This memoir presents a summary of my late father's career and involvement in motorsport with images and words. As a young man in his teenage years a century ago and into his mid-20's, my Dad's abiding interest was motorcycling.
Michael Francis McSorley, Mick to his colleagues and friends, was born in Omagh County Tyrone in August 1908. His father, John was a "motor agent" who had opened the business in the town centre in three years earlier. Among other merchandise, the shop sold bicycles as well as guns and ammunition for sporting use.
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| MF McSorley aspirant motorcyclist outside the family business at 3&5 Bridge Street Omagh circa 1929 |
In subsequent years the business diversified to include sales of petrol, records, gramophones, radios, televisions, musical instruments, wet batteries and, at Hallowe'en - fireworks. What a stimulating place for any child, for me, to grow up in during the 1950's and 60's.
Mick took part in motorbike races across the country, in both jurisdictions of the newly partitioned Ireland, in the first half of the 1930's with a modicum of success.
Thanks to the contents of a metal box in which he stored memorabilia of racing events he attended to learn about his sport either as a spectator, official, pressman or motorcycling competitor, I can attempt to narrate his sporting life and achievement in the inter-war decade from the late-1920's to 1935.
In contrast with the modern age when sport is a prominent daily event, organised largely by and for full-time professionals and involving substantial revenues and incomes, the 1920's and '30's was the early era of derring-do amateurs. Yes there were some expert works teams even then, but the enterprising pioneers balanced motorcycle racing with work and family - and paid for the personal privilege of competing.
Their commitment and ambition meant having to buy all of their own equipment. This would have included key essentials such as motor bikes as well as the associated kit, race entry fees, travel to and from events plus food and accomodation, and maintainence of their racing machines.
Motor Cycle Union licences
From his fastidious record-keeping, it is clear that my Dad's father John was a founding member of the home-town Omagh Motor Cycle Club. Mick was the club's inaugural treasurer in 1927. John, sadly, passed away on December 5 of that year leaving his young son to run the family business from the age of 19.
Membership of a motor cycle club was a prerequisite of applying for a racing licence; likewise, receipt of a licence from the parent body was a prerequisite to race.
1927 is also the year when as a member of the Omagh MCC he received his first licence to compete from the parent body, the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland. Interestingly - whether this is significant or not - his final licence dated 1935 declares his club as Ulster Motor Cycle Club.
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| Race licences of M F McSorley - examples 1927-35 |
In 1928 he had also become a member of the Enniskillen and District Motor Club. The first record of his entry as a race competitor shows him listed in June 1931 to ride a Zenith in the Enniskillen 100 mile race. That was 91 years ago, so long ago that it's almost like pre-history in motorsports terms. This event had been inaugurated in 1929.
From his records, it's clear that my father's motorbike of choice in all of his subsequent racing was a 1931 Rudge 249 cc. The Rudge was shared between him and his friend Jim Woodside from Belfast. In 1932 Jim had raced it in the Cookstown Enniskillen and Carrowdore 100s and the Temple 60; and he raced it to victories in the 1933 North West 200 and the 1933 Temple 100. Jim and he remained life-long pals.
My Dad's papers include evidence of the sport's regulation. In addition to the licencing system, events were controlled with a system of rules governing all manner of specifics. These ranged event jurisdiction, entry requirements, motorbike specification, fuel to be used, medical certification, and the compulsory use of helmets.
His archive includes, for example, a copy of a 21 page booklet of detailed regulations relating to the 1933 Ulster Grand Prix with the phrase "The Worlds Fastest Race" emblazoned on the front cover, like a salutory reminder of the need to observe the rules. The use of metal-studded boots was expressly forbidden.
Just as in the modern era, however, everybody knows that regardless of how exactly regulations may be drawn, the potential for misfortune and accidents will always exist especially in dangerous high-speed sports.
1933 highlights
Before returning to the County Fermanagh course, my Dad's first ever racing victory took place at a County Tyrone race, the Cookstown 100. He won the 250cc race there on 24 May 1933 riding the Rudge 249. In that effort, he also set the race's fastest lap in a speed of 59.49 mph.
