Superb. Simply superb.
That's easily the best TT camerawork I've ever seen. In fact I think it's the best sport coverage I've ever seen. The close-up helicopter tracking shots and the slo-mo especially. Genune heart in mouth moments, Mrs PP was sitting with her hands on her cheeks and her mouth open for half of it..!

Good interviews too:

Did ya see Guy Martin? Pissed off + Northern nutter + Incredible facial hair = Superb 11/10 rant. Unmissable.

And it's been relegated to ITV4!!! Arrggghhh!

I've you've ever been to the TT, you must have loved it, if not, I bet you want to go now. 🙂

Can't wait for tonight

Is it available to download from anywhere?

Yes, available on ITV player apparently

http://www.iomtt.com/News/2010/06/03/Television-coverage-of-the-2010-TT-starts-tonight-on-ITV4.aspx

Yeah fully missed that damn.

Been watching all the ITV4 coverage. Have been to the IOM but not for TT week, that is now booked in for my 40th!

Glad TT is now on mainstream TV (I know, it was last year too)

But have to agree, the camera positions / angles / high motion cameras really show the intensity of the event. Over the superbike and supersport races both Dunlop and Martin had some "moments" where I was OMG how did they get that back together.

Miss going over to the IoM. Stayed at home last 2 years – too expensive to justify and wife working term times…

Strongly recommend anyone to go at least once – even if not a bike / motorsport fan. It's a fantastic atmosphere, and the noise makes the hairs on your neck stand up.

Strongly recommend anyone to go at least once – even if not a bike / motorsport fan. It's a fantastic atmosphere, and the noise is fantastic.

I remember being a kid, and hearing about the TT for the first time and thinking I'd love to go. I suppose I was no more than 10 at the time. I didn't actaully go until I was about 30ish. We got a very late ferry and arrived at our campsite in the early hours. We knew the site was near the course and the next day was practice, but I didn't know exactly how close and that the practice was at 6.30 am! I woke in a daze to the sound of 2 strokes hammering past, thought it was a dream and went back to sleep. Then the bigger bikes started coming and we jumped out of bed, made a quick bacon sarnie and stumbled to the campsite entrance and sat on a grassy bank next to the pavement 20 feet from bikes doing 100++++ mph on the other side of the road.

It sends shivers down your spine. It's astonishing. You really have to go to see it, you really do. The racing, the Island, the atmosphere.

Sitting in a churchyard on Sulby Straight with tea and buns from the ladies in the church. 200mph bikes 4 feet from the pub benches opposite. Trekking over fields to poke your head through a gap in the hedge. Wandering round the pits, talking to the riders. Mad Sunday on The Mountain……
It's the last bastion of all that is insane IMO. Pure madness and a poke in the eye for all the H&S whingers. It is THE extreme sport. Nothing else even comes close.

I've been twice now and I will go again.

Dam it, I missed it.

i went with my grandad and father when I was about 10. It was fantastic and I would love to go back as an adult.

It's on every night, 9pm, 10pm on Friday and 2 hrs on Sunday! 🙂

It's repeated today at 11.55am on ITV4.

Did ya see Guy Martin? Pissed off + Northern nutter + Incredible facial hair = Superb 11/10 rant. Unmissable.

Can't wait to see that now (sat at home, gonna watch the re-run in a bit), Guy Martin is a legend, as well as being pretty handy on a Mountain Bike too! Was in MBUK I think last month, he was also in EVO magazine a few months ago for an interview… Legendary stuff too, they wanted to speak to him cos he bought one of the very first Aston Martin V12 Vantages that went on sale in the UK. He stores it in a tatty old barn outside his GF's parents Farm, where he lives in her bedroom with her… His motto "We're here for a good time not a long time" pretty much sums up the whole Road Racing fraternity, but taking it to the extreme and living a very modest lifestyle except for one thing, owning a brand new V12 Aston Martin… RESPECT!!! 😉

It's the last bastion of all that is insane IMO. Pure madness and a poke in the eye for all the H&S whingers. It is THE extreme sport. Nothing else even comes close

