In late May each year, they come in their thousands; fans packed on to ferries and flights to the Isle of Man. Once they have landed, they take up every vantage point around the island to watch the daredevils of motorbike racing test their skills against each other on the treacherous road circuit. It is motor sport at its most dangerous.

In the 1970s though, the Isle of Man TT was having problems with a loss of face and credibility. World champion Barry Sheene turned up, fell off his bike on the second lap and criticised the place. Many others regarded it as too dangerous after a string of deaths and, as a result, it lost its grand prix status. Numbers had dropped.

The event needed a saviour. They had one. He was sitting in faraway New Zealand, getting bored. Mike Hailwood had last raced on the island in 1967, winning his 12th TT race and stamping his reputation as one of the greatest exponents of the sport. He then switched to Formula One car racing and was destined for the top when he crashed at Nurburgring in 1974, injuring his foot and ending his F1 career.

What do you do in your mid-30s without racing? Hailwood opened a bike shop in Birmingham. When that did not satisfy him, he moved to South Africa, where he hoped to run an air-taxi business. He eventually ended up in New Zealand.

His manager and friend, Ted Macauley, knew he was unhappy. “There was that restlessness within him because he had been competing since he was a kid. Racing was in his blood,” says Macauley. One day a letter from Hailwood dropped through Macauley’s post-box in Manchester. He told his manager that he wanted to return to TT racing, 11 years after last riding a bike competitively. Macauley was flabbergasted. “I didn’t think it was a good idea because the TT had such a record of death and destruction, even for fellas who were 110%, never mind someone like Mike, who was pot-bellied, had a funny foot and was 38 years old.”

Hailwood was adamant, though, and his return to the island began to gather steam in early 1978. Sponsors were flooding in to jump on the bike. “His motivation certainly wasn’t money,” says Macauley. “His father was a double millionaire by about 1947 from his motorcycle businesses and this money was certainly coming to Mike. It made it more intriguing. Why should he want to stick his neck out at a race that was by far and away the most dangerous and testing race in the world? His motivation was purely restlessness because he didn't know what to do with himself.”

The task was to find a bike that, if he won on it, it was down to his talent and if he lost, it was because the bike was not good enough. He settled on the reliable Ducati 900 Supersport. Yamaha provided him with a 750cc, a 500cc and a 250cc for three other races and Martini bankrolled the comeback.

Word got around that Hailwood was returning to the island. “You couldn’t get a flight; you couldn’t get a hotel room. It was astonishing,” says Macauley. “Between 50,000 and 60,000 people came to the Isle of Man and stayed for the fortnight. Wherever Mike went on the island, people were stopping him to talk. There was no great expectation from fans, just enjoy yourself and do your best was the message.”

His first race was the Formula One event. The riders started in pairs at 10-second intervals. Hailwood was No 12, an ideal position on the grid because he had targets to aim at as well as chasers to keep him going. He went off like a rocket and recorded his fastest-ever TT lap speed of 109.87mph. It was astonishing. To the delight of his fans, he passed great rival Phil Read. He kept up his blistering pace and received a rapturous reception on his last lap as he rode to victory, beating John Williams on a Honda and Ian Richards on a Kawasaki. The island went crazy; the legend was back.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the fortnight was unsuccessful for Hailwood. The Yamaha bikes were not as reliable as the Ducati and he finished 28th in the Senior, 12th in the 250cc Junior and pulled out of the Classic on the first lap with engine trouble.

Hailwood left the island in 1978 with unfinished business and was determined to return the following year. Now 39 years old, but still possessing his innate skill on the bike, he set down a marker by winning the 1979 Senior on a 500cc Suzuki.

He was then involved in a dramatic, ding-dong six-lap Classic race in his final appearance on the Mountain course. Scotland’s Alex George, on a Honda, led through the first four laps before Hailwood grabbed the advantage and was less than a second ahead going into the last lap.

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