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| M McSorley (no. 8) starting his winning ride at the Cookstown 100 on 24 May 1933 |
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| In the paddock in race leathers + celebratory cig after 1933 Cookstown100 win with J Vincent who came 2nd |
At the Enniskillen 100 the next month, he delivered his second victory (as no.26) on 28 June 1933. Again this was in the 250cc event on the same bike. The prize was the Derby Cup, he recorded the race's fastest lap, and set an average speed on the course of 64.11 mph.
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| Taking the chequered flag Enniskillen 100 June28 1933 |
Ten days later on 8 July 1933 he marked his first racing foray across the border when he won the 250cc at the Dublin 100 in Phoenix Park (no. 21). That meant three wins in three races. A creditable start for a 24 year old in his first full year of racing. He set a course record speed of 70.5 mph on the Rudge. His notes record that his fastest lap time for the 250cc class was only 40 seconds slower than the fastest lap by a 350cc bike ridden by T.G. Burn.
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| M McSorley (no.21) leads 3 competitors around zoo corner (Source: Irish Times embossed photo of the 8 July 1933 Dublin 100) |
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| Two I.P photos, one with EG Kelly leading M McSorley (winner); other (rhs) a close-up of MMcSorley (surrounded by adoring fans) winner of the 1933 Dublin 100 (newspaper unknown) |
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| M McSorley (lhs) post-race with T Walsh on his 490cc Norton |
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| Previous Winners of the Dublin 100 including 1933 - from the July 1934 Dublin 100 official race programme |
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| Dublin 100 July 1933 race report (newspaper unknown) |
Note the reference in the first paragraph of A Deserved Success to his being smashed by another rider, and yet he remounted and went on to finish first. The report adds that only 8 of 30 starters finished the race.
The next month saw him ride in Northern Ireland's oldest race, the Ulster Grand Prix, first run in 1922. He had attended the 1929 1930 1931 and 1932 races as an official and/or observer. On 19 August 1933, he attended as a competitor (no. 50).
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| Ulster Grand Prix 1933 20.5 mile lap race course |
He achieved a podium finish, being placed third in the 10-lap 250 cc event and winning a gold medal and a silver cigarette case. He set an average speed of 71.39 mph.
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| M McSorley's handwritten notes on the 12th International Ulster Grand Prix programme August 1933 |
1934
His first outing of 1934 was on 2 April, the event being the Red Brae Hill Climb in Carrickfergus. His notes record that it involved four runs. He set the fastest time, 57 seconds, for a machine below 250 cc.
The North West 200 first took place in 1929. My Dad's first outing there took place at its fifth staging on 12 May 1934 having attended the race in 1931 and 1933 as an observer/official. His friend Jim Woodside had won the 250cc race in 1933 on the Rudge.
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| Map of the 11 mile NW200 course. A is the Portstewart start, B Coleraine at bottom of map, D is Portrush at top rhs. Anticlockwise route |
His notes on the 1934 programme record that he came first in the 250 cc class scratch (no. 44) and a record speed of 66.69 mph. In second place was N Robson from Blackpool riding a Dunelt, with Jack Duncan from Aberdeen riding a New Imperial in third place.
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| Photo of the1934 250cc NW200 race - from 1935 NW200 programme |
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| 1934 NW200 race results - from 1935 NW200 programme |
Nine teams competed in the 1934 NW200, five of which were from different parts of England, one was from Scotland, one from Leinster, and three from Northern Ireland. Mick was a member of the winning club team, Ulster Number 1, consisting of Rusk Taggart and McSorley.
In the June 1934 edition of the Enniskillen 100 (no. 17), while he may not have won the race, he took the prize for setting the fastest lap on the day in a time of 65.59 mph.
And in the Dublin 100 on 21 July (no. 38), he finished second clocking an average speed of 68.34 mph.
1935
The North West 200 took place on 11 May that year. On this occasion he came second in the 250cc class (no. 42). In addition, he won the Ballymoney Cup for setting the fastest lap in that class. He was one of the same three members of an Ulster Motor Cycling Club team (Rusk Taggart and McSorley) that retained the team prize which they had won in 1934. An impressive double.