Totally agree. Any/every other "extreme" sport has been dumbed down to some extent, or the H&S guys have got involved to minimise the risk. That the TT (and other road racing) is still allowed to take part is quite astonishing when you consider that the odds are that at least one person is going to die in TT fortnight every year! I've ridden motorbikes fast and taken a lot of risks, and would love the opportunity to do so on a track in the future. I'm considered by a lot of people who know me to be a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but the thought of riding a bike flat out round the IOM TT course totally scares the shit out of me quite frankly! Though I know exactly what I'll be doing should I be diagnosed with a terminal illness and decide to go out in style…

blows my mind. 131mph AVERAGE speed. holy crap.

thats 25mph faster than the moto gp winner managed in Mugello.

i appreciate that they are different courses (of course – ba ha ha) but how many roundabouts and jumps and bridges and dirty tarmac and shopping centres and villages and mountains are in the italian short circuit…

I agree with GM, the tolerance for the speed gun in the pit lane is a little tight! Mind you I could hardly understand half the rant!

Maybe they could have filmed it with the slo-mo camera, and subtitles?

Yep very cool, and indeed I found myself remarking at great camera work.
Been over there a copy of times.
Crazy crazy riders..

Alas mboy they have done a fair bit of Health and Safetying over the years. When I was a kid you could sit on pretty much any hedge, top of bus shelter etc within reason. Nowadays you can hardly get anywhere, though a quite tragic accident a few years back in which a few spectators died no doubt fuelled this.

I have such good memories of growing up there, the best 2 weeks of the year by far!! Beer, the smell of 2stroke oil and the general buzz of the population doubling.. oh and the bikes of course …. ah happy days.

8)

The coverage is fantastic this year, my only complaint is that I'd like to see more of the privateers (one of my friends is racing, came in 34th in supersports and 29th in superstock yesterday)

Hopefully going to get over there next year, wanted to do it this year with my best mate as we both turn/ed 30 this year, but unfortunately we couldn't quite get it together for various reasons.

For anyone who has been recently, where would you recommend you camp (family in motorhome) and best places to watch

Did anyone else notice the on board shot last night where Guy Martin was trying an overtake and the guy he was alongside cut his nose off when he came across to line up the corner, HOW CLOSE? Also the shot of Hutchinson looking up to check out the helicopter when he was flat out and tucked down behind the screen, awesome stuff 😯

HERO's comes to mind when I see the riders on the slowmo cams, anyone who rides road bike fast will know that the slightest move from the bike and you arse munches the seat, they get a power slide on at 130 round a blind corner….!!! Stuff the world cup lets get more races like the TT on the TV…
As for the pit lane speed c'mon Guy Martin is one of the greatest riders oh and he loves a bit of Mountain biking, Good Lad
One more thing the 2 chick in the hotpants at the start line,(.)(.) 😯

A couple of the close calls last night had me on the edge of my seat- foot off peg and hutchinson sweeping back across..

Last years was 'better' for the slow-mo on the bikes bottoming out their suspension though IMO 😀

All good- the spectators viewpoint sat on the grass next to the kerb – I want to sit there!!! mrshora said 'thats dangerous, what if a bike goes into them'….. 🙄

Did ya see Guy Martin? Pissed off + Northern nutter + Incredible facial hair = Superb 11/10 rant. Unmissable.

The first 2mins of his rant were delivered in machine-gun speak and then he suddenly slowed down and spoke normally! 😆

Guy Martin is now my hero. Amazingly uncool but uber cool facial hair and an inredible ranting ability that puts the average STW moany pants to shame. GM for PM! Don't you just love people muscling in on a photoshoot? 😆

Alas mboy they have done a fair bit of Health and Safetying over the years. When I was a kid you could sit on pretty much any hedge, top of bus shelter etc within reason. Nowadays you can hardly get anywhere, though a quite tragic accident a few years back in which a few spectators died no doubt fuelled this.

To be fair, I can kind of agree with that, as when spectators begin to spoil the show (as they did with Grp B rallying) something has to be done, as they make it more dangerous than it needs to be by adding distractions. Put it this way, a TT rider comes off his bike, crashes and is killed, the Daily Mail set will say "another stupid biker dies, no big loss"… A TT rider crashes into a load of spectators, killing several of them, the Daily Mail set would have a field day, calling for the immediate closure of the race!

