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.

 photo IMG_3805_zpsje6mmxnl.jpg

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.’

  

16/05/2015 NW200 Saturday Race Day

After a great Thursday night racing and the weather being exceptionally kind, Saturday rolled up. When I left the house it was glorious! So sunny it was almost hazy. I had to stop half way there to put my waterproofs on as it looked like it was going to chuck it down, and by the time I arrived although it hadn’t rained it looked like it was going to, big time! It was dark and there was some proper big ass black clouds floating menacingly over head. It did not take long for them to burst! And so began the theme for the day, sunny, windy, cloudy, raining, heavy ass raining, sunny, warm, windy, cloudy… and repeat!

The first race of the day had to be cancelled after a couple of restarts but from about 1.30 -2.00PM we did get some more continuous according to plan racing, it even looked like, for a short while, that the road closure contingencies would be used to get the final race in however as the winds had picked up again the riders and management decided against that.

So all in all it was a great days racing and thankfully, ultimately no one was fatally injured. A rider was critically injured as was a spectator when a bike left the track and hit her in a garden, a tragic freak accident, however thankfully and mercifully all involved and injured people are now well on the mend, and all are expected to make a full recovery.

See you next year! Onto the TT!

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14/05/2015 NW200 Thursday Night Race Night!

With Thursday now being the 1st Official Race Night of the NW200 I am happy to bring you the official results and the a nice photo gallery of some of the action from the Juniper Hill Chicane near Portstewart.  This is a decent vantage point for taking some decent photographs as the bikes are well slowed down for reaching the chicane, something the riders aren’t to fond off! Guy Martin for example started a bit of controversy for being ‘Bored to the back teeth!’

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58uR6X7a6J4]

Unfortunately tonight we only got two of the three races completed, a red flag halted the 3rd race, thankfully no one was injured badly, however following consultation with the riders a low evening sun (as pictured), and time constraints meant the third and final race could not be run and was postponed until Saturday’s racing.

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