Mad Sunday followed the Superbike race at the TT. Lots and lots of crazy people or their road bikes being
racers for a day and lots of them crashing on the mountain section. The ambulances are usually fairly busy.
The next day (Monday) saw the start of the 4 lap Superstock race and mayhem at scruntiny in the morning. All
of practice week we were running a quickshifter on the bike as they were allowed under superstock rules last
year. Then we are informed at scrutiny that the bike could not be passed with the quickshifter on it. Cue panic
stations and removal of petrol tank (full to the brim), airbox etc to get to the wiring of the quickshifter. When you
install the sensor for the shifter you take off the standard gear shift rod and install a shorter rod. Lucky enough
I kept the old gear rod in the tool box. Then we went back to scrutiny and they fail it again! Not enough material
left on the brake pads!!?? So after some argueing with them over the finer points of brake pads they passed it.
I cant remember that much about the race really. The pit stop went fairly smooth and the bike was ok. Thanks
to Mike Cowan and Tim from Wales for manning the pits. I finished 39th, just outside replica times. I wasn't
going fast enough but I couldn't put my finger on why.
Monday afternoon was the first 600 race. I was just recovered from the superstock race and we were away
again. The little suzuki was going good but the engine is pretty standard. These days you really need the full
factory kit to get the speed out of the 600s. Its a good job the 600 race was second because I faded a bit
towards the end of the race. 8 laps of the TT course in 1 day is a lot of miles no matter how fit you are. I
finished 39th again.
I had one race left, the Senior TT on Friday. I was looking forward to the race. On thursday night I met 2 friends
of mine, retired racer Ian Forristal and his old mechanic Tony. They agreed to help Mike in the pits for the race,
so I was happy that I had 3 top men for the 2 pitstops. The rest was down to me. The race went well, I got
caught by the man behind me and I followed him for miles. Then we both caught the next man and passed him.
He tagged on the back and we had a 3 way scrap for the whole race. The pit stops went well. Tony even had
time to tell me to hurry up! Where would you get it. Racing round the toughest race track in the world and your
pit crew have the nerve to take the piss! I had to laugh. I think Ian might be making a comeback. He was looking
a bit twitchy. I finished 35th this time after the 6 laps. Happy enough and all back to the beer tent. Lucky I
remembered to get the presents before I was too drunk. We ended up going for dinner with Victor Gilmore and
his crew and the sun was up before I went to bed.
All in all not a bad TT. I was hard going due to work commitments and financial constraints but good fun too.
Best wishes to Liam Quinn, Paul Duckett and Paul Hunt who all made the extremely difficult decision to retire
from racing during the TT. I had some fun racing against them over the years. Hope they enjoy being
spectators.
Alan.
racers for a day and lots of them crashing on the mountain section. The ambulances are usually fairly busy.
The next day (Monday) saw the start of the 4 lap Superstock race and mayhem at scruntiny in the morning. All
of practice week we were running a quickshifter on the bike as they were allowed under superstock rules last
year. Then we are informed at scrutiny that the bike could not be passed with the quickshifter on it. Cue panic
stations and removal of petrol tank (full to the brim), airbox etc to get to the wiring of the quickshifter. When you
install the sensor for the shifter you take off the standard gear shift rod and install a shorter rod. Lucky enough
I kept the old gear rod in the tool box. Then we went back to scrutiny and they fail it again! Not enough material
left on the brake pads!!?? So after some argueing with them over the finer points of brake pads they passed it.
I cant remember that much about the race really. The pit stop went fairly smooth and the bike was ok. Thanks
to Mike Cowan and Tim from Wales for manning the pits. I finished 39th, just outside replica times. I wasn't
going fast enough but I couldn't put my finger on why.
Monday afternoon was the first 600 race. I was just recovered from the superstock race and we were away
again. The little suzuki was going good but the engine is pretty standard. These days you really need the full
factory kit to get the speed out of the 600s. Its a good job the 600 race was second because I faded a bit
towards the end of the race. 8 laps of the TT course in 1 day is a lot of miles no matter how fit you are. I
finished 39th again.
I had one race left, the Senior TT on Friday. I was looking forward to the race. On thursday night I met 2 friends
of mine, retired racer Ian Forristal and his old mechanic Tony. They agreed to help Mike in the pits for the race,
so I was happy that I had 3 top men for the 2 pitstops. The rest was down to me. The race went well, I got
caught by the man behind me and I followed him for miles. Then we both caught the next man and passed him.
He tagged on the back and we had a 3 way scrap for the whole race. The pit stops went well. Tony even had
time to tell me to hurry up! Where would you get it. Racing round the toughest race track in the world and your
pit crew have the nerve to take the piss! I had to laugh. I think Ian might be making a comeback. He was looking
a bit twitchy. I finished 35th this time after the 6 laps. Happy enough and all back to the beer tent. Lucky I
remembered to get the presents before I was too drunk. We ended up going for dinner with Victor Gilmore and
his crew and the sun was up before I went to bed.
All in all not a bad TT. I was hard going due to work commitments and financial constraints but good fun too.
Best wishes to Liam Quinn, Paul Duckett and Paul Hunt who all made the extremely difficult decision to retire
from racing during the TT. I had some fun racing against them over the years. Hope they enjoy being
spectators.
Alan.