There was a dark shadow cast over the late July meeting at Aintree in 1956 as in Friday practice, New Zealander Bob Cook crashed his AJS 7R at the fast right-hand Waterway Corner, overshooting and colliding with a concrete wall.
He sustained serious head and neck injuries to which he succumbed at 7pm in the Walton Hospital, Liverpool.
After such a grim start to proceedings, there was more bad news for the organisers come Saturday too – hardly anyone turned up to spectate.
Noted Motor Cycling: “One could have been excused for thinking that it was practice day and not race day.” A lunchtime shower hadn’t helped things either.
Read more in September’s issue of TCM
Photograph: Mortons Archive
