I met Alex quite a few years ago when he was just getting into TT mode and it was good to be able to get to speak to this dedicated rider and to watch his progress. In those days it was an purely as an acquaintance but as Alex progressed to Honda works rider, we were sure that he would make history, and the friendship grew. His first win came in in the 1975 Production race when he rode the legendary Triumph Slippery Sam to victory with another legend, Dave "Crasher" Croxford, a hard race and a total of 10 laps distance, the race started with a Le Mans type start for the 3 classes, each group going in a separate start but Alex once told me that the bottom of Bray Hill was no place for the faint hearted with it being like a short circuit start and more than 30 bikes after the same bit of tarmac.

If I remember correctly, in 1977 I was in the main grandstand with my family when it was announced that he had come off in a big way at Ginger Hall and had been taken to hospital. It was an awful day and I remember seeing Diane rush off to join him. A neat depression in his throat is a reminder of a tracheal insert, necessary at that time to help him breath.

Alex also won three TT races of which his greatest win must be in 1979 when he beat Mike Hailwood by a mere 3.4 seconds after 6 hard fought laps around the famous Mountain Course. However he showed us all what a week it was going to be by starting out in the Formula 1 race with nothing less than a win and top step of the podium, he obviously developed a taste for the champagne!

He is still very modest about beating Mike the Bike in what was a really first class race.

The hand painted plaques from the 1979 TT scoreboard, 9 was Alex, 6 was Mike.

He was also part of Honda's black protest at 1981 TT when Honda protested against Suzuki. His career effectively came to an end with another crash in the 1982 TT, although he did return to take part in the 1992 Senior Classic Manx Grand Prix where he finished in a creditable 11th place on a 500 Manx Norton.

In 2009 he featured on the special 50th Honda anniversary stamp issue in the Isle of Man when he appeared on the stamp representing the 70s.

Photograph below shows Alex and TTFan at the uinveiling of the plaque commemorating the site where the first Honda workshop was set up in 1959 in Onchan.

TTFan and Alex George, at the Honda unveiling in 2009.

"It all began by building a 200cc Tiger Cub in the workshop at his dad's motorcycle shop in Glasgow. A lot of hours were spent working after school to help raise money for his efforts on the race track and he made that first appearance shortly after his 14th birthday in March or April 1963 at Gask, near Perth, he can't remember the exact date but does remember that he was under age at the time. But no records were set that day nor were any signs shown of the true potential that was going to surface in the future, Alex finished last out of 40 starters! More hours were spent working to raise the princely sum of L4 17/6d old money for a high compression piston to get a bit more speed out of that bike. He started on a real shoestring, wearing a two piece PVC riding suit and of course a pudding basin crash helmet. As he put it when I asked if he had any photos of that day.........."Photos, hey man I could only just afford a gallon of 101 to use in the bike, no cameras, no food, no style, a bike made from bits........but the will to win was ignited that day!!!" And no doubt that steely eyed look that we have all come to know was there as well waiting to put fear into his opponents if not at that first meeting then shortly after. If ever a rider has shown determination it has to be this guy.

Alex set up Red Rocket Racing at Snetterton race Circuit when he finished riding at the top level and many of us who were racing soon found someone who would willingly pass on valuable advice learnt from his own time in the sport, not just someone who took your money and left you to it." (from TT website)

TTFan and Alex George, President of the TTRA 2017