafts-Erfolgen (in German) (1 ed.). Chemnitz: HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. p. 50. ISBN 978-3-00-028611-7.
  5. ^ Glon, Vincent. "L'Histoire de la course moto; 5ème partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924–1937); 1931". Racing Memo (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  6. ^ Glon, Vincent. "L'Histoire de la course moto; 5ème partie: Les Grand Prix d'Europe. (1924–1937); 1932". Racing Memo (in French). Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  7. ^ "Brooklands Motoring History". Brooklands100.org. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  8. ^ Cathcart, Alan. "Szene: Brough Superior 8/75 SS 100 – Der große Hammer". MotorradOnline.de (in German). Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
Sporting positions
Preceded by 175cc Motorcycle European Champion
1931 		Succeeded by