Isle of Man Centennary

**emaN** · 9th July 2007, 19:28

1. ian lougher (this guy knows a thing or two about the TT!)
2. mcguinness on the 600
3. mark parrett chasing connor cummins (i think connor the fastest manxman 'round the TT now)
4. steve plater (first timer at TT,but needs no introduction to road racing fans!)

**emaN** · 9th July 2007, 19:41

Team "TAS suzuki relentless".
Adrian's bikes in foreground, bruce's at the back.
black numbers on white board = superbike
white numbers on red board = superstock
white numbers on blue board = supersport

**emaN** · 9th July 2007, 19:52

1. looking towards kirk michael and out to sea, from camp. later in the week it was first come first served for parking spots! when all three barns were full up, ya parked out here, but this soon filled too...
2. bikes along the promenade in Douglas; this is just a small section. The Prom is a good mile long!
3. glencutchry rd; those 'towers' are near the start/finish
4. waiting to board the ferry in Heysham, along with hundreds of other riders.

**emaN** · 9th July 2007, 20:00

1. McGuinness scrubbing in his tyres at Jurby airfield, the day before the Senior. I'd heard that he does this; to come along at the right time and see him was cool. When he took off through those black n white bails it was unreal how quickly he disappeared; lost sight of him in no time!
2. Peel and it's castle. Our 'local' for icecreams, fish n chips and chinese on our first night.
3. Back at camp. Rob turned up one day, came off the next, poor buggar. As he pulled out of Barregarrow crossroads, his Falco jumped outta gear, then back in, reared it's head and spat him off. He got a free ride in a chopper tho!
The dude kneeling is Steve; him and his mate brought their (pretty much) track bikes over in a van and gave loads of people the learn! Actually, one of the bikes was an ex-endurance race bike - tons of goodies on it!

**emaN** · 9th July 2007, 20:26

Looking at all these pics, it seems unreal that a short few weeks ago we were there. So glad we did it.
We're so thankful to Doc for lending us his precious 748 for a fortnight, truly a generous offer!
Huge thanks also to Dave & Diane who sorted out the insurance for us.
It was wikkid hanging out with good friends again, and now we look foward to THEM coming down-under some time soon!

TT07 itself was all I hoped for.
I'm glad we got there for practice week, before it all got too chaotic. It was cool to ride around the place that week with loads of bikes around, but not enough to be a worry.
Camping was awesome; we'd all been looking foward to the big 'reunion' and weren't gonna let the damp weather ruin it! When the sun came out for all of race week it was perfect.

The racing was out of this world.
It struck me as ironic that we spectators are sat there, relaxing in the sunshine, dozing, drinking, yakking...when just a couple of feet away those riders are fighting for their lives with their total focus and concentration trying to control the rocket beneath him which is itself trying to off them into every hedge/bank/tree/wall around those 37 miles!
(I made these comments at the time, and people wanted what i was having, as I was obviously tripping!).

To me every rider who raced there is an exceptional one. There are tons of riders the world over who would be good enough to ride The Course, but far fewer who can challenge it and race it.
I respect those guys incredibly for taking on the TT, which is why I want to mention Marc Ramsbotham and acknowledge his talent & skill.

For some reason he'd had caught my attention during practice week, so I'd kept an eye on him and followed him more closely than other 'higher number' riders. I hadn't heard of him before, but I've checked him out since and he was an extremely capable road-racer.
Unfortunately he lost his life during the Senior.
It was gutting to hear about the accident on the radio, and it's been heart-wrenching reading his wife & daughters tributes to him.
Check out his website, which describes both the racer and the man.
http://www.rammyracing.co.uk/

Future TTs?
I'd like to go back... Been twice now, but they've both been such different experiences.
Perhaps even as a competitor and do the Manx, the seed has def been planted

The logistics would be awkward, but I've already had an offer to help me find a 400/600 over there...it'd be amazing.

**emaN** · 14th July 2007, 20:34

There ya go; i named 'em.

**Matt Bleck** · 15th July 2007, 19:16

Originally Posted by emaN

There ya go; i named 'em.

Where is the clap, clap for the handicap smiley?

**emaN** · 15th July 2007, 19:54

I'll give ya a clap ya bogun
(note: not THE clap!)

**Kornholio** · 15th July 2007, 22:48

Originally Posted by emaN

I'll give ya a clap ya bogun
(note: not THE clap!)

Never know what you grubby lil eyeties have do we

**emaN** · 16th July 2007, 21:53

Originally Posted by Kornholio

Never know what you ...eyeties have do we

pluck up the courage and ask yer womenfolk what "us eyeties have"

**wybmadiity** · 17th July 2007, 10:46

Originally Posted by emaN

pluck up the courage and ask yer womenfolk what "us eyeties have"

.... Great food and beautiful ladies

**emaN** · 17th July 2007, 20:20

precisely Liv!
dunno what all the lads were thinking; obviously a shady lot, going by the "rep pm's" i got!!

anyway,back to topic, i'm gonna upload some pics from the billown races soon.

**emaN** · 19th July 2007, 18:09

Some pics from the Billown circuit; races take place the day after the Senior.
We missed them last time, so made sure we stayed on a couple days to see 'em this time.
I didn't get a program (neither did RadioTT commentators!

), so not too sure who's who. Got a few of Paul Dobbs though, and Conor Cummins, Ian Lougher...

**emaN** · 19th July 2007, 18:17

i'll name 'em lat....i mean, at MY leisure!
ok, i'm feeling "leisured"

1. the circuit itself starts near Castletown, where the 'white road' meets the 'blue' one. They head off west, then turn north towards Ballabeg, flying thru' Iron Gate on the way.
Then turn back east, through a wee 'village' and hard braking right left right at Cross Four Ways.
Then up the 'hill' towards Church Bends (which is where we watched from) a mint 'chicane' carrying as much speed as poss to fire themselves down a couple of fast 'straights', throw her left at Stadium corner, hard on the picks into the last 90deg r/hander, then back onto the Start/Finish straight.
4 and something miles of kick-assssss road racing!
2. Conor Cummins
3. Don't worry 'bout us; we're nice and safe behind this ancient rock wall
4. Conor and Lougher