Percy Tait (9 October 1929 – 17 November 2019) was an English professional

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racer and senior road tester for Triumph motorcycles, where he was estimated to have covered over a million miles of road testing. He later became a farmer specialising in award-winning rare breeds of sheep.

National Service

Tait gained useful knowledge of motorcycle handling during his National Service, when he was a member of the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

White Helmets Motorcycle Display Team.

Motorcycle career

Tait joined Triumph at the age of 21 in 1950 on the assembly line but was soon promoted to the Experimental Department and was encouraged to go road racing by his manager Frank Baker. Tait joined the Triumph works team and worked under Doug Hele on Triumph's chassis development programme through the early 1960s. He became the main test rider for the development of the three cylinder motorcycles which meant clocking up high mileages in all weathers and grueling sessions at

MIRA Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

and in wind tunnels. Triumph engineer

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

was watching the

Thruxton 500 The Thruxton 500 was a motorcycle endurance race for production based road machines, covering 500 miles and ridden by a team of two riders per machine. The first event was a 9-hour race which took place in 1955, organized by the Southampton and Dist ...

endurance race for production motorcycles and saw Tait come into the pits after an hour on the track and plunge his blistered hands into a bucket of water. Following this Jones worked with Hele on improvements to the chassis which resulted in an

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

victory. Testing could also be dangerous work and he broke his collarbone when he was thrown off a prototype Triumph when the gearbox seized at the 1968 Isle of Man TT.

Racing career

In the

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

Belgian Grand Prix, on the

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

racetrack in the

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

, Tait was riding Triumph's entry for the 500 cc race – a version of the Triumph Daytona developed by Doug Hele. Tait travelled with the mechanics Arthur Jakeman and Jack Shemans in an old

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a panel van, cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford ...

van, in which the three of them also had to sleep. He led the world champion

Giacomo Agostini Giacomo Agostini (; born 16 June 1942) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1963 to 1977, most prominently as a member of ...

for three laps to finish second to the

MV Agusta MV Agusta (, full name: MV AGUSTA Motor S.p.A., original name: Meccanica Verghera Agusta or MV) is an Italian high end motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded by Domenico Agusta, Count Domenico Agusta on 19 January 1945 as one of the branches of ...

at an average speed of 116 mph. Also in 1969, he teamed with Malcolm Uphill to win the Thruxton 500 endurance race. ' Slippery Sam' was one of three similar motorcycles Triumph built for the 1970 Production TT, one of which, ridden by Malcolm Uphill, won the race at 97.71 mph. The Slippery Sam name was acquired during the 1970 Bol d'Or 24 Hour Race in France when a faulty oil pump covered Tait with engine oil. In 1971 Tait and

Ray Pickrell Raymond Pickrell (16 March 1938 – 20 February 2006) was an English short-circuit motorcycle road racer who won four Isle of Man TT motorcycle races. Pickrell was born in Harrow Weald, Middlesex. During his early career, Pickrell rode for ...

won the Bol d'Or 24-hour endurance race on a

Triumph triple The Triumph Triples are a family of modern DOHC straight-3, inline three-cylinder motorcycle engines made from 1990 onwards by the Triumph Motorcycles Ltd, Triumph Motorcycle Company at their Hinckley, Leicestershire factory. The inspiration f ...

. In 1975 Tait was hired as a consultant by Yamaha to improve the handling of their XS650 machine. His subtle improvements were judged to make a significant improvement. Tait was hired by

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

in 1976 to help develop their 500 cc Grand Prix bike for

Barry Sheene Barry Steven Frank Sheene (11 September 1950 – 10 March 2003) was a British professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and , most prominently as a member of the Su ...

. In 1976, Tait won the 750 class at the

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a motorcycle racing, motorcycle road racing, road race first held in 1929 on a street circuit known as "the Triangle" between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast and Glens. It ...

race. He continued racing two-strokes and 'Slippery Sam' in his late forties but gave up racing after a serious crash on the 'Son of Sam' production racer in the 1976 Production TT.

Motor trade business

Tait set up a successful

dealership business after the Meriden factory closed until 2002.

Sheep farming

Tait went on to become a champion sheep breeder, winning England's

Royal Show The Royal Show, also known as the Royal Agricultural Show, was an annual agricultural show held by the Royal Agricultural Society of England every year from 1839 to 2009. The event encompassed all aspects of farming, food and rural life - from ...

, the Royal Welsh Show and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

's Royal Highland Show with his Blue Demaine and champion Rouge Shearling ewes. His

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

farm is home to the Knighton Flock.

References

External links

Percy Tait on MotoGP.com

Percy Tait Isle of Man TT statistics

1981 TT Parade Lap – Parliament Square Isle of Man
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Percy 1929 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Worcestershire English motorcycle racers 500cc World Championship riders Isle of Man TT riders Royal Corps of Signals soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel Military personnel from Worcestershire 20th-century English sportsmen