Jack Ahearn, the runner up in the 1964 world 500 championship, has died in Lismore, aged 92.

Ahearn won the 1964 Finnish GP at Imatra at age 39 on a privately entered Norton and was second in the championship to MV’s Mike Hailwood.

He raced for a quarter of a century, was a multiple winner at Bathurst and represented Australia many times at the Isle of Man TT, beginning in 1954 when he was 29.

Ahearn was one of the great characters of the famed Continental Circus, racing in Europe in 1954-55, 1958 and 1962-66. The late Barry Sheene fondly recalled meeting him when he first went to Europe as a teenaged mechanic.

Born in Bondi (Sydney), Ahearn was regarded as the quintessential private entrant and told of holding a race promoter out of his office window until a deal was honoured.

However, he raced the prototype Matchless G50 500 in 1958 and was seriously injured while riding a four-cylinder Suzuki 250 two-stroke.

Jack Ahearn was feted in 1998 when he returned to Europe for a major historic race meeting at Assen.

He is survived by daughters Vicki and Julia.