ITALIAN MOTOR magazine: Mick Walker R.I.P

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Mick Walker R.I.P

I heard this evening from a friend about the sad passing of the racer, journalist. motorcycle importer and author Mick Walker. He wrote so many books about Italian and other motorcycles, and though some have been lazily scornful about his work because of inaccuracies usually supplied by the manufacturers themselves, he was the first person to get up after the collapse of his business and get on with documenting the Italian motorcycle industry. I own several of his books on various subjects, and they have always been very useful, and interesting, to a journalist and Italian bike owner like myself, when a solid foundation on which to research was, is, and will be required.

No doubt his work and enthusiasm will be hard to replace.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Thank you so much for your kind words, I am Mick's son Steven's girlfriend and will be looking out for blogs and RIP Messages to pass on to the family.
Mick was a truely awesome man, who had probably forgotten more about motorcycles than some will ever know.
Best wishes, Mandie; 11 March 2012 at 23:05
ITALIAN MOTOR magazine said...: Mandie - thanks for your comment, and please pass on our condolences to the whole Walker family.; 12 March 2012 at 07:40
Denise Preston said...: I send my condolences to Mick's family. I only learnt yesterday of his death when I was looking at some of his books at a fair in Ludlow. I met Mick (1988-92) at the Italian Trade Commission in London when I took him and several other motorcycle journalists on a tour of Italian motorcycle manufacturers in Italy, including Ducati, Gilera, Aprilia, etc. He was a very kind person who was easy to get on with and humorous, very positive in his attitude. He put my name in his acknowledgements for one of the ensuing books as I had chased down the Italians for the photos he had been promised but were late... We had a good chuckle about that. We kept in touch via Christmas cards until the last couple of years. I rang him at Christmas 2011 to ask if he was OK, but was ill myself in 2012 so didn't get in touch. May he rest in peace.; 7 July 2013 at 09:02
ITALIAN MOTOR magazine said...: Hello Denise and thank you for your very interesting comment. I'd be very interested in talking you you at some point about your experiences of liaising with the Italian motorcycle manufacturers, if you were willing. I can be contacted at jabATitalianmotormagazine.com, replacing At with @.

Thanks again.; 8 July 2013 at 12:46