‘When it’s good the TT is very, very good’
‘You only get one chance to see the TT for the first time, so get it right. Your first experience of watching top guys riding the course should be at a location where the bikes are going insanely fast, but where you can stand close enough to feel the air move in your lungs as they fizz past. ‘At the Sulby Glen Hotel you’re squeezed onto the terrace in front of the pub, pint in hand, with a piece of rope between you and the course. You hear the bikes coming for a few seconds before they explode past, about a metre in front of your nose, flat-out in top gear on one of the fastest bits of the course. The record speed past the trap on Sulby straight is 189mph. It’s a brain bender for which the cliché about picking your jaw off the floor was invented. ‘Having got a feel for the ridiculous speed of the TT you need to go somewhere that lets you appreciate the bravery and skill of the riders. Try Quarry Bends. ‘It’s a sequence of corners so Michael Dunlop, Ian Hutchinson and the other top guys arrive quickly, but smoothly and perfectly positioned. They almost kiss the bank on the first right hander, then get back on the throttle and are gone. The slower guys use less of the road on the entry to the sequence, maybe come in too fast, they drift wide, and then roll off mid-way through the sequence in order to avoid the kerb. Old timers reckon that Quarry isn’t as good as it used to be. Increased spectator safety means a reduced viewing area, but it’s still amazing.
‘Then you need to watch from up on The Mountain. It’s beautiful, with views across heather-covered hillsides out to the Irish Sea – on a clear sunny day little on the planet beats it. From Brandywell you see the riders appear around The Verandah, specks in the distance, before you can hear them. And they’re in sight for around 60 seconds (at 140-160mph) as they drop down to the Bungalow, up Hailwood’s Rise, past you and away onto the descent towards Douglas. It’s an amazing spectacle, as the top men waft past slower riders, pulling back hundreds of yards in a two mile stretch of fast corners. ‘There are bad times on the Island. The sight of the air ambulance in flight is always a cause of dread. And it can rain for days at a time, but when it’s good the TT is very, very good.’