Isle of Man TT: Gladiators, Glory and Grief

since the beginning of time when cro-magnon man first stuck his dick in a fiery hole in the ground on the dare of a neighbor with a more significant forehead than his own man has sought danger he sought the ability to do something reckless and live to tell the tale whether for sport or for glory it used to be that a man would prove his worth through hunting wild game in the hopes of providing for his family from there it escalated with a man making his bones on the battlefield and yes as human civilization has evolved so have the pursuits of masculinity in sport but now we have other ways to seek danger to seek the thrill of uncertainty and not come across as self aggrandizing savages that's why you have so many lead-footed speed demons taking part in all sorts of races of incremental peril and while every racer assumes significant risk when pursuing a career as an automotive athlete a few races I've ever read about have had the inherent danger of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy an annual motorcycle event held on the Isle of Man on public roads that have been closed for competitive racing since 2010 alone 16 racers have died during the competition with three dying in this year's event just a few short months ago for people who aren't all that interesting it might be hard to understand why a person might find a competition like this so exhilarating in a sense it comes as a calling done as much out of a sense of challenge as a desire for thrills because when you feel that this is what you were put on the earth to do and it's something you love doing who cares what anyone else thinks right but the truth is with the Isle of Man TT you're putting more than just your professional reputation on the line the wages of the Isle of Man TT are life and death while acknowledging that there's no room for error in any automotive sport there's even less wiggle room in this race which is generally regarded as the most dangerous in the world so what's the story behind this event why is it so dangerous and what kind of person would sign up and in some cases continue coming back for more of this ass clenching white-knuckle horror show sit back because it's time to get acquainted with the Isle of Man TT so it's the turn of the 20th century and racing on highways and byways in Britain was forbidden due to an act of parliament now this was the dawning of the age of the automobile and there was still a lot of fear and uncertainty related to these horseless carriages even the kind of the two-wheeled variety but automobiles had allies fighting to see wider acceptance granted or at the very least the freedom that can only be granted by being left to one's own devices this is where we meet Sir Julien Ord the secretary of the Auto Club of Great Britain and Ireland circa 1903 as it turns out the early 20th century was not only rough times for would-be racers but for racing enthusiasts as well for one races such as the Austrian International Cup for motorcycles had suffered from a scandal centered on allegations of cheating which essentially sullied the good name of an event that had to that point been among the most renowned in the world for motorcyclists meanwhile all motorists were having their lead feed inhibited by that pesky aforementioned Act of Parliament which banned racing in addition to the legislation that introduced a nationwide twenty mile per hour speed limit so in 1904 sir Julien Ord took a journey to the Isle of Man on the suspicion that the isle would be far more lenient than mainland British authorities and luckily it turns out that sir Julian was right and not a moment too soon either as the Highways Act of 1904 had recently been enacted allowing for the Isle of Man's 52.2 mile Highlands course to be utilized for the 1904 Gordon Bennett car trial it established a precedent for all sorts of races not just of the four-wheel variety as the Isle of Man proudly declared itself the road racing capital of the world it was intended that this car trial would be a part of a larger European car race circuit as the Highlands provided challenging terrains of steep mountainous altitudes now this wouldn't really be a problem for cars although the terrain would present a significantly greater challenge for motorbikes and in those first seven years motorcycles were restricted from competing on the mountain course for specifically that reason so Sir Julian's plan for an exclusive motorcycle event would be put on the back burner for a few years it wasn't until the annual Auto Club dinner in January 9th seven that the editor of motorcycle magazine made a formal proposal for a motorcycle race on the Isle of Man on st. John's short course a level terrain measuring 15 miles the race was scheduled from May 1907 to be contested under a time trial format and welcoming all road-legal touring motorcycles with exhaust silencers saddles pedals and mud guards it would become tradition for the Isle of Man TT to be held over two weeks with the first week consisting of practice sessions and the second week centering on the races themselves with a special unsanctioned MADD Sunday event that allows racers to tour the dangerous snail mountain course where the race would be contested beginning in 1911 but for now the Auto Club was simply focused on pulling off this event without hitch the first Isle of Man TT race was held on Tuesday May 28 1907 under the name the International autocycle tourist