Isle of Man TT
- Thread starter Jigstick
- Start date
Even if you arent a bike enthusiast it’s an insane race
I haven't read that anywhere. I had hoped that he would beat Joey's record number of wins.
Right. All of the Irish roadraces are, the whole series is nuts and the riders have giant balls. I spent a lot of fun years club racing and won lots of class championships. Racing on tracks designed for safety is a certain type of controlled danger that I'm cool with but what those boys do next to cobblestone walls, trees, curbs, ditches, cliffs, houses, etc is absolutely fucking insane.
One of my early race mentors used to race IOM with the likes of Dunlop and the boys back in the day. I always thought of him as just not quite like the rest of us mere mortals. When he spoke...I listened.
Now if you want to take it up a notch to even crazier. Check out the Macau GP. It's a course set up in the city kind of like Monaco so you are going all out on a bike with walls and if any of you have ever raced, you understand that what that means and how gnarly a track is that is entirely blind corners because it's all fucking walls LOL. The pics from that track of riders cornering while grinding their shoulders on walls says it all.
Somebody once said they were surprised that a motorcycle with only 300 HP could carry anybody with balls that big.
Perhaps the last of the World's great road races, regardless of vehicle. Whenever possible, I always check it out. These men define both Bravery and Skill.
I watched the races in 1971 on 5 days of leave when I was being held captive at the US Army Hospital at Nurnberg before my ETS.
My transporter was a new BSA A65L that I was riding to tour Europe and the UK while I was there.
I had a few years experience racing flattrack and TTs in Colorado before being drafted so I thought I had a good idea what TT was all about.
Wrong again, Hiawatha !!! IOM is the real TT race.
I walked and rode my bike to several different places around the circuit to watch the race. Different classes, different days.
It was the most amazing motorsicle races I have ever seen to include our AMA Grand National series here in the States.
Those riders were some of the nicest people to talk to and I had the time of my life but they drank warm beer.
My transporter was a new BSA A65L that I was riding to tour Europe and the UK while I was there.
I had a few years experience racing flattrack and TTs in Colorado before being drafted so I thought I had a good idea what TT was all about.
Wrong again, Hiawatha !!! IOM is the real TT race.
I walked and rode my bike to several different places around the circuit to watch the race. Different classes, different days.
It was the most amazing motorsicle races I have ever seen to include our AMA Grand National series here in the States.
Those riders were some of the nicest people to talk to and I had the time of my life but they drank warm beer.
Looked at going a few times, but it is a total zoo. Shitty campsites cost a mint. The place is mobbed. I'd love to go, but I think it's sort of a shit show.
Vintage LeMans looks about as much fun... without the retard-level crowds.
Not that I don't want to go. I just don't want to go with a million other people. The island might tip over.
Cheers,
Sirhr
I've done a bunch of road, track, and off-road motorcycle racing, 1970s-2000s, but IOM is on a whole 'nother level. It would be very cool to see it in person.
As I recall, Valentino Rossi rode a section of the track some years ago before the IOM actually started as a PR thing. He said the guys who race there are crazy, LOL. Multi-time MotoGP world champ though the IOM crowd was crazier than he was, LOL.
I’d love to go sometime, but I’m with Sirhr. I will probably never make it there because of how crazy everything about it is, unless I somehow get a chance to pilot a camera ship overhead, and even that’s a slim chance. But I do enjoy watching them on TV!
I’d love to go sometime, but I’m with Sirhr. I will probably never make it there because of how crazy everything about it is, unless I somehow get a chance to pilot a camera ship overhead, and even that’s a slim chance. But I do enjoy watching them on TV!
A few years ago I did a serious look into this as well, and realized that I was a decade or two late. Pre Covid it was a cluster of epic proportions, and I can’t even imagine doing it now with C19 stuff still going on.
Thank goodness for hi def video streaming
When I was riding Scotland in... 2017 or so... I seriously debated taking the ferry up, just so I could ride around the area for a couple of days. At 60 KPH... Not 300! But ended up rushing back to Cambridge to have a hootnanny with some friends at the last minute.
Going in the off season would be great! TV is much better. I am going to put May 28th on the DVR list. A few years ago, there was a 3 part series of coverage that was awesome! So much better to watch in my living room with a pint than sleep in a tent and crap in a bucket for several days. My idea of camping these days is at least a Motel 6.
Sirhr
@sirhrmechanic My trip was in 1971 and even then it was a bit of crowded. I can only imagine what it is like now.
It was 50 years ago for me and I had some TA50-901 I carried with me and I slept in the dirt or at rural farm houses, out in the barn with the sheep.
The people were really nice. The racers were nice, and I had a super good time, but fuck that warm beer.
It was 50 years ago for me and I had some TA50-901 I carried with me and I slept in the dirt or at rural farm houses, out in the barn with the sheep.
The people were really nice. The racers were nice, and I had a super good time, but fuck that warm beer.
Do you have any pictures of your BSA? Absolutely love those bikes!
If they are live-streaming it... we should have a SH Watching party!
Could be a blast! Set up a chat or even a Zoom...
BTW, absolute best race I ever went to was the 24 Hours of Daytona in, I think, 2011 or 2012. Got the "Spendy" tickets which were something like $400 each. BUT you got access to everything including the Paddock Club which included 5 meals (fucking awesome meals!!!), an open bar and a speaker who proved to be the driver of the Supersonic Land Speed car. Maybe 30 of us in the room... we all got to meet him and hang out with him. Awesome speaker and very fun guy.
The racing was great. The 'carnival' of the paddock was fantastic. I bought a bunch of amazing car art and prints. Just to be safe, we rented a cheap hotel on Daytona Beach about a mile away and about 1 AM retired there... and then were back for breakfast.
I totally want to go back. So if any of you guys want to organize a Snipers Hide 24 Hours of Daytona trip for Winter 2023... I am there like Oprah on a rack of ribs.
Now if we could combine it with a 'Glades Python Hunt it would be the epic get-together of all time!
Sirhr
Could be a blast! Set up a chat or even a Zoom...
BTW, absolute best race I ever went to was the 24 Hours of Daytona in, I think, 2011 or 2012. Got the "Spendy" tickets which were something like $400 each. BUT you got access to everything including the Paddock Club which included 5 meals (fucking awesome meals!!!), an open bar and a speaker who proved to be the driver of the Supersonic Land Speed car. Maybe 30 of us in the room... we all got to meet him and hang out with him. Awesome speaker and very fun guy.
The racing was great. The 'carnival' of the paddock was fantastic. I bought a bunch of amazing car art and prints. Just to be safe, we rented a cheap hotel on Daytona Beach about a mile away and about 1 AM retired there... and then were back for breakfast.
I totally want to go back. So if any of you guys want to organize a Snipers Hide 24 Hours of Daytona trip for Winter 2023... I am there like Oprah on a rack of ribs.
Now if we could combine it with a 'Glades Python Hunt it would be the epic get-together of all time!
Sirhr
