My buddy and I were talking about going to watch the TT in 2004. I think it's run at the end of May / beginning of June. Anyone know the best place to stay and best vantage point? P.S. Check out the One Man's Island DVD. It's a good documentary on racing there for the first time.
Dave Roper has run it half a dozen + times, and has won the Classic Senior race (500cc on a Matchless G50). At the GNF he was talking about having a ride for the 2004 Manx. If you're serious, I mean really serious, about racing there, you should speak with him. Email me at [email protected] and I'll put you in touch with Dave. I just returned from the Manx GP the last two weeks in August. It is a motorcycling experience every motorhead should do at least once, regardless of whether it is the TT (modern, pro's, June) or the Manx GP (modern first timers to the Island, Classic pro's). If you sneer at the Classics, go watch 'em turn 112 mph + laps, four of them consecutively, on 500cc single cylinder bikes with 2.5" wide tires in the rain. It is the ultimate roadrace course - 37.4 miles of every thing imaginable. Leaving Ramsey and going over the Mountain there is only one road intersection until you get to the bottom some 5 miles later at Creg Ny Bah. There is only one problem with racing there - there is NO ROOM FOR ERROR. If you crash, you're into a stone wall, the side of a building, a lamp post, off the side of the mountain . . . ther is simply no runoff room anywhere. You can leave Douglas in the sun, be in pouring rain by the time you hit Kirk Michael at mile 12 or so on the west side of the island, encounter hidden damp spots under the trees at Ramsey and dense fog, freezing weather and 40 mph winds on the Mountain all on the same lap. I rode the course backwards and forwards every day for a week while there and it would take endless laps to "know" the course and be even close to "safe" or confident at speed. Here's the kicker: You can ride it the right direction all day long, but when they close the roads and you do practice laps, the entire complexion of the course changes because now you have the entire road to work with and there is no oncoming traffic. And lest you err and slow down out of caution when you're not sure whether that white church you just passed at 150 is the white church before the flat out right or the second gear right, you stand a good chance of getting run over by the rider who is drafting you and knows its the flat out right and he stays on the gas. Setting up a race effort from the USA is terribly complex and expensive. First, you've got to plan on being there at least the three weeks for practice and the races. Second, assuming you put everything you could ever need x 2 into a container and ship it, you'll need to camp in the paddock for the entire time, use their gas, and plan on a ton of spares plus jetting and suspension settings unlike anything you've every encountered, unless you're used to running in the Irish road race series or elsewhere in the Irish Sea area. Plus, the Island is expensive, more so during TT and Manx GP weeks. Book your ferry first as the Steam Packet has a monopoly and spots are limited and prices are high. For information go to www.iomtt.com. Again, it is a trip every road racer needs to make at least once in their life. But even as a viewing exercise, it is a serious venture. I rented a bike in London and rode two up and she loved it as much as I did. You'll see every kind of bike imaginable and stuff you could not imagine. It is totally sport bikes - thousands of them. You might see a dozen cruisers in the week. Folks ride from all over Europe. Leathers are standard garb. Its Daytona Bike Week European style with sport bikes instead of Harleys with loud pipes and fat, tattooed people. Two guys behind me in the ferry line rode from southern Italy on their mid-70's Moto Guzzi's. They were in their fifties. You'll be going across the Mountain at over 100 and some joker will pass you laying on the tank of the latest and fastest at over 150, two up into on coming traffic on a two lane road. Every thing is sport bikes. Every thing. Enough said. Go to the web site. Set up your trip no less than 8 months in advance (you're already pushing it for the TT in June 2004). Plan on spending twice what you think it will be. Have the time of your life and come back and spread the word.
I think you might want to check the rules, there is some talk of not letting anyone that doesn't have Road Racing Experience(streets) out in the TT pro or not. You will have to do the Manx GP First. For me to do the Manx GP I have to get my support A License (Road expert) but this license only lets me ride in the Support races not the main superbike or 600 races. Have to race atleast one year(or certain amount of races) on the road circuits here in Ireland before my entry will be accepted for the Manx GP and I get my full A road License. We have a separate Expert road and Circuit license grade. Allot of the regulars at the TT have been complaining about some of the slower riders getting in the way, some of these slower riders are actually circuit racers that have decided to try the TT they may have allot of track experience but not much if even ANY road experience. The roads are a different ball game all together. Sounds a bit bitchy for the top lads to complain about the slower riders but when you have a speed difference of about 60 mph through a corner it is massive. Just talking to some lads that have done the TT or spannered there they reckon it takes about 4 years plus to even start to no you way around. I'll be doing the Manx GP in a couple/few years, have to get the road experience first...Remember when you do go to race on the IOM threat it with allot of respect or it'll bite you hard. John
Hey Brent, if you're just now thinking about making the trip over there, you'd better go ahead and make your room & board arrangements. Most of the hotels/B&Bs/homes will already be booked by now, but go to www.iomtt.com and check out the "Accomodation" forums. They also have track maps and descriptions of the sections, so you can pick a good vantage point. Good luck getting accomodation in Douglas! I planned to go the year they canceled it for hoof and mouth disease, so I was SOL that time... Then I started thinking about going in '04, but our honeymoon overlaps. Now if only I could get Julie to honeymoon at the IOMTT!
My only advice is to stay "outside" the track. If you're "inside" when they close the road, you're stuck there. Granted, the inside is obviously still a huge chunk of land, but it's a little easier to move around and check out other vantage points if you're on the outside. Our B&B was half a block from the track in Ramsey. We could walk down to that pub downtown where they make the slow left and get the best fish and chips, or walk a few blocks the other way and check out the hairpin. Very cool.
