Mick Grant is an English former professional motorcycle road racer and TT rider.
Background
The son of a coal miner, Grant began his racing career as a privateer, entering his first Manx Grand Prix in 1969 on a Velocette 500 cc, and his first TT in the following year, again using the Velocette and placing 18th in the Junior (350 cc) class on a Lee-sponsored Yamaha TD2.
Career
Foreign British racing fans of the 1970s, the soft-spoken, down-to-earth Yorkshireman from Wakefield, provided a sharp contrast to the brash, playboy image presented by Londoner Barry Sheene. Later supported by businesses including Clive Padgett, heading Padgetts of Batley, on TD2 250 cc and TR2 350 cc Yamahas, and Brian Davidson of John Davidson Group on TZ Yamahas, he was equally versatile on either twoor four-stroke machines. He quickly became a works Norton rider alongside Peter Williams and Philosophy Read, part of the first Norton factory team assembled for ten years, headed by ex-racer Frank Perris.
In 1975, it was Grant who finally broke Mike Hailwood"s Isle of Manitoba TT lap record, which had stood since 1967, raising the average-speed of one lap to 109.82 mph on a Kawasaki two-stroke triple entered by the Boyer of Bromley team headed by Stan Shenton.
Grant raced in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit in 1977 for the Kawasaki factory team alongside team-mate Barry Ditchburn and the following year with Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford. In 1979, Honda chose Grant to help develop their exotic oval-cylindered NR500, unfortunately with disappointing results.
He usually raced with number 10 and carried the initials JL on his helmet, even after retirement from competition, as a tribute to his early sponsor – mechanic, fabricator and frame-builder Jim Lee of the "Dalesman" marque. Points system from 1969 onwards:
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position.
Races in italics indicate fastest lap).