IOM online record books . Eight Kiwis have won the IOM TT , including Graeme Crosby and Bruce Anstey with 13 times . But eight Kiwis have also died * doing it . The course is notoriously difficult , inconceivably fast , with walls and widows at every turn . Death stalks the competitors , and yet the race ’ s popularity is undiminished , perhaps because it ’ s the world ’ s last race where the gloves are off - tradition allowing racing unchecked , and the only rule is to go as fast as you humanly dare , in the real world , and survive . There ’ s joy in something so nakedly simple .
BEYOND THE TT 1984 was probably Ken ’ s most successful racing year , with more results in the UK - including 5th in the ACU , 1st at Cadwell Park , 2nd at Brands Hatch , 2nd at Thruxton , and 5th at Donington Park . In following years , he competed with top ten finishes at Dundrod , Mallory Park , Oulton Park , Olivers Mount , Manor Park , and Silverstone , to name a few . He managed a distinguished 8th in the 1987 Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1987 but won the two hour on a Yamaha FZR750 in the Superbike Class , amongst 22 other superbike and dedicated endurance-bike builds , while travelling European race circuits with a BMW 635 CSI and a caravan . Ken ’ s full career demands a longer and more careful review than the pages here allow , but
he raced and worked with every big name bike rider during that time . A remarkable racing career , and one that should be more widely celebrated in NZ . After the last UK season , he loaded two vehicles onto a container ship and sent then home . He arrived back to the 1987 stockmarket crash . Nevertheless , Ken and Denise purchased a small cottage in South Titirangi Rd , and he set about reconditioning it . The skills were similar to those needed to build anything well , and he took to building like a duck to water . Over a few years he became a qualified builder , and eventually a developer , building 52 houses over three years . In 1989 son Stan was born , followed three years later by Beau . The last house they built remains their family home today , but racing again reared its head . Now it was cars . Transferring out of building and into forging a successful Japanese import dealership , he rebuilt a classic 1976 3Lt 911Porsche Carrera , and with son Stan as co-driver , competed in Targa rallies throughout NZ . In 1994 they won the 10th Anniversary Akl to Wgtn Targa Race , with Stan co-driving – who was just 15 . But motorcycling was in his blood , and it was not long to be denied …
HYOSUNG COMES A-CALLING Ken got a call from Mike Wilkins , who was the
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