IOMTT: Colin's TT Blog - You Always Remember Your First

A world traveler on two-wheels, Asphalt & Rubber reader and good friend Colin Evans is attending his first Isle of Man TT this year. We asked him to share his perspective on the trip, as both someone new to the Isle of Man, but also as a veteran of the world and riding motorcycles. Our hope is that it will be an informative, yet different, perspective than your typical coverage of the IOMTT. Please enjoy! -Jensen

You always remember your first…well this is my first visit to the Isle of Man TT so let’s start with a little perspective and history for the uninitiated – ME.

The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency – 200 square miles of rock in the Irish Sea that somehow never quite officially became part of the United Kingdom, but is essentially under its wing; Queen Elizabeth II is Lord of Mann.

The island can make most of its own rules for things like finance and taxes, which makes it a tax haven but, much more importantly for this week, it independently controls matters of road safety. Or not.

The first race for motorcycles on closed public roads here, won at a speed of 38 mph, took place in 1907; the race originally being intended for motorcycles “similar to those sold to the public,” called touring machines; hence the title Tourist Trophy.

The first race to use the current 37-mile Mountain Course over Snaefell was in 1911, and was won on an Indian, at an average speed of 47mph. This was also the first year, but sadly not the last, when a rider, Victor Surridge, was killed in a crash in the race.

From 1949 to 1976 the race was included as the UK round of the FIM Motorcycle Gran Prix world championship and was won by legends of the age; Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood each won it five times in a row and the likes of John Surtees and Geoff Duke won the rest.

At the end of this era a rider boycott brought attention to the nuttiness of the safety issues and the GP chose more sensible locations.

Since then the race has been dominated by working class British lads who have somehow skipped the fear gene in their evolution. Joey Dunlop is still op top, but John McGuinness, Guy Martin, Michael Rutter, Bruce Anstey are all here this week wanting to chase Dunlop.

The first 100mph lap was by Geoff Duke in 1955 and the current lap record is help by Bruce Anstey at 132 mph. This morning I got off the ferry from Liverpool at 5:30am, downed a double espresso, and decided to ride the complete course before breakfast with NOBODY else on the road. A truly magical ride.

Even though the mountain section from Ramsey back to Douglas is only open in one direction, it was a bit damp and I was backing off at 120 mph. To think that riders are coming over here at 200 mph is truly terrifying.

Images here: The Mountain Course on the same scale as a few other famous race tracks; the other two large ones are Le Man and the Nurburgring for comparison – A replica of Mike Hailwood’s 1966 Honda RC181 – the Kawasaki’s of James Hillier and Ian Hutchinson being prepared.

Are today’s racers riding motorcycles “similar to those sold to the public”? You decide.