Minutes before his Honda debut at the Sachsenring in 1966, Stuart Graham looks cheerful despite the task ahead.

Stuart Graham’s Honda grand prix career lasted only six months when he was drafted in to cover for injured team leader Jim Redman in the summer of 1966, partnering the legendary Mike Hailwood on the Honda Six.

Graham proved a worthy team mate after his meteoric rise in the world championship rankings as a privateer in only his first season of grand prix racing, caught the eye of Honda team manager Michihiko Aika.

His big opportunity came after team leader Redman crashed heavily at Spa Francorchamps early in the campaign, breaking his wrist.

In torrential rain at one of the most dangerous tracks on the world championship calendar, Graham took his chance on the challenging conditions in which he thrived on his private Matchless G50 and finished second to Giacomo Agostini on an MV.

On the perfect stage, Mike Hailwood also retired his 500 Honda with throttle problems and in the right time, at the right place Graham joined the ranks of the factory elite for the next race at the Sachsenring.

From the four gears and 7,500 revs of the G50 to the seven-speed Honda Six, kicking out 18/20,000 rpm, Graham experienced a seismic performance change as he had to learn the 5.3 open roads circuit within the time constraints of qualifying.

With a fourth place finish his debut and plenty of confidence he performed ably alongside Hailwood for the rest of the campaign but was then a victim of Honda’s end-of-season rationalisation programme and continued his factory racing career at Suzuki.