SoBros Moto: Adventure to the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy

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For many people across the globe, the Isle of Man, or Ellan Vannin, is unheard of.  It’s a small island in the Irish Sea, between the mainland UK and Northern Ireland. 

This beautiful rock is home to all of 85,000 people and boasts an area of around 572 square kilometers.  That’s about a third the size of Wilson County here in good old Tennessee.  It also has its own language, a type of Gaelic similar to Irish and Scots, yet unique to the island.  It’s a small and unassuming place.

In early June, the island buzzes with life and its population suddenly booms by another forty or so thousand people, all of whom travel to see the best known, most exciting, and the most dangerous set of road races on the planet – the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy.

A friend and I will make the pilgrimage to this hallowed ground in a few months, and we intend to take you along with us (as best we can through the internet), with a brief series of articles.

Photo by Dave Kneen

The Tourist Trophy, or the TT as it’s known, is a two-week event over which racers bid to become the fastest around the Isle of Man circuit.  The event is comprised of time trial challenges rather than racing against other competitors head-to-head, leading to an interesting scenario of competitor plus machine vs track, with riders being released from the start line at 10 second intervals. 

The circuit itself is a grueling 37.73 mile-long loop of public road which, for most of the year, hosts folks going about their regular day-to-day business.  The road winds through villages, across the ‘mountain’, and into the capital city of Douglas.  The bikes reach speeds in excess of 200mph over hills which become jumps, around corners which are lined with roadside curbs, and past various objects the riders call ‘furniture’.  Utility posts, telephone boxes, stone walls, bus shelters and drainage grates obviously stay in place as the road becomes a track. 

It offers everything to challenge a racer with its variety and length.  There are hairpin turns, which are ridden ever so slightly faster than we recommend running on I-440, there are long stretches where the bikes are flat out in top gear, and there are sweeping corners which are taken at 180mph.  All of this takes place with people lining the track, leaning over walls with selfie sticks or throwing trash on the ground (Irishman Paul Jordan was struck by a selfie stick at over 170mph last year at the Ulster GP, a national road race in Ireland).

The races themselves are long and strenuous as they’re usually held over four or six laps.  Riders only rest, briefly, during a pit stop where they take on fuel and tires.  The bikes buck and weave as they crest natural lines in the road whilst pushing the limits of grip from their tires. 

Photo by Sean Corlett

Corners like Ballagarey (lovingly known as Ballascary) is a 180mph right-hander which is blind on the entrance, meaning you can’t see the apex of the corner as you approach.  Riders approach the corner flat out in top gear. Most brake slightly and drop a gear back down the box, rolling off the throttle just enough to weight the front of the bike to be pushed across the asphalt with control.  The line is determined way before the corner, past the point of changing your mind.  Throttle is reapplied as soon as the rider has avoided the wall on the inside of the corner.  It’s totally mind-blowing.

Ballagarey is one corner of 256 which comprise the course.  Consequently, they say it takes riders years to learn how to ride it quickly.

The fastest riders lap the 37+ mile circuit in around 16 minutes, with an average speed of over 130mph on 1000cc machinery.  If you think that reading this sentence has sunk in, read it again because it hasn’t.

Let’s put it into context using Nashville geography.  Imagine setting off on a motorcycle from Buffalo Wild Wings in Mt Juliet, riding to PF Chang’s in the Gulch. That’s half-race distance at 18.7 miles.  Now ride back, that’s 37.4 miles.  Get ready to do that six times at speeds in excess of 200mph.  Even if we remove traffic from the equation, who really feels confident doing over 200mph on a two-lane black top like Bell Road?

Photo by Dave Kneen

To say this event is a challenge is an understatement.  It stands as the pinnacle in international road racing, its prestige means everything to the racers and fans alike. They sure as shit aren’t into it for the money!  Inevitably however, the wider public only really hear of this race because of the reality of the risks involved.  It’s not uncommon for multiple people to lose their lives during the practice and race weeks each year. 

No one is immune to the dangers the TT presents as seen by the frequent grief poured out in the weeks after.  2018 was a bad year for road racing, losing many bright talents to racing incidents and technical failures which caused tragic accidents.  Often heard is a call to ban the event, to “save the racers from themselves”, and how such tragedy can easily be avoided by stopping it from happening.

Therein lies the attraction and awe that has made the TT what it is.  Each racer knows the risks, they accept them, and tempt them, in order to touch glory.  The courage shown by each racer, young and old, is as astounding as it is unrelenting.

The Isle of Man TT races are a last bastion of true freedom.  Such freedom is seldom seen, and seldom pursued to lengths as great or with stakes as high.

In our next installment, we will introduce you to a few different racers to watch out for, as well as a brief overview of the main players.  We’ll talk more about the event itself and what other shenanigans are to be had off the track.

The onboard footage below shows in real time the adrenaline-fueled insanity that is the TT, as commentated by the rider himself, the 2018 Senior TT winner, Peter Hickman.  This is the fastest ever lap around the course, at 135.4 mph.  You just have to watch through the bug on the camera lens! (Ballagarey at 1:44)

Below this is another more relaxed video with multiple cameras, with the same rider providing more of a guide to a lap. We hope you enjoy them both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNojOeofO7M

Cadbury Pringlebatch is the Lead Motorcycle Expert, Investment Analyst, and Travel Blogger for The SoBros Network, but knows a little bit about everything. Known for frequenting Nashville YMCA steam rooms, he’s a firm believer that winning football is produced by moving the chains, and became a SoBro after mistaking one of our podcasts for an AA meeting. Follow on Twitter: @SoBroCadbury

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