The spectators of Grp B rallying really killed it in the 80's, by being too selfish and trying to get too close. I'd have hated to be a driver with people in my way until I was less than 10 metres away as it would have ruined my concentration, and made everything needlessly dangerous. Same goes for the TT spectators IMO. Though that the course itself has not been sanitised at all for the riders over the years, is exactly how it should be…

You try and take a picture and some chump jumps in, well you cant have everything… But saying that I would love to see those two on the same track I think I may just get a bit over excited… nice pic

As for hutchinson sweeping back across, man that was close..

Guy Martin is now my hero. Amazingly uncool but uber cool facial hair and an inredible ranting ability that puts the average STW moany pants to shame

Must admit, if I tried ranting like he did I would have probably shed a tear or my voice would have broken with emotion!

Plus those mutton chops- I'm tempted to grow some but I dont have enough hair sadly 🙁

HORA, I think its only right you post a before and after picture if you do 'Try' and grow some…

**** it. Right.

Was looking at Martin's website last night. Pics of him doing the IoM end to end on his MTB with Hope baggies and camelbak, then pics of doing the Flanders sportive in the same gear. Different bike tho. Wuss… 😉

Guy finished the E2E last year with "now that's what i call a real man's race"…

Nice to see someone with a bit of passion.

Coverage also to be repeated on sky's Turbo channel at some point according to an ad last night.

As to where to watch – spectating is a bit more restricted these days – look @ iomtt.com for restricted areas i think. When i was a kid we used to walk upto Signpost Corner and watch the bikes thriough the crowds – the smell of 2 stroke oil brings it all back….

Camping – best email me direct steve.ormerod@gov.im suggest Glen Lough as its right on the course…

For anyone who has been recently, where would you recommend you camp (family in motorhome) and best places to watch

There's loads of campsites for tents (Bikers carry tents!) We stayed on the Laxey AFC football pitch last time – Superb facilities (Communal showers though, it IS a football ground, but seperate mens (home!) and ladies (away!) ) and a good bar. There's shops in walking distance, a really good pub just down the road and the train to take you to the top of the mountain.

Where to watch?

Anywhere! Sulby straight for the speed, anywhere on the mountain course… ANYWHERE! People open up churches, gardens nursing homes etc and put chairs out and serve tea and sandwiches. It's really chilled like that. 🙂 My fave so far is the bottom of Bray Hill though. Makes me shiver just thinking about it….

Sorry mBoy the course has also be "tweaked" in areas to make it safer too. 😉

I can only speak from the experience of living there for 20 odd years and the slow erosion of the event due to H&S, there have been other things that have occured outside the racing, Bushy's closing down for example which was the place to go of an evening during the TT fornight.

Glad it is still going strong though 🙂

thanks PP will watch it later on tonight.LOVE IT. 😆

Camping – best email me direct steve.ormerod@gov.im

I take it you're on the Island then? 😉

Don't s'pose you know if Laxey AFC are open for camping next year do you?

(My finger is hovering over the 'reserve' button on the Steam Packet website)

Ahh shoot. I just clicked it by accident. 8)

Bugger. Website crashed. 🙁

How about a STW-organised trip over next year?

As a new follower can anyone explain the difference:

Supersport
Superbike
Superstock

Im confused and you can probably tell im not into motorbikes much although I'm aware of Fireblades/R1/R6 etc.

LIVERPOOL to DOUGLAS DOUGLAS to HEYSHAM Thu 2-JUN-11 03:15am Arr 05:45am Fri 10-JUN-11 20:00pm Arr 23:30pm MANANNAN BEN MY CHREE CheckIn Closes * 2-JUN-11 00:45am CheckIn Closes * 10-JUN-11 18:00pm 1 MOTOR CYCL @ 10.00 10.00 1 MOTOR CYCL @ 10.00 10.00 2 Adults @ 0.00 0.00 2 Adults @ 0.00 0.00

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Supersport
Superbike
Superstock

Supersport
600cc, heavily tuned

Superbike
1000cc, heavily tuned (Bigger capacities allowed for twin cylinder bikes)

Superstock
1000cc, virtually showroom standard apart from tyres, exhaust, fairing and other safety mods (I think some suspension tuning allowed too)

Will a Superstock be quicker than a Supersport?

less torque available from a Supersport, and the bikes are much smaller in size, so rider height and weight will have an effect on the performance and handling of the bike.

Stock 1000s are still scary machines and resemble the kind of bikes you'll see(or not (SMIDSY comment)) ripping up your local lanes on a weekend, on their way to a tea and chip stop at a biker cafe somewhere near by….