In the build-up to the 1974 TT a rumour swirled round the race paddocks that Giacomo Agostini would make a dramatic return on a four-cylinder factory 500cc Yamaha. 

It proved no more than a rumour as once again the majority of the solo world championship Grand Prix competitors boycotted the event. 

The entry list was, however, buoyed by two of the new RG500 factory Suzukis in the Senior, ridden by 1973 Senior race winner Jack Findlay and top British rider Paul Smart, making a return after an absence of four years. 

The new four-cylinder Suzukis were fast, a match for the 500 MV and factory Yamahas on the GP scene, but proving fragile and unreliable with gearbox gremlins.  

Poor weather played havoc with the 1974 programme, delaying the first races until the Monday. 

The 350cc Junior was first away, involving a fierce battle over the first four laps between Charlie Williams, Chas Mortimer and 1973 winner Tony Rutter. 

Ultimately it proved a comfortable second successive Junior victory for Rutter following the retirement of both Williams and Mortimer. He finished more than 90 seconds ahead of Mick Grant, with Paul Cott third. 

It was a bonanza for Yamaha, with the first 30 finishers all mounted on the newly water-cooled machines.  

Siegfried Schauzu and Wolfgang Kaluch won the 750cc non-world championship sidecar race on their BMW, but only after Rolf Steinhausen shattered the lap record with an average speed of 98.18mph before the Konig-engined machine spluttered to a halt on the final circuit. 

The four-lap Lightweight 250cc race took place in mixed conditions 48 hours later, with Charlie Williams leading from start to finish in what was also a repeat of the 1973 result.  

There was a great tussle for the other podium places between Grant and Mortimer which was decided in the Yorkshireman’s favour when Mortimer’s bike ran out on fuel on the last lap coming out of Governor’s Bridge Dip. He paddled home for third place, with Tom Herron pipping Junior winner Rutter by 0.2 seconds for fourth spot.  

The Senior unusually took place on the Thursday, with the Formula 750 ‘Open Classic’ event taking the traditional blue riband spot on the Friday. 

As predicted by many, the all-new Suzukis proved unreliable in the Senior. Wet and windy conditions resulted in a reduced five-lap race. 

Smart (married to Barry Sheene’s sister Maggie) was an early retirement on the first lap and although Findlay had moved up to third place by the end of lap two, he then retired at the end of lap four in the pits. 

Charlie Williams and the previous year’s 250cc Lightweight Manx Grand Prix winner Phil Carpenter contested the lead, but with conditions deteriorating in the wind and rain, Williams slowed leaving Carpenter to win his only TT by a comfortable margin of 50 seconds, with Rutter third.  

Historically, it was a first Senior TT win for Yamaha. 

Pre-race favourite, Grand Prix regular Mortimer, retired his Danfay Yamaha at the end of the first lap of the 125cc race on the Friday morning. 

Clive Horton went on to win his only TT after a tremendous first lap wheel-to-wheel battle with starting partner Austin Hockley which ended at Ballacraine on lap two after Hockley’s bike suffered gearbox problems. 

Horton was a comfortable winner from Ivan Hodgkinson, with Tom Herron - making his debut on a 125cc Yamaha - rounding out the podium.  

The five lap ‘Open’ Formula 750 race permitted all makes of machinery from 350cc up to 750cc. 

Peter Williams was fastest in practice on the 750cc John Player Norton twin, equalling his lap record of 107.27mph from the previous year. 

The race started in wet and windy conditions on damp roads. Williams edged into an early eight-second advantage when he was forced to retire exiting Ballaugh village with a broken piston. 

Findlay and Smart struggled with wrong tyre choices on their Suzukis and ran out of fuel, while Grant spent 12 minutes in the pits with handling problems on his 750cc Kawasaki triple, eventually finishing down in 17th position. 

It was therefore a Yamaha shoot-out, Senior winner Carpenter mastering the tricky conditions with a five-second lead over Mortimer and Triumph-mounted Percy Tait. Carpenter retired on lap two with a burst radiator hose on his 350 twin, leaving Mortimer to take the win from slow-starting Charlie Williams, setting the fastest lap of the race at 106.61mph on the final circuit. The winning margin was 8.5 seconds to Mortimer. 

Rutter, who had also sped up on the final couple of laps, was third, making it the fifth all-Yamaha podium of the week.  

It was the only time that all five solo races (Production classes apart) were won by Yamaha-mounted competitors. 

Heinz Luthringshauser and Helmut Hahn won the 500cc world championship sidecar race, their only TT victory, after Schauzu, Steinhausen and reigning world champion Klaus Enders hit problems. 

The Production races saw Grant claim his first TT victory on the Triumph Trident known universally as ‘Slippery Sam’. Keith Martin took the 500cc honours on a Kawasaki triple and Martin Sharpe the 250cc on his Yamaha twin. 

PAUL COPPARELLI