1961 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

Gary Hocking, the 1961 350cc and 500cc World Champion.

Mike Hailwood (pictured in 1967) won his first out of 9 World Championship titles in the 250cc class in 1961.

Tom Phillis won the title in the 125cc class.

The 1961 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 13th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix season. The season consisted of eleven Grand Prix races in five classes: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc and Sidecars 500cc. It began on 23 April, with Spanish Grand Prix and ended with Argentine Grand Prix on 15 October.

1961 Grand Prix season calendar[]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 500cc winner	Report
1	23 April	Spanish Grand Prix	Montjuïc circuit	Tom Phillis	Gary Hocking			Fath /
2	14 May	West German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Ernst Degner	Kunimitsu Takahashi	Frantisek Stastny	Gary Hocking	Deubel /
3	21 May	French Grand Prix	Charade Circuit	Tom Phillis	Tom Phillis		Gary Hocking	Scheidegger /
4	12 June	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain	Mike Hailwood	Mike Hailwood	Phil Read	Mike Hailwood	Deubel /	Report
5	24 June	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen	Tom Phillis	Mike Hailwood	Gary Hocking	Gary Hocking	Deubel /
6	2 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	Luigi Taveri	Jim Redman		Gary Hocking	Scheidegger /
7	30 July	East German Grand Prix	Sachsenring	Ernst Degner	Mike Hailwood	Gary Hocking	Gary Hocking
8	12 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Dundrod Circuit	Kunimitsu Takahashi	Bob McIntyre	Gary Hocking	Gary Hocking
9	3 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Ernst Degner	Jim Redman	Gary Hocking	Mike Hailwood
10	17 September	Swedish Grand Prix	Kristianstad	Luigi Taveri	Mike Hailwood	Frantisek Stastny	Gary Hocking
11	15 October	Argentine Grand Prix	Buenos Aires	Tom Phillis	Tom Phillis		Jorge Kissling

Standings[]

Scoring system[]

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Only the best of six races were counted in 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc championships, while in the Sidecars, the best of four were counted.

500cc final standings[]

Pos Rider Machine MAN Pts 1 Gary Hocking MV Agusta 1 1 Ret 1 1 1 1 Ret 1 48 (56) 2 Mike Hailwood Norton / MV Agusta 4 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 40 (55) 3 Frank Perris Norton 2 5 Ret Ret 3 3 16 4 Bob McIntyre Norton 2 3 3 14 5 Alistair King Norton 4 3 2 Ret 13 6 Bert Schneider Norton 18 Ret 3 5 4 9 7 Jorge Kissling Matchless 1 8 8 Matchless 5 5 4 Ret 7 9 Norton 2 6 10 Paddy Driver Norton Ret Ret 6 Ret 3 5 11 Mike Duff Matchless 14 4 10 5 5 12 BMW / Norton 3 8 4 13 Tom Phillis Norton 3 Ret 4 14 Norton 3 4 15 Matchless / Norton 38 4 9 Ret 3 16 Phil Read Norton Ret 4 Ret 3 17 Gyula Marsovszky Norton 4 Ret 3 18 Alberto Pagani Norton 4 3 = Norton 4 3 20 Jack Findlay Norton DNS DNS 8 5 8 6 Ret 3 21 Ernst Hiller BMW / Matchless 5 19 Ret 11 Ret 2 22 Norton 20 5 2 23 Matchless 5 44 2 24 Norton 5 2 25 Matchless / Norton 8 Ret 7 6 1 26 Matchless 8 6 Ret 11 1 27 Lothar John BMW 6 10 14 9 10 1 28 Norton 12 6 NEL 1 29 Norton 13 6 1 30 Norton / Matchless 6 11 1 31 Norton 6 1 = Norton 6 1 33 Norton Ret 7 11 7 0 34 Tommy Robb Matchless Ret 7 8 0 35 Norton 7 10 Ret 0 36 Norton 7 21 11 12 0 37 Rudi Thalhammer Norton 11 7 0 38 Norton 7 Ret 0 39 Norton 7 0 40 Norton 8 9 0 41 Norton 12 11 Ret 8 Ret 0 42 Norton 8 0 43 Norton Ret Ret 15 9 Ret 0 44 Norton 45 9 0 45 Norton 9 Ret 0 46 BSA 9 0 = Norton 9 0 48 Matchless 10 Ret 0 = Norton Ret Ret 10 0 50 Norton 10 0 = Fred Stevens Norton 10 0 = Norton 10 0 53 Norton 11 Ret 0 = Norton 11 0 55 Norton 41 12 0 56 Norton Ret Ret 12 0 57 Dan Shorey Norton Ret 12 0 58 Norton 12 0 = Norton 12 0 = Gilera 12 0 61 BMW 13 0 = Norton 13 0 = Matchless 13 0 = Gilera 13 0 = Norton 13 0 = Norton 13 0 67 Norton 14 15 0 68 Matchless / AJS Ret 14 0 69 Gilera 14 0 = Norton 14 0 71 Norton 15 0 = Norton 15 0 = Norton 15 0 74 BSA 16 0 = Matchless 16 0 76 Norton 17 0 = Bill Smith Matchless 17 0 78 Dennis Craig Matchless 37 18 0 79 Matchless 19 0 80 Matchless 22 0 81 Norton 23 0 82 Norton 24 Ret 0 83 Norton 25 0 84 Matchless 26 0 85 Arthur Wheeler Matchless 27 0 86 BSA 28 0 87 AJS 29 0 88 Derek Minter Norton 30 0 89 Louis Carr Norton 31 0 90 Matchless 32 0 91 Norton 33 0 92 BSA 34 0 93 AJS 35 0 94 AJS 36 0 95 Norton 39 0 96 AJS 40 0 97 Matchless 42 0 98 Norton 43 0 - Hugh Anderson Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - John Hartle Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Ralph Bryans Norton Ret 0 - BSA Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Matchless Ret 0 - Matchless Ret 0 - BSA Ret 0 - Alois Huber BMW Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Peter Middleton Norton Ret 0 - Gilberto Milani Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Ralph Rensen Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Matchless Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike MAN Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

350cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Gary Hocking		Rhodesia	MV Agusta	32	4
2	Frantisek Stastny		Czechoslovakia	Jawa	26	2
3	Gustav Havel		Czechoslovakia	Jawa	19	0
4	Phil Read		United Kingdom	Norton	13	1
5	Bob McIntyre		United Kingdom	Bianchi	10	0
6	Rudi Thalhammer		Austria	Norton	7	0
=	Ralph Rensen		United Kingdom	Norton	7	0
8	Alistair King		United Kingdom	Bianchi	6	0
=	Mike Hailwood		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	6	0
10	Ernesto Brambilla		Italy	Bianchi	5	0
=	Alan Shepherd		United Kingdom	AJS	5	0
12	Tommy Robb		United Kingdom	AJS	4	0
13	Derek Minter		United Kingdom	Norton	3	0
14			West Germany	Norton	2	0
=	Silvio Grassetti		Italy	Benelli	2	0
=			United Kingdom	AJS	2	0
17	Frank Perris		United Kingdom	Norton	2	0
=	Mike Duff		Canada	AJS	2	0
19	Roy Ingram		United Kingdom	Norton	1	0
=	Bert Schneider		Austria	Norton	1	0
=	Hugh Anderson		New Zealand	Norton	1	0

250cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Mike Hailwood		United Kingdom	Honda	44	4
2	Tom Phillis		Australia	Honda	38	2
3	Jim Redman		Rhodesia	Honda	36	2
4	Kunimitsu Takahashi		Japan	Honda	29	1
5	Bob McIntyre		United Kingdom	Honda	14	1
6	Tarquinio Provini		Italy	Morini	10	0
7	Silvio Grassetti		Italy	Benelli	10	0
8	Gary Hocking		Rhodesia	MV Agusta	8	1
9	Fumio Ito		Japan	Yamaha	7	0
10	Luigi Taveri		Switzerland	Honda	6	0
11	Alan Shepherd		United Kingdom	MZ	6	0
=	Frantisek Stastny		Czechoslovakia	Jawa	6	0
13	Ernst Degner		East Germany	MZ	3	0
=			Japan	Honda	3	0
15			East Germany	MZ	3	0
16	Naomi Taniguchi		Japan	Honda	2	0
17	Dan Shorey		United Kingdom	NSU	1	0
=	Yoshikazu Sunako		Japan	Yamaha	1	0
=			East Germany	MZ	1	0

125cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Tom Phillis		Australia	Honda	44	4
2	Ernst Degner		East Germany	MZ	42	3
3	Luigi Taveri		Switzerland	Honda	29	2
4	Jim Redman		Rhodesia	Honda	28	0
5	Kunimitsu Takahashi		Japan	Honda	24	1
6	Mike Hailwood		United Kingdom	EMC / Honda	16	1
7	Alan Shepherd		United Kingdom	MZ	12	0
8			East Germany	MZ	7	0
9	Teisuke Tanaka		Japan	Honda	6	0
10			Japan	Honda	5	0
=			East Germany	MZ	5	0
12			East Germany	MZ	3	0
=	Phil Read		United Kingdom	EMC	3	0
=	László Szabó		Hungary	MZ	3	0
15			United Kingdom	Bultaco	2	0
=			Sweden	Ducati	2	0
=	Naomi Taniguchi		Japan	Honda	2	0
18			United Kingdom	EMC	2	0
19			Spain	Bultaco	1	0
=	Ralph Rensen		United Kingdom	Bultaco	1	0
=			Argentina	Bultaco	1	0

References[]

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06.