Iomtt 2024 thread

That time of year again!

Anyone going over? I had a ferry deposit but decided in the end not to go due to other commitments. Regretting it now though.

Should be interesting due to alot of team and manufacturer changes.

Will  Ben Birchall be as dominant with a new passenger, will the Crowe brothers push on from last year.? Will be good to see some closer racing in the sidecars.

For me, the two most interesting changes are  D Harrison to factory Honda and the rule changes in the Supersport class.  D Harrison was really held back by the Kawasaki’s lack of top end speed in previous years, I’m really hoping he can get onto the top step.  The supersport class looks really interesting, a 995 v2 ducati vs a three cylinder triumph vs a 750 suzuki vs in line 4 Honda and Yamahas.

Anyway, here’s hoping for some great racing and all riders head home afterwards.

It will be a great year of racing and the TT Live Pass is really good value. Watched a few hours of Practice and Quali last night. Nice and ‘steady’ start. I am hoping for a spread of wins…Davey Todd, Michael Dunlop to match and then beat his Uncles long standing record, Jamie Coward, one for Dean H and one or two for Hicky. Podiums for Conor Cummins and Dom Herbertson amongst others…spread it about a bit.

Just come back from competing in the classic TT down the road in castletown.

Unfortunately shortage of marshalls meant I didn’t get to see the main event as they now start on Monday. Day 1 got postponed until 2pm because of mist on the mountain.

Arrived back in Heysham around midnight and the ferry terminal seemed to have people queuing to go over.

I only found out a few weeks ago, due to a pub quiz question I got wrong, what the TT stands for.

Who knew! Not me evidently!!…

Anywhere to watch on normal tv or do I have to subscribe to Live pass?

I’m there now. First trip to the IOM. Practice and first qualifying was mad yesterday. Almost saw 3 crashes at the first corner, Quarterbridge. One was going far too fast, over ran it, and just made it round, a sidecar was pulling off on purpose, hit the safety fence, luckily no one in the way and no injuries, just some carbon/fibreglass repairs needed, and another bike who realised he couldnt make it, slammed the brakes on, carried straight on, rather than round, and just stopped beore the crash barrier. Evening qualifying at Union Mills, seeing the bikes and sidecars jumping over the smallest bump in the road was amazing, and scary too.
Its been raining all night/day until 14.00, I didnt think there’d be any practice today, but they annnounced at 15;00 that , currently, it is going ahead, as the roads are drying.We’re off out in half an hour, doing a lap of the course, then round to Cronyvoddy to see some full on speed there, 180-190mph along that section.

@alanl – have a great time, it’s awesome.

My favourite places to watch are Keppel Gate (a nice big grassy bank with plenty of room) and Appledene (fast).

Enjoy Alan,seeing those speeds on public roads for the first time,it was hard for my wee brain to process 👍🤣

Someone asked me to passenger their sidecar for them at the weekend….not at TT level, but still a bit nuts! I’ll be weighing up the time/financial commitment required.

Crowe brothers look very quick this year!

Dean H seems to be struggling on that Honda unfortunately.  Real shame as I was interested to see what he could do on a factory ride.

Weather doesn’t look great for qualifying week.

Dean looked good on the stocker at the NW200. I’m hoping he can progress with the superbike through practice week.

Itv4 every night from 9pm apparently.

Missing first one in years this year but might head across next weekend (family live there so easy for me).

Few takeaways from me at the start of practice week:
– Good to see McGuinness dropping the 600s to focus on bigger bikes – hopefully this will see his results improve
– Dunlop’s standing start lap was impressive yesterday for a first lap in a year. Interesting to see him running the previous version of the ‘blade rather than the newer one, clearly he feels more confident in keeping last year’s setup
– ITV4 coverage is hopefully pretty good this year – I understand that the live stream was good last year too. Its just a shame that the race days have been spread across the week again and will impact upon local trade as people visit attractions/towns on non-race days
– I think the splitting up of the Birchalls will lead to better competition in the sidecars and hopefully make it more attractive for people to watch again.
– Am I the only one who would like to see a return to running yellow plates in the Senior?

Sidecar race tomorrow should be cracker. Very difficult to pick a winner from Birchall, Founds and Crowe.

mental:

Dave Todd is flying.  Harrison is getting to grips with the Honda and both Dunlop and Hickman look quick but not quite there.  I’d also throw Jamie Coward into the mix as well. Sets the races up nicely with no clear favourite.

ITV4 timings

I’ve failed miserably to see any coverage so far this year.

