| Author | Message | ||
     Budgolf |
Anyone ever run a Buell there? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Not in competition, but I've hammered my M2 round a few times. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
I think someone posted a quote from blake from 2007ish about raising funds to send a buell there, not sure if it panned out or not | ||
| Davegess |
The air cooled Buell.s were not really suited to the place. Kevin Murphy had a go a couple of years ago but he never really had a chance. The 1190 would be a good mount. The course is all about high speed handling with many miles run at above 150 mph. | ||
| Slaughter |
Search Badweb for "IrishAgo" - there was a lot of discussion then and a lot of wishful thinking. (Pity it couldn't happen) | ||
| Trojan |
Our race bike (XB12) was sold to a business man on the Isle of Man for Kevin to try and race in the TT back in 2007. Unfortunately Kevin couldn't get an entry and i think the Buell would struggle over the high speed mountain section where constant 150mph+ speeds are required to get a good time. The 1190 would be a better proposition if relibility isn't an issue. Twin cylinder bikes haven't fared too well in the TT recently simply because of the nature of the circuit. Long periods are spent flat out with the throttle pinned and 4 cylinder bikes just seem to cope better (although they also get a fair proportion of breakdowns). You only have to look at the average lap speeds to see how fast these guys are now lapping the course. Guy Martin came second in the Senior race on Saturday and his SLOWEST lap was at an average speed of 129.5mph. His other 3 laps were all over 130mph average and he still got beat! | ||
| Trojan |
As an aside...anyone thinking of going to the IOM TT next year should book their ferry tickets NOW! My brother just booked his tickets and the ferry is almost fully booked for TT 2012 already! | ||
| Davegess |
Yes, book those tickets. Do they still allow a very small deposit to hold the ticket until winter? Last time we went I waited to book and ended up calling the Steam Packet Company every day for a week to catch a cancellation in February. Bit pricing calling overseas back then! | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Dave, did you use a travel agent for the your room reservation etc. can you recommend someone? | ||
| Trojan |
Try the IOM tourist board web site or call them up as they may be able to recommend a suitable place. There are also a few camps sites that only open for TT time and can offer either hire tents/equipment of lodges if you are on a budget. Most good places are booked by Christmas, so you need to be quick if you want get the best accomodation  Likewise ferry tickets get booked very quickly so get in soon if you want a particular sailing or departure point. | ||
| Davegess |
The Tourist Board is the way to go. we stayed in Douglas at a place called the Erin Brae but that was 16 years ago! Great trip! | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
It's one of those trips that marks you forever. If you get the chance to go you should! | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Dave, Trojan, Grumpy, thanks for the heads up on the IOM. Next year I will turn 70 and want to do something big. I think IOM qualify as a biggie. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I think IOM qualify as a biggie. Yes it would be. Just do it! | ||
| Trojan |
One last thing....f you need cell phone or mobile broadband coverage on the IOM the cheapest way of arranging it is to buy a Manx telecom SIM card on a 30 day contract (£10 for 2gb). If you use your exisiting provider on International Roaming the cost is horrendous (around £1.30 per MB). The IOM only has one cell phone provider so has a virtual monopoly on pricing  There is quite good Wi Fi coverage though. | ||
| Trojan |
Just saw this on youtube showing the public face of the Isle of man Police Believe it or not this is a REAL police officer on duty during TT week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1HqiUeKpyg&feature =player_embedded However if you get caught speeding on the island you will get an automatic day in court and a minimum £250 fine | ||
| Davegess |
Bcordb, you gotta do it! Absolute blast. I've been twice and will go again when the kid is grown. You can rent a bike in England and take the ferry across. Many nice if sorta quint places to stay. The later you book the more floors you have to walk up to get to your room. If you stay on the prom room to the back of the hotels are quieter. Lots of neat riding. Many roads with no speed limits and no traffic. Cops are very tolerant just as long as you don't hurt someone other than yourself! Lots of drinking occurs. Book the ferry now, yo can go from Heysham or Liverpool I think. Sleeping on the boat is a bad deal, very noisy, so I would not try a late night sailing. Great fun. | ||
| Davegess |
Another note on this. If your SO is comfortable touring with you or rides they can have a wonderful time even if they do not care for MC racing. The place is a tiny version of Ireland with ancient ruins, quiet glens and lovely beaches (the waters cold). Very nice shops in Douglas and many nice B&Bs. There is a very cool Victorian steam and electric railway system (real Victorian and very well kept up with many neat construction details). Overall you could have a very nice time and not watch racing. We stayed on the north end of the prom in Douglas which allowed us to walk up a lovely glen to Governor's Bridge to watch practice. I would also suggest somewhere near the bottom of Bray Hill. Even for a non-race fan the sensation of these guys blowing by at 180 mph not 10 feet away is cool. You actually get a bit better access if you go up or down from the actual bottom to a cross street, less crowded. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Thank you guys, I am getting a wealth of info for my trip. Much appreciated. | ||
| Davegess |
Any time, feel free to ask! | ||
| Blake |
IOM Police say that the event would not be allowed to run in 2011 if starting out, but since it's a tradition, it's okay. | ||
| Blake |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man -13751313 | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
and? so? | ||
| Davegess |
