[deetjohn]

Here is the highlights of full race from this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn5cT65IEEo

[shyn]

We all know that Ian Hutchinson won three TTs this year and all this after recovering from what should have been a career-ending accident. But this piece by Mat Oxley gives us more details of what Hutch really had to conquer to achieve this incredible feat! Grab some tissues first because this will move you to tears. Guaranteed. And if that doesn't do it then the first few seconds from the post-race press conference will.


Hutchy's journey to hell and back

Each year dozens of motorcyclists win world championships of every shape and form but very few fight back from injuries that seemed destined to leave them ex-racer amputees. Mick Doohan was one, Ian Hutchinson is another.

Hutchy's tale is an inspiring story of the wonders and the possibilities of the human spirit. Just a couple of months after becoming the first man in history to win five Isle of Man TTs in one week, Hutchy crashed out of a Silverstone BSB Supersport race and was hit by another bike. The accident shattered his lower leg. Surgeons gave the limb up for lost and told him the only way forward was to amputate from below the knee.

Hutchinson disagreed, for one main reason: not so much because he wanted to continue walking with his own two legs but because he couldn't bear the thought of never racing a motorcycle again. That gives you some idea of the compulsive thrill of bike racing, especially around the Isle of Man Mountain course, where Hutchy returned to his winning ways last June, scoring a hat-trick of victories.

During the intervening five years the Yorkshireman became something of a guinea pig for his team of surgeons, who carried out more than thirty operations on the supposedly doomed limb, including back-to-back twelve-hour and sixteen-hour epics from which he awoke in a darkened intensive-care unit, convinced he was on his way to meet his maker.

Despite all that - despite losing the fibula bone in the leg, despite coming close to losing the whole leg once more when the wounds turned rotten and despite finally realising that the leg wasn't up to changing gear, so he would have to learn to shift with the other leg - Hutchy never once considered surrendering to a life without racing. He let his surgeons do whatever they wanted to do to try saving the leg, no matter what the risks and complications. He still spends three or four hours in the gym every day, working to maintain strength into the leg's wasted muscles.

He has shown jaw-dropping courage and tenacity in fighting his way out of that dark and lonely place and that's why yesterday he found himself in the salubrious environs of London's Pall Mall to pick up the Torrens trophy, now the country's top bike-racing prize, awarded by the Royal Automobile Club. He beat Britain's latest world champions Danny Kent, Jonathan Rea and Tai Woffinden to the award, in recent years won by Shakey Byrne, Tom Sykes and James Toseland.

Hutchinson's whole career has been a greater journey that's taken him from street hoodlum to sporting great. Unlike the huge majority of today's racers he didn't start out as a kid, thrashing minimotos around go-kart tracks. He started racing on the open road, getting up at the crack of dawn to race his mates to the Lake District and back. He admits to being somewhat, er, "disrespectful" of the laws of the Queen's highways. No wonder he feels such an affinity with the TT course, where tearing through sleepy villages at 180 miles an hour is considered the right thing to do. His first visits to the Island were as a fan, living on Douglas Prom in the back of a van, amusing fans and terrorising locals by pulling wheelies between the tramlines. He didn't start his legal racing career until he was 21, the same age at which Kent won last year's Moto3 world title.

His recognition at the Royal Automobile Club's vast and imposing HQ is particularly fitting because it was in that building that the very first TTs were planned a hundred and ten years ago. The first motorcycle TT of 1907 followed the club's first car TT of 1905 and followed much of the same course. Even the famous TT trophies of Mercury/Hermes were based on the original car trophy cast in 1905. It is interesting to note that back then the now truly terrifying descent down Bray Hill was considered "absolutely the least interesting" part of the course.

It is great that the Royal Automobile Club (by the way, nothing to do with the RAC breakdown service) is showing such renewed enthusiasm for bikes and bike racing. For many years the club lost interest in its automotive roots, so that wonderful trophies like the Torrens gathered dust in its cabinets. Hopefully the club's reawakening will lead to more interest from Britain's movers and shakers, which will in turn lead to more support for bike racing, always so badly lacking in this country.

Source: http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/ra...hell-and-back/

The press conference after his first win this year

http://youtu.be/xs8rxeoRrLw

A little video montage

http://youtu.be/U4sMmLxoA6w

Quick reminder: Hutchy's total tally now stands at 11 TT victories. That puts him in 5th place on the list of all-time TT winners. Here's to hoping that he continues racing at the Isle of Man. Godpeed Hutchy, godspeed!

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

I have been following his story and all I can say, what an Inspiration.
It is beyond inspirational, from almost loosing a leg to winning a TT again.
Not only for racing but in life as well, what a comeback!!

Will never forget his name.

CHEERS!!