How’s Connor Cummins going so far this year? Would love to see him get a win (ad would the rest of the world I reckon)

“How’s Connor Cummins going so far this year?”

12th before Fridays qualifying sessions, 39 secs off the lead, Todd is fastest, then Hickman,Dunlop and Harrison within ~10 seconds of each other. Speeds could well go up if the weather improves, its been cold and windy here , but the forecast is similar, if not worse for the next week.
No major crashes this year so far, a sidecar came off on Wednesday, both riders taken to hospital, but no major damage (if you call a punctured lung, lacerated liver and other things minor!). The rider, who was injured more than the passenger, was joking on the radio the next day (Thursday) that he’s not sure if he can make the race on Saturday.
One session cancelled due to rain, another was totally cancelled as a civilian had crashed on the mountain that afternoon, Police wanted time to investigate the scene, so sounds like the injuries were life treatening for those involved.

Fastest time of the week is Hickman on his stocker, 16 minutes 48.837 (134.638mph)

Today’s superbike race was one of the best races I have watched.  No spoilers here, but wow.

Indeed. Stunning footage being provided by the Liveplus compared to how amateur it was just 2 years ago..(commentary is a bit of a giggle at times…Setting off the 2024 Superbike TT is John McWilliams…oops, I meant John McGuinness……)

4 riders over 135 mph. Pretty amazing.

The commentary is good and Jamie whitham makes it with his vast  knowledge.

I got back at 2am this morning. A totally mad week. Did I enjoy it, Yes. Would I go again, not so sure, probably not.
Seeing the Racers live, 3 feet away at 170mph+ is the only way to appreciate how fast they are. We took videos of them going past, it just doesnt show how fast they are. The ‘top’ riders can be seen by how smooth they are. They are a step above the others, every turn they go into/out of is smooth, others were jumping around the bike, moving their bodies around, throttle up/down etc, the top riders just flew through with hardly a movement, with the throttle, mostly, always open. Sidecars – mad, 3 inch off the ground at 160mph, sliding around corners, leaving rubber trails on the bends, shaking all over.
And , mostly, the Riders are happy to chat with anyone who says hello to them in the pits area. The superstars (PH, MP etc) are kept away from normal people but the majority of riders are happy to spend a few minutes chatting, having pics taken etc.
Away from the racing, expensive, busy, some total idiots on motorbikes, and a lot, far more than I thought there were, people who really shouldnt be let out on their own on a fast bike. Expense – it seems that the IoM makes 50% of its annual income for the 2 weeks of TT. Prices were totally stupid at many places. After the first day we realised we’d stay away from anything near the Course, as it was bulk cooked, generally poor quality food, at extreme prices. Luckily we had a flat for the week, so could cook ourselves, as every restaurant/decent eatery was full every night. Which means to eat you need to go to either the chip shop, or the multiple burger type vans.
The IoM Police are very hot on speeding. So much so that on the road from the ferry, there is a speed trap. And they caught loads of people within a mile of the port. After seeing the fastest road riders on the Planet, you’d think (most) riders would realise how good the racers are, how it is on closed roads etc, and stick to the speed limits, but no, I saw a number of drag races at 70mph+ on local (30mph) roads after a race.
Mad Sunday. OK, its no longer Mad Sunday, but instead, there is a memorial lap, where anyone go and join the queue at the grandstand, and do a loop of the course with no stopping at junctions, as the Police are there stopping traffic. Never again. There were easily 1000+ bikes, all setting off at 9.30. It took until around mile 13 before the traffic cleared enough to no longer be two abreast on the road. Then the mountain. Its one way on the mountain, so you can safely use both lanes, no speed limits. I thought people would go for it a bit, well, at least get up to 70mph. But no, the majority were quite happy to wobble around at 40mph. We started overtaking, a few faster riders overtook us, all was good at 90mph. Until aroud 5 riders thought they’d just stay in the outer lane at 30-40mph, slowing the whole snake of riders. There was some foul language, and they eventually got the message to get out of the way, so the faster people could overtake safely.They didnt have a clue that they were causing a danger and slowing everyone down. And that theme happened throughout the week, there were so many riders who didnt know (or knowingly?) they were a danger to others, it really was check everywhere before moving off your line. I couldnt beleive the mentality of some of them, double white lines, no way to see around a bend, yet they still went into the other lane to do a really dodgy overtake, which would gain them 2 car lengths further forward, with a 30mph village half a mile away.
The course. I did it a number of times, from early morning to late night. Each time was no better than the last, the only thrill was the mountain section, with no speed limits, and a real chance of coming off, so I kept well within my limits. There are Police everywhere. I went out at 6 one morning, not to speed, but to get a traffic free circuit. 6 Police cars along the route at various points, only one had a speed gun out, the other no doubt had them too, but it was too early to get them out. So even if you did want to do it illegally, you’d likely get caught. There are some total idiots on the mountain, last Tuesday, around 6.40am I was doing around 70 going up, then slowed down to 50ish or lower, as the visibilty through the fog was around 50 metres, then a car came flying past me, easily doing 100mph into the thick fog. Luckily he didnt go into the back of anyone else. That put me off the mountain section, as there are far too many there with a total disregard to anyone elses safety.
Overall, a great experience, something to enjoy, and see something different, but there are downsides,

