Isle of Man TT 2016 : Day 3 – Isle of Man Motor Museum

As mentioned on my Isle of Man 2016 : Day 3 post I visited the Isle of Man Motor Museum.  Quite simply this is an outstanding collection of motor vehicles that is well worth a visit the next time you are on the island.

The Isle of Man Motor Museum
The Isle of Man Motor Museum

The Museum was founded and funded by father and son team Denis and Darren Cunningham to act as the public home for their collection of over 130 vehicles.  The Museum also hosts over 150 other vehicles on loan from other enthusiasts and collectors.

The Isle of Man was chosen as the location for the Museum due to the unique place the Island occupies in motoring and motorsports history. The Island is the motorcycle road racing capital of the world and has hosted the famous TT races on the public roads annually since 1907. The Southern 100 and the Festival of Motorcycling are also fantastic opportunities to see road racing here.

For 2016, the Museum is proud to host the Joey Dunlop Collection featuring many of his trophies, leathers and race machines. Joey is the most successful TT competitor of all time with 26 victories to his name earning him the title “King of The Mountain”.

Rallying and enduro are also a huge part of motorsport on the Isle of Man and the Museum features a Ford Zephyr which competed in the London-Sydney Marathon rally and World Enduro Championship winning KTMs from local hero David “Knighter” Knight OBE.

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Isle of Man TT 2016 : Day 3

Another well rested and early start this morning and I meet up with the guys at a local pub for a bit of a breakfast fry up…

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It’s hard to recommend places on your first visit, simply because you have been to so few  but that won’t change the fact that if a place is good – it’s good, and this places was.  A nice breakfast down the hatch and it was time to make a move.

The guys I was with were keen to hit the Mountain Road again and get some fast miles under their belt, I however decided to go off the path less travelled and explore the Island a little more.

(There is a path much less travelled element to the ISle of MAn, with hundreds of miles of green lanes all over, and you will see lots of guys on scramblers and enduros coming off the countryside.  The path I travelled wasn’t their path although to be fair they looked like they were having an absolutely outstanding adventure!)

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Isle of Man TT 2016 : Day 2

An early start after being well rested in my super comfortable hotel room!

A bit of breakfast down the hatch and the sun is already shining!  The Start / Finish Line seems like the perfect meeting place…

Isle of Man TT Races - Start Finisg Line - Practice Week - 30/06/2016
Isle of Man TT Races – Start Finish Line – Practice Week – 30/05/2016

To start of with a trip to one of the Island’s regular tourist attractions, The Laxey Wheel…

Laxey Wheel, Laxey, Isle of Man
Laxey Wheel, Laxey, Isle of Man

After the obligatory photo off we go to the mountain road.

This time however the road gets closed due to a collision.  It actually happens twice today, 1 rider is unfortunately critically injured, 3 others are hurt coming off their bikes, and unluckily for them were only wearing tracksuits at the time!

The Isle of Man Constabulary Twitter Account shares this information live time and is really one of the greatest sources of news on the Island.  Make sure you follow them for up to date info on all of the Island’s roads.

Isle of Man Roads Policing Twitter Account : https://twitter.com/iomrpu

Isle of Man Police Twitter Account : https://twitter.com/iompolice

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Isle of Man TT 2016 : Day 1

It is 29th May 2016 and the start of Practice Week for the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races.

It is also my first time over to the Isle of Man in many, many years, and actually my first time for any of the racing.

With it being my first time over I took some advice and went for Practice Week, actually four days of Practice Week.  The reasons behind this are…

  1.  It’s cheaper.  Much cheaper.  This year it cost £115 for the return sailing for me and the bike.
  2. It’s easier to get accomodation.  I picked up a ‘4 Star’ (according to Booking.com) Hotel for £60 a night.

That totals up to £295 for the four days.  That’s not too bad.

So I met up with a couple of lads and headed off to Dublin.  Reaching the ferry without drama and boarding the ship worry free.

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Here is where I meet my first (of few) difficulties.

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Thanks for joining me for the Live Coverage of the Ulster Grand Prix 2016

Thanks to everyone who joined me for my live Twitter Coverage of the 2016 Ulster Grand Prix. 

Seven races, a monster meeting for Hutchy, with 4 wins a great show from Bruce, with a win, a super looks and a number of podiums and an always keep going from M. Dunlop earning him a load more UGP Podiums. 

All of this covered live with hundreds of tweets, so if you were with me thanks. If not hopefully you can join in next time. 

Something must have been done right though…

Maria Costello MBE  Reweet
Maria Costello MBE Reweet
Maria Costello MBE   Likes Tweet
Maria Costello MBE Likes Tweet

If you missed the action you can catch it tonight 15/08/2016 @ 21:00 GMT on BBC 2 Northern Ireland and tomorrow, 16/08/2016 @ 21:00 GMT also on BBC 2 Northern Ireland and I’m sure the BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards. 

NW200 : Thursday 12th May 2016 : Evening Racing

As is the now normal procedure Thursday night saw the first racing of the NW200 event.  The weather was glorious, as it had been all week, the roads were in top condition and things are now scheduled to move much more quickly, with the organisers now putting the focus on the racing, for the benefit of the spectators and fans rather than pit lane walks, interviews and TV cameras holding up the proceedings.

A welcome change to the program.

Three races were scheduled for the evening race session, however due to a non race related fire on the course Race 2 had to be postponed.  Then when set off again a race incident involving Ryan Farquhar and Dan Cooper suspended and ultimately finished proceedings for the evening.

The third race was scheduled to run on Saturday 14th May 2016 as part of the Saturday race programme.

However more importantly and thankfully Ryan Farquhar, who was seriously injured is now making good progress and full recovery is expected, Dan Cooper was not seriously injured, should also be back to 100% fighting fit very soon.

A non race related fire on the course suspends Race 2 at the NW200 on Thursday 12 May 2016
A non race related fire on the course suspends Race 2 at the NW200 on Thursday 12 May 2016

Gallery :

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Official Statement from Guy Martin…

Official statement from #GuyMartin:
Plenty of folk have been asking what I’m up to this year.

I fancy a change of scenery. I’ve been racing the TT for 11 years. All I’ve really done since I was 18, except the trucks, is race motorbikes and my brain needs something else. 

Every year’s the same: testing, racing, then start again. It brought it home to me when I was lying in hospital after the Ulster Grand Prix crash. 

I’ve been on about the Tour Divide, the toughest pushbike race in the world, for three years and I thought I’ll blink and next thing I’ll be 45, so I’m going to do it this year. I like breaking myself mentally and the Tour Divide will be tough, but it’s same time at TT, so that’s forced me to make a choice.

I’m not done with motorbikes. I’m attempting the Wall of Death record in the spring and having a go at the land speed record in the summer and if I do race on the roads it will be with TAS.

After the Tour Divide I might never want to see a pushbike again – or never want to go road racing again, I don’t know. But I do know Bruce Anstey and John McGuinness are still racing the TT, and they’ve got a few years on me, so maybe I’ll come back next year. Or maybe I’ll find something else interesting to do. 

I’ve got more interests than just motorbikes and I just think let’s bloody have ‘em.

Thanks very much as ever for the support. 

Guy.

Unfortunately to me that reads as a ‘farewell.’ Hopefully it is more of a ‘see you later’ than a ‘good bye.’