TT Races
- 6 June 2009 17:0022897Especially for my fellow TWO WHEEL compatriot Phil West here are a few pictures taken off the TV last night.. There is great coverage this coming week Phil and anyone else interested on ITV4. blinding speeds by looney high speed racers at full tilt, skimming stone walls and leaping brows of hills..breathtaking. Went there one time for the whole week. First day sat on a stone wall but they went by so fast i saw nothing, except got dizzy spells and had my eardrums puntured(not really but it felt like it). next day got a better location and saw the dynamic charge for glory...
email: dover7@msn.com - 6 June 2009 18:4722900I'll be keeping an eye on the races although I'm not really a fan as such. These road-race courses are very dangerous and have claimed numerous victims over the years.
I've ridden the North West 200 circuit in Northern Ireland a couple of times and than can be hairy in places even at legal road speeds. The speeds these racers achieve on what are effectively public roads is mind blowing. Imagine weaving through the Market Square at speeds of 80 mph or more!! (Mmm, now there's a thought! A Dover TT race!
)Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!! - 7 June 2009 08:0522928Ridden the NorthWest 200 wow! well that is dangerous and Im not even talking about motorbikes !lol
Unfortunately the bad weather affecting the western side of the UK put paid to any races taking place at the TT. All were postponed so the festival got off to a bit of a damp squib.
Talking about having an event round the streets of Dover. Would be great but as ever round here we are hampered by the lack of money and enterpreneurship.
Reminds of several years ago when Birmingham put on fantastic Formula Two World Championship races for quite a few years. it was truly great to see them all powering around the streets. Not far from the station, 5 minutes, so everyone could reach it easily. Oh dear! for the moment I cannot remeber the name of the main station there. I went to them all in my previous life capacity and it was a bumper occasion. The hotels were packed, the shops were packed, the restaurants were packed..great while it lasted. They tried to create a type of Monte Carlo..not quite the glamour in Birmingham but nevertheless.email: dover7@msn.com - 11 June 2009 17:3723283I know not too many people are terribly interested in this thread but oi'll soldier on regardless for me own amusement. The great coverage continues on ITV4...and its thrilling for us afficionadoes of the racing motorcycle. Blistering speeds next to stone walls and over hump back bridges that make the bikes squirm and the riders...well their tough enough to take it.
I suppose you could say the glory days of the TT are over. Too many deaths, the loss of Grand Prix status and so on, knobbled its appeal to an extent...but nevertheless the top racing teams still go there with specialist riders because the publicity derived from winning there is still big big big. But I remember the days, a fair time ago now, of Mike Hailwood and Giacomo Agostini, two of the greatest racers the world has ever seen, battle it out on those old days of black and white television.What a spectacle...even in black and white. Never to be surpassed...not now.
here are a few more pictures...
go get 'em floyd!email: dover7@msn.com - 11 June 2009 17:4723285I watched a bit of something from the TT prog on ITV4 - biker's-eye view of the winning lap from 2003.Phil West
If at first you don't succeed, use a BIGGER hammer!! - 11 June 2009 19:2323291am i right in thinking that mike hailwood later went on to four wheels for formula 1?
- 12 June 2009 08:4023320Yes he did indeed go on to motor racing but I dont think he made it into formula one but thats just off the top of my head. I remember he was associated with the launch of the one time rival to formula one called formula 5000. They were very powerful cars with huge wide back tyres. It rocketed along for a few years but fizzled out as the tradition of formula one cant be beaten.
He came back to bikes much much later as a relatively older geezer but still won time after time. I was at an event at Mallory Park where he stormed clear of the young whippersnappers in great style. He did a 'chat evening' at the hotel we were staying at that weekend, Post House Leicester it might have been, I used to do a bit of motor racing coverage in those days, and it was a great fun evening. But he had real talent proving he could still win all those years later. It wasnt at the very highest Grand Prix level or anything like that but nevertheless to win at any level is tough, especially in motorcycling.
After coming through many high speed wars through many years he was killed ironically in a carcrash on public roads in the midlands when a juggernaut did a 180 right in his path. His daughter was with him as I remember.email: dover7@msn.com - 13 June 2009 08:0323383My final missive on the TT Races. Last night saw the final big race ..the Senior TT. Unfortunately half way though yours truly lost picture. The reception is bad where I am..its there one minute and gone the next. It breaks up into highly coloured boxes and dies slowly. Third world stuff! To say its frustrating and annoying is an understatement...right in there at the heat of the event.
"Oh Cripes!" said I spitting feathers! as I looked around for a stray dog to kick!
However my picture stayed with me long enough to hear Craig Doyle's interwiew with commentating legend Murray Walker. He was asked which was the greatest race ever..and lo and behold, and I was very pleased to see I was in harmony with the great man of the mike, as he said the greatest race was the one I referred to above on these very pages ( post 4) between Mike Hailwood and Giacomo 'Ago' Agostini. So there , you heard it here first. My finger is on the pulse!!
email: dover7@msn.com - 14 June 2009 21:4323493moving onto 4 wheels, are phil and paul aware that next saturday the 20th, bbc4 are doing a whole evening from 2000 hours on documentaries on jackie stewart, jim clark and graham hill?
different kind of racing to today, should be interesting to afficianados.
