WATCH THE TT FROM BRAY HILL
It’s violent. It’s shocking. And it’s the most memorable thing you’ll see in any racing year
Blue sky. A warm breeze. The quiet chatter of an expectant crowd with a crackly PA providing relaxed commentary. The names float out: Dunlop. Hutchinson. Harrison. It feels as English as tea and biscuits.
But it isn’t: it’s Manx. And they do things a little differently here. The first bike pops into view about a quarter of a mile away up the hill. Something about the way it bobs around is unfamiliar. You’re still trying to work out why when you are assaulted by an explosion of sound and wind rush. Holy mackerel! It’s doing 170mph over a traffic light junction with the fairing on the floor. It doesn’t matter how many YouTube TT videos you’ve watched.
This is real life. And you have never seen anything move so fast, so close, before.
As the wobbling exhaust sound drains away, your brain has time to catch up with what’s just happened. There was a human being on that bike. Doing a full-throttle, 200-horsepower, sixth-gear plunge downhill, followed by a violent direction change. Still flat out. Ye gods.
Jimi Hendrix could play the guitar. Stephen Hawking could figure out black holes. So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that about 20 people out of the planet’s seven billion have got horrifyingly good at pointing motorcycles accurately between granite walls at 190mph. It’s just that the first time you see it it’s... a bit of a shock. The violence of the thing, mainly. And the fact that it’s legal.
Bray Hill is many people’s first TT experience, simply because it’s the first bit of the 37.75-mile course you get to when you leave the ferry terminal. It’s the main road through Douglas, the Isle of Man’s capital, and as such looks like any dreary 30mph residential street in a seaside town. What sets it apart, utterly, is that since 1907 motorcycles have been allowed to go down it as fast as they can for two weeks in June.
It’s about 550 metres from the top crossroads, next to St Ninian’s
‘The first time you see it is a bit of a shock’
church, down to the most dramatic viewpoint, the junction with Tromode Road. As with many TT spots there’s only so much room, so you need to get there early. On Senior day, that means 7am. The junctions half way down are quieter, but the bikes are gone in
a blink. A better bet is to try your luck with the houses on Bray that rent out garden space.
I couldn’t believe my eyes
But don’t just take my word for the breathless violent beauty of it. Johnny Wilson, a seasoned fan who first made the island pilgrimmage in 1980, says: “The first time I watched the TT was at the top of Bray Hill, in somebody’s garden. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up now. Unbelievable. I prefer watching just above the traffic lights, from Port-E-Chee Avenue. I’ve only missed about three since that first in 1980.” He’s not the only one. Sam Willacy, a New Zealand road racer, added: “I watched Superbike practice from the bottom of Bray last year. F**k! It was absolutely ballistic. Coming down, throttle wound open, it looks like it’ll be straight into the wall. How no one backs off... it’s absolutely mental.” “Bray Hill was my introduction to the TT,” adds Tim Coles. “I had mates racing, and you feel the nerves. It just took my breath away. I said, ‘I can’t watch this. I’m not ready for it yet.’ So we went somewhere a bit tamer.
“I found it pretty emotional.”
‘It still makes the hairs on my neck stand up’