Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Isle of Man TT 2016

I don't have a whole lot of race pics,and no movies, so I'll discuss the other stuff first.

That same evening, 7:30pm, the RAF showed up, the Red Arrows, and did the air show thing over the harbor....



St. George's is located along the home stretch,maybe 200 yards from the grandstand and the start/finish line. In the background of this pic you can see the "pits", the tents where the work areas of the competitor's crews are located. More about them later, one of the more remarkable things about this event is that the public is free to mingle with the mechanics and riders around their work areas between races.

Where we ate when it weren't on-site, maybe 15 to 20 minute walk...



...along the way.... still life, with motorcycle....



Fish, chips and sloppy peas,served "open" to eat right there, on the benches out front. 8 pounds AKA $12. Shoulda included a size reference, that's actually a lot of food



Nice thing about the UK this time of year; hours and hours of daylight. Same street maybe 10:20pm Greenwich Mean Time....




Birdwatcher

The pub on the corner.....





The local brew, I give it two thumbs up



A man and his dog.....



Birdwatcher

Color me jealous Birdwatcher; that's on my bucket list. Next time if you need someone to carry your bags and bring you beer, look me up.

Here's one for the owners of fat dogs everywhere...



A lot of retirees on the IOM, which is legally a self-governing crown dependency, a member of the Commonwealth, but NOT a member of the European Union. Not up to speed on the economic considerations, but the island is considered a major tax haven. They actually print their own money and coinage, similar in appearance to regular English and at the same exchange rate. A caveat tho, Manx merchants accept English money, the same is not true of Manx money in England, but banks both places exchange it no charge.

Manx was the southernmost part of the Norse/Celtic kingdom of the Western Isles, stretching down the west coast of Scotland from the Orkneys down through the Hebrides. I would say culturally they are most allied with the old Celtic nations, for example the Cops appear to be mostly of Scottish and Irish origin.

The native language is a form of Gaelic called Manx, tho the last native speaker was born in 1877 and died in 1974. Still, lots signs of various sortscome with Manx versions...





...and a quick reference to the dogs. The English still dote on their dogs, a thing which clearly extends to the IOM too. It used to be said of the English that they "beat their children and spoil their dogs". Overall they've gotten so very PC that I doubt the former is still true, but here's the way the Manx handle the dog crap issue



Birdwatcher

Very cool Birdy! Looks like a hell of a good time.

Watching that vid GG put up, kept waiting for a dog or sheep to step out in the road....

A splendid tradition in the UK are public footpaths across private land, a codified legalization of what had been practiced for centuries.

Thursday there was no racing, so I took the bus to Port Erin ("Port Aarin") to go look at birds on the footpath to the Sound of Man (end of a peninsula) looking towards the Calf of Man (an island off of the Sound).

Here ya go, Port Erin, a couple of pics for Roger.



The guy was far off using bait, dunno what sort or for what fish....






White rocks in the foreground are quartz or similar rock....





At the Sound there's a small cafe, like everywhere else during the TT jammed with motorcyclists. Grey seals hang out on the rocks of the Sound and the Calf,and I was far enough north that there was a breeding pair of eiders...



Set out to walk back on to Port Erin on the road but the old winding rural roads here run exceedingly narrow, two lanes in a space we would leave for just one. Even on foot I actually felt I was impeding traffic, so took the bus when one showed up.

Birdwatcher

have a pint of bitters for me, Mike!

And, if you run into Grant Moon , tell him I said 'hey'.

A constant source of amazement to me too. All it takes too would be one idiot among the hundreds of thousands lining the track to step out for whatever reason.

I will say where we were they had an orange-clad track watcher with a radio about every fifty yards, that and with all the thousands of interested spectators among whom concern for the safety of the riders runs high.

Race day, the view from our spot, bikes would appear from climbing a slope at the end of the road you can see and floor it towards the line on the last lap.



This is how close the campsite was. 'Nother plus of the TT, theft of one's stuff from a campsite left unattended is virtually unknown. Leave your stuff, go watch the races have a beer whatever, no worries.



Preparations for the race; the black pleather bikini top girls hurrying to the line....



Looking towards the finish line, everyone hurrying to wherever they wanted to be before the road closed at 10am.



