Something left off the list is the fact that the course is opened up every night after the end of the days racing, allowing the public onto the course, where there are no speed limits.
This results in quite a few “civilian” deaths every year as well.
Mark
This results in quite a few “civilian” deaths every year as well.
Mark
I bet things haven't changed much.
As a teenager in 1965 I took the ferry from Liverpool to Douglas, IoM and saw the amateur version of the TT races, the Grand Prix races, run over the same course.
Lots of spectator motor bikes on the ferry, with all of them wanting a “go on the track” in the off hours. At that time I remember a few beheadings reported as bikes went off the track and through a farmers wire fence.
We walked out of town and camped on a farmers field next to the track. It was neat to wake up to the noise of the practice laps and the smell of burnt Castor oil...:^)
Douglas became a party town for the week, but was very well behaved since the birch was still the rule of law in the Isle of Man. A change from the drunken behavior of the current UK youth.
It certainly was a spectacle not to be missed, and seeing the bikes running at those high speeds down little country roads was quite amazing. Some of the houses on the track even had their front door step as the edge of the track - no sidewalk in the little villages.