Mac Hobson with Kenny Graham
Mac Hobson and his lpassenger
Kenny Birch were both killed during the first lap of the 1978 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy sidecar race, when their 750 cm3 Yamaha-powered Ham-Yam machine, built by Hamilton Motorcycles, crashed at Bray Hill, on Monday, 05 June of that year.
One of the eyewitnesses of the crash was James Neil, a professional passenger who at the time was competing in the World Sidecar Championship with
Jock Taylor. Although he was on the island, he did not participate in the race, being substituted by Kenny Arthur, who eventually took overall victory alongside Taylor. According to his testimony on the accident, it was caused by a bump which had appeared in the road next to a manhole cover. Before the start of the race the crews had received a warning about the bump, and yellow paint had been put down to mark it. Less than a minute after the start, Hobson's outfit hit the manhole cover and went completely broadside right before hitting a garden wall and then a lamp post. Both its occupants were killed.
A few minutes later Swiss sidecar pilot
Ernst Trachsel would lose his life in a separate accident on Quarterbridge Road at Bray Hill, during the same race.
47-year-old Malcolm Hobson, mostly known as Mac Hobson, had retired from racing after his passenger and close friend
John Hartridge was killed in a crash during a race at Darley Moor in October of 1972. But the lure was too great and in 1974 he made a succesful comeback. At the time of his death he and his 19-year younger passenger Birch were in second place in the World Sidecar Championship, behind Rolf Biland-Kenny Williams.
A former British Sidecar Champion, Mac Hobson was a two-time Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race winner, in 1976 with passenger Mick Burns and in 1977 with Stuart Collins. This was the first time he raced with Birch as passenger. Survivors included his wife, Catherine and his three children, Philip, Paul and Nicola. He was buried in Hollywood Avenue Cemetery, Gosforth, metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England.