Why is that McIntyre was able to go faster than other riders, even without the backing of large motorcycle manufacturers? What makes a motorcycle champion? For Geoff Duke, it is a combination of factors: being born with riding ability; balance; ability to control the throttle, especially under slippy conditions; and general judgement. It is only when pressed on the issue of bottle did he add: “I suppose courage does come into it.”
For Ewen Haldane, “A great rider possesses finesse. It's all down to technique.” McIntyre was once asked if he ever felt fear, racing at such speeds: “When I do, I'll quit.”
Bob McIntyre was very seriously injured in a motorcycle accident at Oulton Park racetrack in Cheshire on 6 August 1962. He had been trying to catch the race leader Derek Minter in the 500cc event. According to his engine specialist Pim Fleming, “At Clay Hill corner, the bike went straight into the bank with Bob still on it. The front wheel went into a hole, catapulting Bob into a tree.”
Mac died nine days later in hospital, his condition having steadily deteriorated.
Geoff Duke recalls the tragic event. “Bob had won 250cc race earlier in the day so he knew the track well. But there had been a very sudden and very heavy downpour and a pool had developed at a very fast part of the track. There was no way Bob could have known about it. Unfortunately, his machine aquaplaned and Bob Mac came off the bike at a terrific speed.”
Duke feels that McIntyre should have taken longer away from the track after crashing at Monza in 1961 and breaking his collar bone. “I think he came back to racing before he was just right. I think his balance had been affected slightly.”
One desperately sad aspect of Bob McIntyre's early death was that he had become a father to a baby girl just weeks before. His daughter Eleanor lives just west of Glasgow and occasionally is asked to present trophies at the Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races. Eleanor remarked: “It never ceases to amaze me just how much people loved my dad. I get people coming up to me at race events to tell me my dad was their hero – 40 years ago! It's incredible. It's really nice.”
We will never know if Bob Mac would have gone on to become world motorcycle champion. Only an injury at the Dutch TT stood between him and that crown five years before his death. What is also intriguing is that McIntyre had become interested in motor racing and had met with Jackie Stewart to discuss moving from two wheels to four.
Perhaps a simple statement made to The Glasgow Herald in August 1962 by a Mr AJ Stephen, editor of the Scottish Clubman magazine, best sums up the racing great Bob McIntyre: “No-one was more loved in the game inside and outside Scotland.”