trophy the event featured two separate racing classes the first for single cylinder motorcycles that averaged 90 miles per gallon and another for twin cylinder motorcycles averaging 75 miles per gallon the race would be ten laps of st. John's Short Course which totaled an overall distance of 158 point one two five miles that's almost the distance between Harrisburg and New York City for context the race began at 10:00 a.m. and over the course of the ten laps of the single cylinder race the competitors quickly found that this wasn't exactly going to be a walk in the park during the first lap a Triumph motorcycle being driven by Jack Marshall took a nasty spill which put him at a serious deficit just minutes into the race meanwhile a racer by the name of F Appleby jr. suffered a puncture to his Rex motorcycle which nearly necessitated his retirement from the race altogether during the second lap a triumph driven by Stanley Webb suffered a malfunction of the engine exhaust valve and this actually did result in retirement from the race joining fellow racer W a Jacobs who suffered an accident earlier in the first lap out of 18 competitors only nine finished the race the winner of the single cylinder class was Charlie Collier who averaged 38.2 miles per hour on his three and a half horsepower matchless motorcycle Collier set the fastest lap in his class and his overall journey took four hours eight minutes and eight point two seconds over ten minutes faster than second place finisher Jack Marshall whose first lap spill may have ended up costing him the race all together interestingly enough Charlie Collier competed against his own brother in the inaugural TT however Harry Collier was among the unfortunate nine who failed to finish the race as his matchless motorcycle suffered engine seizures in the second lap necessitating his exit from the race during the ninth lab naturally the Colliers were well-acquainted with engineering mishaps on the road since they regularly raced matchless motorcycles manufactured by their father's company H Collier & Sons in many respects the lesson of that first Isle of Man TT was that this would be as much a competition of engineering as endurance and roadman ship as for the twin cylinder race well that one wasn't nearly as close of the nine competitors looking to earn the twin cylinder trophy only three actually finished and the time difference between the winner and his nearest competitor was massive Ram Fowler the racer who won on his Norton motorcycle with a Peugeot engine earned it the fastest lap in his class with an average Race speed of forty two point nine one miles per hour and an overall race time of four hours 21 minutes and fifty 2.8 seconds Billy Wells the man who came in second place on his vin decoder cycle crossed the finish line over a half an hour later at a time of four hours 53 minutes and forty four point five seconds still this was 18 minutes faster than the third and final competitor to finish a man by the name of WM Heaton whose five horsepower rex motorcycle got him across the finish line in five hours 11 minutes and 3.5 seconds the rest of the field mmm not so lucky in particular one competitor by the name of Oliver Godfrey suffered the first fire of the Isle of Man TT when his own five horsepower wrecks caught fire during a pit stop while not necessarily as close as the single cylinder race there was an element of drama to it as it turns out Ram Fowler's motorcycle had several drive belt and sparkplug issues which culminated in a burst tire on the 7th Abbe Fowler crashed at close to 60 miles per hour while tackling the devil's elbow a treacherous stretch of road situated between the Kirk Michael and Peel sections of the Short Course injured and dejected Fowler was about ready to throw in the towel altogether until a nearby spectator told him that he was at least 30 minutes ahead of second-place challenger Billy wells so he hopped right back up on his bike and resumed the race regaining whatever distance he may have lost in the crash and actually increasing his lead time over wells by nearly two minutes it was a dramatic end to the race that would go on to become a 100 plus year tradition and yet the following year Charlie Collier would come in second place to Jack Marshall who was runner-up the year before while REM Fowler didn't defend his title at all opening the way for Harry Reed to claim the trophy with a new record time of 4 hours 5 minutes and 58 seconds on his 5-horsepower Dodd over the years ahead the event would come to be known as the Isle of Man TT and its reputation would grow as the ultimate challenge for motorcyclists but the event itself was about to get a whole lot more challenging by 1911 the safe L Mountain Course became the home for the Isle of Man TT and this is where it continues to be raced today albeit on a different route than initially used you see as the race evolved over the years into the 1920s the course ran the roughly 37 point seven miles from Glenn Crutcher II Road and West Ballack rein before turning north towards Ramsey which is the last stop before the southernmost swing of the course which would take them up the mountain climb to the top of Brandywell some 1,400 feet above sea level from there it was pretty much a downhill loop back around to the finish line at Glen Crutcher erode it's a dynamic amount of change from one race and part of the reason it's so exciting resulting in an event that each summer sees race teams