Eleven days later on 22 May, he raced again (no. 18) in the Cookstown 100. While placing fourth overall and first in the 250cc class, he recorded the fastest lap in the class at a speed of 62.5 mph. The 24 May 1935 edition of The Tyrone Constitution glowingly reported that
"his time was 1 hour 41 minutes 57 seconds and his average speed was 61.8 mph. Mr McSorley was first in the 250cc class and won the prize for the fastest time in his class the speed being 62.5 mph. Mr McSorley had a big handicap and his time was much better than the winner."
Victory beckoned once more on 26 June when he won the Derby Cup for the second time at the Enniskillen 100(no. 26), setting the fastest lap in the process, and averaging a speed of 66.27 mph.
On 13 July, less than a month before his 27th birthday, he lined up again in the Dublin 100. Despite being labelled as the "hot favourite," calamity struck as this race ended his career. He collided with a farm animal when travelling at 90 mph. He ended up in hospital with serious injuries. Fortunately and thanks to attentive medical care he survived (living for another 25 years).
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| Daily Express report on the July 1935 Dublin 100 |
Pre and post-racing activity
Based on the archive contained in the metal box, I have evidence of my father attending motorsports events both in the lead-up to competing himself and also after he was forced to retire.
Apart from returning to the race tracks where he had competed as a motorcyclist, he also made journalistic trips to the Isle of Man for the Senior Tourist Trophy Race in 1934,1935 and 1936 with a press pass. What adds interest to his cv, however, is to see evidence of his interest in car racing over the years.
For example, he attended the 1929 and 1930 editions of the RAC International Tourist Trophy Race. The great event took place over a 14 mile lap North Down course. Its stage was over the Dundonald, Newtownards and Comber triangle originally in 1928 (There is a revelatory 4 minute silent film of the 1928 race to see on YouTube).
When I look at the list of drivers, I see names from all over the UK, Ireland and Europe; and in amongst them Viscount this and Lord that. Now you know how the Roaring 20's were really made to roar.
Exotic cars which would fetch enormous sums today such as Bugatti, Alvis Bentley, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler featured. This must have been the high-point of motor racing anywhere ever in Ireland.
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| 1929 RAC International TT course map |
Further evidence of my father's interest in racing cars comes from this photograph below. Here he is in or around 1930 on Omagh's Courthouse Hill, with clipboard in hand, standing next to large sports cars. It suggests the officiating at a car rally. Anyone who can identify the make/models of the cars is invited to get in touch.
And almost twenty years later in 1949, a report in one of the local newspapers about the Circuit of Ireland car rally presents a photograph of my father as one of three Omagh drivers trialling for the rally. So when I was about three or four months old, my Dad was charging about the leafy-green lanes of Ulster in a rally car. I have a copy of the cutting somewhere in my belongings.
And even before he competed as a motorcyclist, he officiated from the age of 19 at various race events in various support roles, including race marshalling, as illustrated below.
Restoration of the Rudge
Before closing, I can confirm that his 1931 Rudge was acquired back in the 1960's by Albert Clarke from Ballygowan. Albert has meticulously restored the bike to excellent condition having gradually scoured half the country over many years, successfully sourcing many original parts. The Belfast Telegraph dispatched their veteran motorsport correspondent Jimmy Walker to record my meeting with him in May 1994.
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| 249ccRudge restored by Albert Clarke (lhs). (Source:Belfast Telegraph 1994) |
Just
as clinical scientists and archaeologists publish the results of their
fact-based and painstaking work in journals for peer approval, Albert has set out the
motorbike's history and provenance in two issues of Radial (Issue 149 Autumn & 150 Winter 1994). It is the journal of the Rudge Enthusiasts Club.
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| Journal entries written by Albert Clarke, Ballygowan about the 1931 250cc Racing Rudge |
Legacy
To conclude, the family of Michael F McSorley is quietly proud of his racing legacy, modest as it is in comparison with those of today's stars. Whereas I hope that this essay does justice to his achievements, I regret that his early passing when I was 11 deprived me of the opportunity to learn more - direct from the man himself about his racing career.
I suspect, however, that perhaps his hand was on my shoulder when composing this memoir, helping to correct mistakes and to fill some of the gaps in my knowledge.
©Michael McSorley 2022