Finally, after losing maybe two hours for the mists to clear up top, competitors lining up for the Monster Supersport race. What is not often realized is just how tightly choreographed the TT really is.

60+ entries released at 10 second intervals; 10 minutes if everything goes right. The leaders lap times for the 37 mile course run about 17 minutes, seven minutes or less to clear the track after the last guy rolls out.





So for the next hour or so there is a constant stream of bikes screaming by in ones, twos and threes. Hard to believe when you're watching that they are that long, time goes by so quick, but this Supersport race was four laps so it must have been.

They sell $10 earbud radios that you can follow the commentary, and you know when the leaders are approaching when you see the helicopter coming.

...and those would be actual concrete curbs and asphalt sidewalks on either side of the home stretch, gotta watch your line if you're riding...

Birdwatcher

I loved doing racing schools and track days, but the Isle... phug that!

Hey Birdy--

I just read that Guy Martin is skipping the TT this year to race his... mountain bike (!) on the Tour Divide from Banff to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

Ya, there was a general relief that Guy Martin DIDN'T race this year. The general opinion is that he's the fastest guy that has never won the TT, and people don't want him to hurt himself trying.

Ain't no idle fear; Michael Dunlop who just set the TT course record this year is the son of the late Robert Dunlop, TT winner himself, who died racing in Northern Ireland. While on the course, Michael Dunlop passed the monument built in memory of his uncle Joey Dunlop, likewise a repeat TT winner, killed in a wreck while racing in Estonia. The son's attitude is so aggressive its even odds at best whether he lives to retire.

This year's other star was Ian Hutchinson, here seen passing us in a 500 yard 130mph celebration wheelie down the home stretch of his third victory....



Hutchinson is back after very nearly losing his leg from a prior wreck, the multi-year recovery from which involved him actually regrowing a length of bone 5mm at a time. Said leg is now so fragile he rides with the gear shifter on his bike moved to the other side and operates the rear brake off the handlebar with his thumb.



The other opinion at the races about Guy Martin is that he is purposefully taking time out to get away from the spotlight, a thing which he does not enjoy. When he says he was perfectly happy just being a truck mechanic in Lincolnshire (??) I believe him.

To hear Martin tell it himself his second passion was always bicycles, it woulda been nice to see him even as a spectator at the TT, but hey, more power to him

Birdwatcher

Holy Kshizzle!, on that youtube you posted Martin just did 700 off-road miles in four days

...and a description of the event....

http://tourdivide.org/caveat

Self-supported grand tour racing (ie. >2 weeks) along the GDMBR is like none other. Simply on scale, it's the hardest form of bike racing, period. To be competitive for the overall, one must ride ≥150 miles/day. There are no rest days. And if volume alone isn't taxing enough, one must also navigate, acquire resupply, clean/wrench the bike, find shelter each night, bathe when possible, and keep one's wits about it all. No entourages follow athletes.

No wonder Martin is as enormously popular over here as he is.

Birdwatcher

Not sure how interesting still of passing motorcycles are, but heres one to testify to the video opportunity I missed Here's Ian Hutchinson a moment earlier on that same victory wheelie...




I can only plead ignorance, I'm new to smart phones.

And now easily the most bizarre racing vehicles in the world... the sidecar, far removed from the original, with a guy hanging on to a steel bar on a platform in back....



On the straights like this the guy makes himself as small as possible in the slipstream, ducking his head down, of course on right turns he hangs way off the left side, head inches from the ground. Where they get these guys willing to do this I have no idea.



..and to show how truly bizarre these three-wheeled two man vehicles, here is one sans cowling between races....



Which brings up another point that makes the IOM totally unique; the free access to the pits between races, absolutely no security checks needed, huge crowds and nobody acts like a d$ck. I was free to walk right in and take that photo.

Didn't realize at the time but this one sponsored by BMW might well have been the Dunlop family area....




Otherwise, like I said, competitors, crew and the public mingle freely.

Gratuitous motorbike porn...

I read that after his last wreck he started taking stock of his life, and realized he's done nothing but the TT for the past 12 years, so he's taking time to do something different.

You HAD to show that Norton, didn't you...