Rachit

[shyn]

The official TT channel uploaded these two clips from the award-winning 1948 TT film by Sam Coles. What I wouldn't give to travel back in time to those simpler and purer days, ah!

http://youtu.be/PiN61a4KaKc

http://youtu.be/hU9uS2d9Gp0

About the DVD, well I found a link that sells it for just £4.99 - free worlwide shipping included! And they have so many more DVDs on TT, both old and new! Gotta start saving up.
http://www.dukevideo.com/prd1105/TT-1948-DVD
Product description:
A short but wonderfully nostalgic visual record of the 1948 Isle of Man TT featuring pre-race activities and action footage. 1948 saw a record number of entries as Norton, Velocette and Moto Guzzis dominated. Stars of the post War era - Freddie Frith, Bob Foster, Artie Bell and other familiar faces were drawn once more to this legendary road racing festival. Probably the first TT film produced after the Second World War, this recently discovered film won an award for its enthusiastic producer Sam Coles. There is no sound other than the informed commentary of Graham Walker but this in no way detracts from the atmosphere and excitement of another chapter in Isle of Man road racing history.

[shyn]

The sub-17 minute barrier has finally been breached and what makes it a lit more special is that it was a Dunlop, Michael freakin Dunlop!
But then he ran out of luck in the Supersports and Superstock races which were both won by Hutchy, taking his tally to 12, on par with Michael.
Here's the magic lap from Michael. You can watch the post race press conference on the official channel.

https://youtu.be/5nlzxR6lN7Q

History was made in the opening race of the 2016 Isle of Man TT races, fuelled by Monster Energy, as Michael Dunlop shattered the lap and race records to record the first ever sub-17 minute lap of the Mountain Course to win the RST Superbike race.

The 27-year old's first two laps were both under 17 minutes, the quickest being 133.393mph to win by 19s from Ian Hutchinson, who was also inside the outright lap record, with John McGuinness claiming third. His race winning time was a staggering 1m15.643s inside the old race record.

Dunlop signalled his intentions from the off, taking the lead at Glen Helen on the opening lap from Hutchinson by two seconds with James Hillier a further two seconds back in third. Michael Rutter, Dean Harrison and Conor Cummins completed the top six but the latter was soon out, retiring at Ballaugh.

By Ramsey, Dunlop had doubled his advantage over Hutchinson with Hillier still in third from Harrison and Rutter as McGuinness moved up into the top six.

Dunlop was on lap record pace from a standing start though and with a sensational lap of 133.369mph, he recorded the first ever sub-17 minute lap which gave him a 3.6s lead over Hutchinson whose lap of 132.892mph was also inside the old outright lap record. Harrison had taken over third from Hillier with McGuinness and Rutter now the top six, the quartet having all lapped at more than 130mph..

Hutchinson caught McGuinness on the road and his second lap was almost identical to his first at 132.884mph but Dunlop went quicker still and his second lap of 133.393mph extended his lead to 7.5s. Harrison was still in third but McGuinness was on the move and was up to fourth, only a quarter of a second adrift. Hillier had dropped back to fifth as Peter Hickman moved up to sixth.

Dunlop made over four seconds on Hutchinson in the pits and the lead was now 15s at Glen Helen with the Ulsterman having the Bingley rider in his sights on the road. Harrison was still secure in fourth with Hickman and Rutter now the top six as Hillier ran into trouble and dropped back to 13th.

By the end of the fourth lap, Hutchinson, McGuinness and Dunlop were all circulating on the road together with the Honda man getting back ahead of Hutchinson for a brief period. Also going great guns was David Johnson, the Norton man moving up to seventh after a lap of 129.473mph.

As the race entered its final third, the top three were secure in their positions but the battle for fourth was going down to the wire and by the end of lap five Hickman had moved ahead of Harrison albeit by 0.355s. Bruce Anstey had moved up into the top ten on the RCV213S, lapping at more than 130mph for the first time on the machine, as Hillier clawed his way back up to 11th.

At the head of the field though, Dunlop, Hutchinson and McGuinness were comfortable in the podium positions and although the latter lapped at 131.538mph on his fourth lap he was unable to make an impression on the front two so Dunlop swept to his 12th TT victory with Hutchinson having to settle for second and McGuinness third.

Further back, Hickman was charging and after lapping in excess of 131mph on his fourth lap, he posted his best lap on the sixth and final lap with a speed of 132.465mph to take his best ever TT position in fourth with Harrison and Rutter completing the top six.

David Johnson's excellent ride on the Norton ended with a brilliant seventh place and a new best lap by the Norton at 130.872mph with Anstey - 12th on lap one - Gary Johnson and Lee Johnston completing the top ten.