@alanl all the more reason to go to the Manx GP instead – or may be it’s just that we didn’t get our shit together and book in time for the TT 🤔

“Its just a shame that the race days have been spread across the week again and will impact upon local trade as people visit attractions/towns on non-race days “

This. Its non-stop for race week, with little time to do anything else if you want to watch the racing. I thought there were more races now than in the 60’s but looking online, its about the same, but then, they were compressed with 3 or more races in a day. Yesterday was taken up from 11am until 17:00 by the Superbike race 1, there were big gaps in the schedule, a 3 lap race could easily have been fitted in.
I was talking to a guy who lived there, he was very keen on racing, he reckoned its too big now, 40 years ago, most people would stay in Douglas, but now the whole Island is covered in camp sites, and it isnt going to change as its really big money, the upside is that Douglas isnt any more packed than it was 40 years ago, but other towns around the Island are busy, when they’d be lucky to get a few people visiting them.

“Manx GP instead “
Getting really busy according to the guy mentioned above. Older demographic (I find that hard to beleive, I’d say the average age last week was 55yo), and less of the race rep bikers, but just as busy, certainly in Douglas, maybe the outer areas are quieter? If there was one I’d go back to, it’d be the Manx, the TT is too full on, as mentioned above, great as a one off, couldnt do it every year.

I would never go over on a motorbike due to the issues described above.  I go over as a foot passenger and mtb.   The mtb allows me to get around the island on quiet lanes and bridleways (the Douglas to peel heritage trail is great for this) ,  and I also go mtbing on the rest days as the trails are really good.

It may be just as busy, but I think you get less of the idiots attending the Manx GP (I’ve only been to the TT once & GP once so far), we’ll be going up in a group & part of the enjoyment for me is the ride up there & camping with old & new friends. I’ll probably get a lap or two in when I’m there but will be hugging the left hand side of the road not pushing it at all – to actually do a lap & then consider what it must take to average 135mph & do 6 laps in changing conditions is absolutely mind boggling.

There’s always the Southern 100 in early July….’The friendly races’
The Manx is quieter than the TT and has a different feel to it. The good thing about both is that there are loads of great roads to ride that are pretty much deserted as most folk are sheep and just stick to the TT course route. Loads of village halls and church halls open for the fortnight and do tea, sarnies and cakes for peanuts. With not much effort, you can be 3 or 4 miles from the ‘event’ but feel like you’re on another Island.
Dunlop is the man this week. Hats off to him.
Shame a shower on one small part of the Island did for todays Superstock, so tomorrows rest day is now a race day.

Hiya.

An alternative post from a duplicate thread:

Well then……..that was an absolute epic!

Campsite: Douglas Rugby Club;

Huge, well organised, clean, good variety of quality food (including veggie options)  at reasonable prices.

Didn’t drink but was told the beer was good.

Camping, but good quality tents, airbeds, nice quilts and pillows and towels all supplied. Clean loos and showers.

They said they were aiming to provide a hotel experience outdoors – they succeeded.

Bloody marvellous viewing points at Quarterbridge & Braddan without having to leave the campsite!

Ferry:

Catamaran from Liverpool  – apart from catching Covid on the way over, all fine.

The Pits/Start-Finish line/Fan Zone etc:

Bloody huge compared to previous years, but so chilled and relaxed.

Loads of entertainment, music and food, family friendly, a variety of paid for seating, free vantage points and stands.

A shining example of how to treat motorsports fans. The pits are just big tents, open to absolutely everyone, but the level of respect shown by the fans is awesome.

Not been since 1991 and the demographics have changed.

Back then there were lots of kids on cheap 2 strokes – now it’s mostly old men on bikes that cost more than my first house.

But it’s  unique. You cannot watch tthis anywhere else. Sat with new friends on a dry stone wall whist bikes pass you at 200 mph.

If you’ve not been, go.