If motorcycles didn't exist before today I doubt we would be allowed to ride them. | ||
| Trojan |
IOM Police say that the event would not be allowed to run in 2011 if starting out NOTHING would be allowed today if just starting out! including Horse racing, dog racing, fox hunting (banned in England already!), bungee jumping, motocycling, flying etc etc etc Thankfully Health and Safety were just two separate words in the English language with no evil connotations when the TT was invented | ||
| Blake |
>>> If motorcycles didn't exist before today I doubt we would be allowed to ride them. Based on what?  I see no evidence to support that theory. >>> NOTHING would be allowed today if just starting out! I don't buy either of those views at all. New extreme sports are being innovated all the time. We are talking about a particular venue/event, not an entire sport, and we are talking about a highly commercialized event where close to 1% annually of the participants fail to survive the competition. It is not logical to equate such an outrageous fatality rate at a highly commercialized, government promoted event/venue to motorcycling in general or any activity in general. You may like and support the event, but let's keep the debate rational. Refusing to recognize the exceptionally high fatality rate of motorcycle racing at the IOM is not a rational means to support it's continued commercialization and government promotion. The only rational arguments I see are that it benefits the locals and the sponsors so it's okay; and that it is a voluntary event where participants understand the risk. But those points ignore the that of the IOM police; the IOM police comment was addressing not the racer casualties, but rather concerned the four spectator fatalities, folks who were riding the mountain course and crashed at high speed. That would seem to be easy to help solve, mandate speed limits for the public. | ||
| Honolulu_blue_esq |
Blake, I've read a fair amount of your material on IOM, and appreciate your views. To summarize, I think they go something like this: 1. Private companies commercialize IOM and benefit from increased participation in the event. 2. The government allows commercialization of IOM so that it can benefit from increased tourism and therefor commerce. 3. The governments allowance and private companies commercialization is reprehensible because it increases the visibility of the event, which increases participation in the event, which increases ones chances of death exponentially. Thus, private companies and the government have a "but for" correlation to the deaths of some participants. I'm confident I've missed some nuance of your position, but I think that is more or less it. My view of your position raises one question. Do you find it reprehensible that alcohol and tobacco companies sell their products, and that governments across the world continue to allow them to do so? | ||
| Trojan |
the IOM police comment was addressing not the racer casualties, but rather concerned the four spectator fatalities, folks who were riding the mountain course and crashed at high speed. That would seem to be easy to help solve, mandate speed limits for the public. Spectators that get killed on the island every year are not competitors. They are not encouraged to ride around like idiots and the IOM Police treat speeders very seriously indeed. Contrary to popular belief there are speed limits around the course and these are strictly enforced by the police. If you get caught speeding you are in court the next day and average fines are £275 per offence. A large propertion of 'non racers' who get killed or injured riding the TT course are foreigners visiting the UK and have accidents because they are riding on the wrong side of the road into teh path of oncoming traffic, or are just riding beyond their capability. You have to remember that these accidents occur when the roads are open to all traffic, not closed like they are during racing. There are as many deaths on the roads of North Yorkshire as there are in the IOM every year but we don't have campaigns (yet) to stop riding there do we? 4 'visitor' deaths on the Isle of Man this year compared to a total of around 30,000 motorcycle riding visitors is a lot less than the 1% you keep trolling on about, and have nothing to do with commercialisation or sponsorship of the event. | ||
| Blake |
Interesting. I thought that there were no speed limits on the rural portions of course. I'm not making any kind of argument for or against based on non-racing fatalities. I'm only repeating the rationale of the IOM police. I can't see how one could possibly defend the non-racing fatalities during the event as having "nothing to do with commercialization of the event." Would there still be spectators absent the full on promotion of the event by the IOM government and commercialization by television and big name sponsors? Probably. Would there be as many? As tourism would be reduced, that is highly doubtful. But that is not any part of my objection to the commercialization. Those are just free citizens riding stupidly. | ||
| Blake |
Justin, >>> 3. The governments allowance and private companies commercialization is reprehensible because it increases the visibility of the event, which increases participation in the event, which increases ones chances of death exponentially. Thus, private companies and the government have a "but for" correlation to the deaths of some participants. Not so much. That the IOM government allows the events is fine by me. It is their profiteering and active promotion of the events that are troublesome. Not so much because it lures more competitors, rather mostly because they are promoting and profiteering from a competition that kills 1% of its participants every year. >>> Do you find it reprehensible that alcohol and tobacco companies sell their products, and that governments across the world continue to allow them to do so? To allow is entirely different from promoting. The IOM doesn't merely allow the motorcycle racing events there, it actively promotes and profits from them. Our government does neither wrt tobacco or alcoholic products. Should the IOM racing be illegal? Not if the residents of the IOM are willing to allow it. See the difference? Do I support big tobacco? No. I find them reprehensible too. |
