Dave Simmonds (25 October 1939 – 23 October 1972) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

professional

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1963 to 1972. Simmonds is notable for winning the

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

125 cc

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

road racing

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Motorcycle racing career

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Simmonds began his

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

career riding a

50cc The 50 cc class was the ultra-lightweight class in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, and formed part of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) World Championships from 1962 until 1983; when the class was replaced by 80 cc. History ...

Itom Itom (acronym for Industria Torinese Meccanica) was a motorcycle factory founded in Turin (in Via Millio, at number 41), in 1944, and transferred to Sant'Ambrogio di Torino in 1957/58 where it produced motorcycles until the close of 1975. The own ...

motorcycle in 1960. By 1963 he had won the 125cc British road racing national championship on a

Tohatsu is a Japanese company manufacturing and selling outboard motors, pleasure boats, portable fire pumps, small fire trucks, pumps for construction and drainage, and refrigeration units for transportation. It also does real estate property manageme ...

. His impressive results earned him an invitation from the Kawasaki factory to race one of their motorcycles in the

Japanese Grand Prix The Japanese Grand Prix ( ja, 日本グランプリ, Nihon-guranpuri) is a motor racing event in the calendar of the Formula One, Formula One World Championship. Historically, Japan has been one of the last races of the season, and as such the ...

. Simmonds convinced Kawasaki management to loan him a motorcycle to compete in the 125cc Grand Prix world championships. In an era of unrestricted rules, the Kawasaki KR1 125cc

twin cylinder Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

was outclassed by the expensive,

V4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobiles ...

s used by the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

racing team and the

square four engine A U engine is a piston engine made up of two separate straight engines (complete with separate crankshafts) placed side-by-side and coupled to a shared output shaft. When viewed from the front, the engine block resembles the letter "U". Althou ...

s used by

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

. Without any financial or mechanical support from the Kawasaki factory, Simmonds spent the

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

Grand Prix seasons sorting out the motorcycle's reliability issues. In 1969, the FIM changed its regulations in an effort to reduce spiraling costs in motorcycle racing. 125cc and 250cc machines would be limited to two cylinders and 6-speed transmissions. This regulation change caused the dominant Yamaha and Suzuki factories to withdraw their teams from Grand Prix racing. Simmonds and his aging Kawasaki won the 1969 125cc road racing world championship in an impressive fashion with only one race in which he failed to finish in either first or second place. The victory marked the first world championship for Kawasaki. Simmonds dropped to fourth place in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

with improved competition from

Dieter Braun Dieter Braun (born 2 February 1943 in Ulm, Bavaria) is a former road racer of Grand Prix solo motorcycles from Germany. He won the 1970 FIM 125cc World Championship for Suzuki. In 1973, he rode a Yamaha TZ 250 to the 250 cc FIM world cha ...

(Suzuki),

Ángel Nieto Ángel Nieto Roldán (25 January 1947 – 3 August 2017) was a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in the history of the sport, winning 13 World Championships and 90 Grand Prix ...

(

Derbi Derbi is a manufacturer of motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and recreational all-terrain vehicles produced by Nacional Motor S.A.U., a Spanish subsidiary of Piaggio & Co. SpA. History Derbi's origins began with a little bicycle workshop in the vi ...

) and

Börje Jansson Börje Jansson (born 10 November 1942) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Sweden. His best years were in 1971 and 1972, when he finished third in the 125cc world championship riding for the Maico factory racing team. He won the 1 ...

(

Maico Maicowerk A.G., known by its trading name Maico () is the name of a family company in the Swabian town of Pfäffingen near Tübingen. Founded in 1926 by Ulrich Maisch as Maisch & Co, the company originally manufactured 98 and 123 cc Ilo t ...

) but, still managed to win the

Finnish Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

and scored two second place finishes in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

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Grands Prix. Simmonds finished sixth in the

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

125cc world championship with one win at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...

at the

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...

. In 1971, he competed in the premier 500cc class with a

Kawasaki H1R The Kawasaki H1R was racing motorcycle manufactured by Kawasaki which competed in the 500 cc class of Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Based on the Kawasaki H1 street motorcycle, it was powered by a two stroke, three cylinder engine set across ...

. The H1R had poor road handling characteristics so, Simmonds had his H1R rebuilt around a Ken Sprayson-designed

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

that greatly improved the machine's handling. He proved to be competitive by winning the preseason invitational 500cc Mettet Grand Prix then, finished second to

Giacomo Agostini Giacomo Agostini (; born 16 June 1942) is an Italian multi-time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Nicknamed Ago, he amassed 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championship titles. Of these, 68 wins and 8 titles came in the 500 ...

and the dominant

MV Agusta MV Agusta (, full name: MV AGUSTA Motor S.p.A., original name: Meccanica Verghera Agusta or MV) is a motorcycle manufacturer founded by Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of the Agusta aircraft company near Milan in ...

at the Finnish Grand Prix followed by third places in Holland and Italy. Simmonds won his first 500cc class victory at the season ending

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...

Jarama Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jarama ...

when Agostini sat out the race after already winning the championship. His victory in Spain also marked Kawasaki's first premier-class Grand Prix victory. Simmonds ended the season ranked 4th in the 500cc World Championship despite missing four rounds. In

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, seven years after first his first appearance on the 125cc Kawasaki, Simmonds would race the bike to a remarkable third place at the Dutch TT.

Death

In 1972, while attending a non-championship motorcycle race at

Rungis Rungis () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, in the ''département'' of Val-de-Marne. It is best known as the location of the large wholesale food market serving the Paris metropolitan area and beyond, the ''Marché d'Intér ...

near Paris, Simmonds was killed in a fire caused by an exploding gas cylinder in a caravan owned by fellow racer

Jack Findlay Cyril John Findlay (5 February 1935 – 19 May 2007) was an Australian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is noted for having one of the longest racing careers in Grand Prix history spanning 20 years, as well as one of four ride ...

. Mistakenly thinking that Findlay was inside the caravan, Simmonds rushed to help just as the gas cylinder exploded, engulfing him in flames.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

Points system from 1950 to 1968: Points system from 1969 onwards: (

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Dave 1939 births 1972 deaths Sportspeople from London English motorcycle racers 50cc World Championship riders 125cc World Championship riders 250cc World Championship riders 350cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders Isle of Man TT riders Accidental deaths in France 125cc World Riders' Champions