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

motorcycle racer 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

In 1927, Fernihough made his only participation in the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

, finishing thirteenth in the 250 cc Lightweight TT. In the first half of the 1930s, Fernihough took part in many international races for the

Excelsior Motor Company Excelsior, based in Coventry, was a British bicycle, motorcycle and car maker. They were Britain’s first motorcycle manufacturer, starting production of their own ‘motor-bicycle’ in 1896. Initially they had premises at Lower Ford Street ...

. In April 1930 he won the

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a Northern Irish motorsport event established in 1929 for road racing motorcycles held on a street circuit known as ''the Triangle'' between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast ...

race in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in the 175 cc category. In the

Belgian Grand Prix The Belgian Grand Prix (French language, French: ''Grand Prix de Belgique''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Grote Prijs van België''; German language, German: ''Großer Preis von Belgien'') is a motor racing event which forms part of the Formula O ...

of the same year, Fernihough finished second to the local rider Yvan Goor. In September 1930, he won the UMF Grand Prix in Pau,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In June 1931, Fernihough won his second UMF Grand Prix in the 175 cc category and with it the title of European Champion. That year he also won the Belgian Grand Prix and the 250 cc category races at the North West 200 and Swedish TT. In 1932, Fernihough won the 175 cc races at the

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed'. The event attained world champ ...

, the UMF Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. 1933 saw Fernihough and Excelsior win their fourth consecutive UMF Grand Prix in the 175 cc class. In 1935, riding a

Brough Superior Brough Superior ( ) motorcycles, sidecars, and motor cars were made by George Brough in his Brough Superior works on Haydn Road in Nottingham, England, from 1919 to 1940. The motorcycles were dubbed the "Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles" by H. D. ...

, Fernihough improved the lap record at the

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

circuit, one of the fastest tracks of the time, to . In 1936, Fernihough set a new

motorcycle land-speed record The motorcycle land-speed record is the fastest speed achieved by a motorcycle on land. It is standardized as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions. AMA National Land Speed Records requires 2 passes ...

for solo motorcycles over the flying mile on a Brough Superior at a speed of . The following year, he improved the record using a

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...

1000 cc

J.A.P. JA Prestwich Industries, was a British engineering equipment manufacturing company named after founder John Alfred Prestwich, which was formed in 1951 by the amalgamation of J.A.Prestwich and Company Limited and Pencils Ltd. History John Pres ...

engine, upping the flying kilometre record to . He also set a new record for

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

motorcycles at .

Fatal accident

Dabas-Gyón Beton út (5-ös út) 2012-12-25

On 23 April 1938, Fernihough crashed while attempting to break the motorcycle land-speed record at Gyón,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Statistics

Title

* 1931 – 175 cc European Champion on an Excelsior

Race wins

''(yellow background denotes that the race determined the European Championship)''

References

Websites

Eric Fernihough at MotorsportMemorial.org

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernihough, Eric 1905 births 1938 deaths English motorcycle racers Motorcycle land speed record people Sportspeople from Birkenhead