Riding the Isle of Mann TT

No Speed Limit Sign

One of the truly unique features about going to the Isle of Man is the fact that outside of the city limits, or where it is posted, there are no speed limits! This is the only place in Europe, to my knowledge, where you can ride the country roads like a complete fool and be perfectly legal. The good news is you can ride very fast and pretend you are Joey Dunlop. The bad news is if you do this with complete abandonment you will end up like Joey Dunlop. It is important to watch the signs for the posted speed limits and know the sign for when you have reached the end of the speed zone.

So here we are riding along with several other bikes and all of a sudden everyone drops a gear or two and when we pass the sign (which I was not familiar with), and the race is on. Now the police do give tickets out frequently. They stand some where in the speed zone with their radar gun and ‘shoot you’ as you approach. If you are going too fast they just wave you over. No car, no lights, no chase. So do you think you want to run? Yes, you can get away……. but remember you are on an island so where are you going to go? The police stand at the ferry terminal and check each bike as you get on. If they have your license number because you did not stop, then you are in BIG trouble.

Everyone rides the TT course and there is a constant string of bikes on the road. After all, what other racetrack in the world can you ride the track, before or after the race?

IOM TT Course Map

One needs to watch for the Germans in particular. They are excellent riders and very fast, but once in a while they forget to stay to the LEFT side of the road. There are signs all over the place in German that remind them to stay on the left. The year we were there, a German got off the ferry and was riding the course very fast, he crossed onto the right side and hit a BMW car head on. He never even checked into his room. It is not just the Germans that like to ride fast. On one ‘tour’ of the course I noticed a skinny old bike coming up behind me so I slowed down to see what it was. Now I have several vintage British bikes and it was a guy on a Triton, ‘hallin ass’ on this old thing. Then there was the time this GSXR  comes up behind us slow ‘Yanks’ and this guy passes us, just pass the goose neck, on the outside of a blind left hand corner and he on the wrong side of the road. If that was not scary enough he had his girlfriend on the back.

 

Now if this does not get your attention, all one needs to do is ride counter course. When everyone rides the ‘track’ they go the same direction as the direction they race it. If you go the other way, remember these are public roads, it is REALLY scary. Picture yourself going down the mountain at 80-100mph and you have bikes going up the mountain at 100+ mph and sometimes they do not stay on their side of the road.

Then there are the surprises along the course. It was maybe my second or third time around the course and I got separated from my buddies by a couple of cars.  When I started to catch up I was on it pretty good; I saw them standing beside the road. They were on the other side of Ballaugh Bridge and to my great surprise I went airborne.

I do not want to scare anyone from going because this is one of the things that should be on any street riders ‘bucket list’; so if you ever get the chance to go to the Isle of Man, it is a trip of a lifetime, but make sure to make arrangements to do it on a motorcycle.

Several years later we went to the TT again and it was the first time for four of the guys I ride with in the States. We had done a quick lap before breakfast and as I pulled into the car park,one of the crew was jumping up and down like a crazy man. I thought maybe a bee got in his leathers or something but after he got his helmet off he was shouting ‘That was better than SEX!’