In the race for the TT Privateer's Championship, Daniel Hegarty took the maximum 25 points after finishing 13th overall, also posting a new personal best lap of the Mountain Course at 128.341mph.

[shyn]

Michael Dunlop does it again! Not only does he win the Senior TT, but he betters the records. 16:53 lap@ 133.9mph!!! Ramsey to Ramsey, he did a 134mph lap! That too with a Private team, not a big fancy Factory team. Amazing!
John McGuinness finished 3rd behind the BMWs to achieve his 46th podium. Not bad for a 44 year old on a 2008 Honda! The good thing about him not scoring a win this year is that he will be coming back next year on an all new bike and maybe, just maybe, do the first 135mph. But even if he doesn't, I am just glad he has decided against hanging his leathers this year. Godspeed, John, godspeed!
Hutchy was not happy at all as politics reared its dirty head at this year's TT. Plus the fact that he had to ride the superbike race on a superstock engine and lost the BMW battle to Michael, twice! But with another TT hat-trick, it still was an amazing TT for him.

https://youtu.be/M0vcO2_iejo

[deetjohn]

Here is Michael Dunlop hunting down Bruce Anstey in the 2016 Senior TT Race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeL-7xbctn8

Dunlop: BMW S1000 RR Superbike
Anstey: Honda RC213V-S MotoGP bike

Wow!

[shyn]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Anstey: Honda RC213V-S MotoGP bike

The S in the name denotes Street and even with the Sport/Track kit, the bike makes 'only' 212-something horsepower. Plus, or rather minus, it doesn't get quite a lot of tech from the actual RC 213V MotoGP bike because those ride on million-dollar highly guarded and advanced tech which can not possibly be released to the public. But still, it is supposed to be the closest a street bike has ever been to a GP bike, so yeah, it is a very fancy and potent bike.
Bruce couldn't get the best out of it because he didn't get to spend enough time on that bike on that track. What a shame, because I am sure everyone out there wanted to see how it would fare against the other 'regular' bikes. Maybe next year?

[csr9]

I have been to the Isle of Man TT 2016. What an experience it was! Hats off to the riders skill and bravery. Will come up with a thread soon.

[deetjohn]

A really sad update. A third rider has lost his life at this year' event.

33 year old Irish rider Alan Bonner was killed in a crash at the 33rd milestone during qualifying for the Senior TT yesterday.

28 year old Dutch rider Jochem van den Hoek became the second fatal victim after an accident on Wednesday.

48 year old English rider Davey Lambert had succumbed to injuries sustained while competing on Sunday.

Rest in peace you brave ones!

source

[Omkar]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

A really sad update. A third rider has lost his life at this year' event.

33 year old Irish rider Alan Bonner was killed in a crash at the 33rd milestone during qualifying for the Senior TT yesterday.

28 year old Dutch rider Jochem van den Hoek became the second fatal victim after an accident on Wednesday.

48 year old English rider Davey Lambert had succumbed to injuries sustained while competing on Sunday.

Rest in peace you brave ones!

R.I.P. Truly some of the bravest souls on earth.

Loads of respect to them.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

More pictures.
TT - Closer to the Edge, a documentary takes a look at the races of the 2010 event and in particular follows the English racer, Guy Martin.

A good news to the fans! The documentary is available on YouTube. Though it follows Guy Martin in particular, what's great is that it also shows the efforts and the dedication of other riders and their families towards the sport.

A great watch for sure, with amazing insights and good music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihH5uDUaqRE

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Well, I think Honda has just given us a big surprise. Ian Hutchinson Joins Honda Road Racing Team. This is big. What I am not sure is who is he replacing? Guy or John?

Rachit

[glikithvinayaka]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Well, I think Honda has just given us a big surprise. Ian Hutchinson Joins Honda Road Racing Team. This is big. What I am not sure is who is he replacing? Guy or John?

Rachit

Ian Hutchinson will be joined by Northern Ireland's Lee Johnston and will be taking over from John McGuinness and Guy Martin for the Honda team.

Martin had called time on his international Road Racing Career in July this year. And John McGuinness is recovering from his crash, he most probably won't be able to race next year.

[dipen]

Dear Bhpians,
Is there any way for a tourist to enjoy the speed-limitess road at Isle of Man. I believe many of us would would just want to keep going up and down this road just for the rush understanding very well of our own limits.

Can one rent a fast car like a light weight 200-300 hp car within a reasonable cost for a couple of days or a liter class bike.
I can see some premium rentals from 250 Pounds here https://www.classicparade.co.uk/supercar-hire
And bike rentals from 200 pounds here https://www.jasongriffiths.im/motorcycle-hire/

Is there a period of complete off-season when one can find these roads the most empty to make the most of the intention - maybe do one day of supercar fun and one day of superbike fun.