Phil Read "The Prince Of Speed"

A contemporary of Mike Hailwood , featured in a previous blog post, Britain's Phil Read is known as
as the Prince of Speed. He might also be called the Prince of Longevity – since he won his first world championship event (the 350 TT) at the Isle of Man in 1961 and his last, the World TT Formula One Championship, back on Mona’s Isle in 1977. That's 16 years of winning, when most riders don't last half that time in the circuit.
Read won seven world GP championships between 1964 and 1974. He recorded 52 GP victories and 121 podiums across the 125, 250, 350 and 500 classes, including seven TT victories when the Isle of Man was a championship round.
He was the first rider to win world titles in the 125, 250 and 500 classes, Yamaha’s first world champion (1964 250 crown), MV’s last world champion and the last rider to win the 500 championship on a four-stroke machine (1974 500 crown). Read was 35 when he claimed the second of his two 500 championships — the second-oldest premier-class champion ever.
Some said Read had the misfortune to hit the scene at the same time as fellow Englishman Mike Hailwood, who may have over shadowed his accomplishments. They won their first championship races in the same week, and were considered near equals for talent and for bringing out the best in any motorcycle.
Certainly,  Read rode some fearsome machines, from Gilera 500-4s to the Yamaha RD56 air-cooled 250 twin, the famous Yamaha V4 125 and 250, and the MV 500 triples and fours.
Read also had the mentally toughness to cope with both a dangerous era and rivals such as noted hard man Jim Redman. He was also a team mate of the great Giacomo Agostini, featured in another earlier post.

On  MV Agusta 

A win over another legend, Agostini, and New Zealander Kim Newcombe

Read and Agostini as MV Agusta team mates