Isle of Man: The Classic TT Experience 2014

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Photo by Courtney Olive
Bruce Ansty rounds the Quarterbridge corner in practice on a 500 Manx Norton.

The Isle of Man’s “Festival of Motorcycling” is a two-week celebration centered on the Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix races (the Manx, though a modern bike event, is well worth watching as it is the privateers’ training ground for TT stars of tomorrow). In addition to the races, there’s a dizzying array of other events: parade laps where legends like Phil Read, Carl Fogarty, and Dave Roper jump aboard their actual race-winning machines for a strafe around the Mountain; a jaw-dropping bike show of 1,000-plus machines at the short-track in Jurby, complete with stars turning hot laps; internationally-recognized trials, on vintage and modern machines; and “sprints” (drag-racing) along the seaside in Ramsey. Besides all that, the street scenes alone are staggering. Vincents and Velocettes appear on seemingly every corner. Two-stroke triples and twins outnumber their modern sport bike offspring. You can eat lunch along the course at Creg Ny Baa and enjoy the six-pipe sounds of a Benelli or CBX sailing past. In short, it’s Motorcycle Utopia.

The Classic TT races consist of four laps of the Mountain Course. That’s 150 miles, on public roads, running flat out for close to an hour and a half. The classes include a 500cc race, a 350cc race, and a Formula 1 and Formula 2 race which are run together. The 500cc race features machines primarily from the 1960s and 1970s, the likes of Manx Nortons, Honda 450 twins and 500 four-cylinders, and Italian terrors — the Paton 500 twin and MV Augusta triple. The 350cc race encompasses the same time period and similar machines, but of a smaller displacement. The F1/F2 race covers the late 1970s,1980s and up to 1992 with a broad range of machines from Suzuki GSX-Rs and XR-69s, to Honda RC30s, to Kawasaki ZXR750s, to Yamaha TZ250s, TZ350s, and even a YZR500 brought of retirement from early-90’s GP racing.

The SFRC Racing crew and I watch the 500cc race at May Hill, which is a deceptively-tight turn coming uphill from Ramsey. We’re on the outside of the turn and have a great view for about a ¼ mile down the hill. The race gets underway and, as expected, Manx Radio reports that John McGuinness has an early lead on a Paton 500.

He and other Paton riders have dominated the 500cc practice all week. Yet, in the race we never see McGuinness come past our May Hill vantage point. The radio gives the bad news that he’s retired only two-thirds through the first lap, a screw having backed-out of his brake master cylinder and spraying fluid.

The lead changes repeatedly from breakdowns: first McGuinness, then his Paton teammate Ryan Farquhar, then veteran Michael Rutter takes the number one slot on a Matchless G-50 only to break on the Mountain. On the final lap it looks as though a single cylinder might take the win because Ian Lougher, another of the favored Paton riders, incurs a 30-second penalty for speeding in the pits, which hands the lead to Dan Cooper on a Manx Norton.

  • Published on Dec 22, 2014
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