The Hanks family of Birmingham were closely associated with sidecar racing and the TT in particular for in excess of 60 years.

‘On my knees’ is Roy Hanks’s personal story, but also that of his family’s.

His father Fred first entered the TT in 1955 on a G45 Matchless-powered machine, partnered by Eric Dorman, recording a career-best seventh the following year in another outing on the Clypse Course.

Fred also rode the Mountain Course until finally hanging up his leathers after the 1970 event when he was 14th in the 750cc race on a BSA twin, partnered by Donny Williams.

By this time he had two sons and a future daughter-in-law competing. In the 1969 500cc race (a full world GP), his elder son Norman finished seventh with younger son Roy’s wife-to-be Rose in the chair of the first British-engined outfit home.

Fred was 21st with N. Panter and Roy (who made his debut in 1966) was a non-finisher with the later-to-be accomplished solo rider Malcolm Lucas.

Norman had made his TT debut in 1964, and although he showed great promise with a second place in the 1968 750cc race (also with Rose Arnold), he also decided to end his TT career after the 1970 event (similar to his father).

Roy undoubtedly had the longest stint in the TT, clocking up an impressive 91 starts and 53 finishers. In 1997 he won the opening three-wheel race and took fourth in the second to claim the overall sidecar title.

‘Through adversity I found strength’, was the Hanks team motto, which was entirely apt for a man who won the TT at the 59th attempt.

His tally of starts also included one in the solo Formula Two race in 1981.

Roy and Rose’s daughter Julie has also participated as a passenger in the TT on several occasions, while her first cousin Tom partnered his uncle Roy 15 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s before taking to the controls himself in the late 1990s with great success, including a second and a third in 1997 with Steve Wilson, followed by another third in 1999.

So the family is steeped in racing – Fred even edited and ran TT Special [the event’s very own dedicated publication] for a good number of years after packing in racing.

Roy’s book is a riveting read, getting into the nuts and bolts of a sport that has as many downs as ups for reasons we as Isle of Man residents know only too well.

He mentions passing a crashed outfit on the exit to the Waterworks in 2013 and then realising as he drove past the incident on yellow flags that it was the No.46 outfit his daughter Julie was sharing with driver Mike Lines.

‘Oh no, I gotta stop,’ he said to himself, but before Roy had time to properly evaluate the situation he was round the Gooseneck and climbing the mountain on what was the final lap of the race.

‘I tried to focus on just getting the thing home as quickly as possible, stopping and finding out what was going on.’

When he drove up the return road the team were all rushing towards him to tell him that Julie was OK, but he admitted it was the longest 10 minutes of his life.’

Roy has been the face of the family motorcycle business in Erdington since the 1970s, but behind the scenes he has also been active within the ACU, of which he was made a director in 1997, a position he still holds. The former British F2 champion is also chairman of the ACU Benevolent Fund.

He makes a quip aboutWyn Evans MBE, the long-time, hard-working ACU Ben Fund officer for the island.

‘Money from the Isle of Man is partly down to Wyn, one of the committee. She’s the sort that if you passed her in the street, you’d keep your hands on your wallet. She could get money out of anybody [for the Fund]!’

l Hanks On my Knees is a great read, available at a recommended retail price of £25 from various bookshops, or via www.wideline.co.uk