Today it’s hard to imagine 200-mile road races on dodgy road surfaces, with riders clipping straw bales at every corner – but that’s exactly how it was at the Leinster ‘200’ at Wicklow, in the Irish Republic, back in 1957.
Sammy Miller MBE was going through some archives last November when he came across
a report in Motor Cycling, dated June 20, 1957, about that year’s ‘Leinster’ in which he achieved
the fastest lap of the meeting, all classes included, at 88.05mph on a 250cc NSU.
Sam said: “I should think it was the only international where a two-fifty could be faster than the three-fifties and five-hundreds – a truly classic event!”
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It took place just after the 1957 TT in which the late Bob McIntyre had finally pushed his 500cc Gilera four to that first 100mph lap, and the Leinster entry was disastrously depleted by Isle of Man blow-ups and in Irish practising.
Read more in the March 2018 issue of OBM – on sale now!