and fans spending a total of over 25 million pounds on the Isle of Man over the course of the two-week period but how else has the race changed well the modern TT has a lot more paperwork as before the Isle of Man TT still takes place over two weeks with the first week feature in qualifying and practice races and the second week featuring the races themselves all in all the Isle of Man TT includes seven races in total the senior TT the Superstock TT the Superbike TT the super sport TT the lightweight TT the sidecar TT and the newest addition the zero TT for electric motorcycles past races such as the production TT the Clubman TT and the ultra lightweight TT were discontinued these days over 40,000 people are in attendance for the Isle of Man TT each year including racers and spectators and that's definitely a big number when you consider that there are only about 83,000 737 inhabitants on the Isle according to the 2016 census and yet with the largesse of the event came increased rules and regulations which means you also have to increase the number of people employed but what's crazy is the sheer amount of people working for free there are race fans and everyday citizens numbering in the hundreds who volunteers track marshals to take care of such tasks as removing debris and reporting accidents along the course it's a big responsibility for these marshals even if they've never so much as sat their ass on a motorcycle before but as far as the riders themselves are concerned one has to wonder what exactly there is to gain from all this in short mmm not all that much for one only the top three finishers really profit if they even managed to break even at all considering how much money teams and sponsors have to invest into their machines and their riders but then this isn't about the money for most of them so much is the notoriety the challenge and the love of motorcycle racing I mean a lot of these men and women who tackle the course hold down regular nine-to-five s Guy Martin who is generally regarded as the most famous racer never to have won the TT he worked as a truck mechanic when he took on the course and former TT champion Cameron Donald was a plumber during the offseason so you're not exactly making MotoGP or Superbike World Championship money doing this in a lot of cases you're using vacation days to come here all for the opportunity to maybe win maybe finish or maybe die which is not to say there isn't a bar for entry it can't just be a nobody who goes from taking a bike out on your local track day and then thinking you can beast the world's most dangerous course now naturally eligibility requirements vary by category of race beyond the standard requirement that all races possess the valid national entrance or FIM sponsors license for road racing you need a mountain course license through the official Isle of Man TT organization which requires a physical and a form filled out by your doctor your bike also must pass the technical requirements for your chosen TT events in addition first-time Mountain Course racers looking to start a race will have to complete a minimum of six laps on a solo machine or four laps on a sidecar machine so it's sort of like Mario maker where they don't let you publish your level if you can't beat it yourself first but hey once you're in you're in from the official rulebook the top twenty seated competitors in all solo races and the top ten seat competitors in all sidecar races will subject to qualifying start their races in numerical order at 10-second intervals having qualified for the race no other competitors will be moved into any of these seated positions nor will any of the seated competitors be moved out all other competitors will be issued with a grid position which will be the position from which they start their races these positions will be based on qualification times so we basically have a clutch start rather than a group start and it's intended to minimize some of the danger inherent in the race as everyone jockeys for position but from there it's all on you chase glory or just fight to survive either way making it this far is something not everyone in motorsports gets to say and win lose finishing the race at all would be an achievement in itself and a story you can tell your grandkids and any barfly who will listen of course the race itself seems immaterial in comparison to the lives it has managed to claim over the past century men and women of all walks of life have stepped up to the mark to give this course a shot in spite of the clear history of risk so what the hell is it about this damn race that's so dangerous how does it keep claiming so many lives virtually every year well it's a bit of a long story you might find yourself wondering just why exactly this race is held in such high regard as the world's most dangerous for the most part it comes down to a number of issues that while prevalent in most auto races are exacerbated by the nature of this race itself for instance as with any race speed is a factor when it comes to risk as this is a course where motorcycles are reaching speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour this would be dangerous enough but it's made worse when you consider that the riders are racing on closed roads rather than on a proper circuit that means telephone poles residential homes and countless other obstacles like walls roadside curbs cracks and roads more often used for daily driving and terrain that isn't exactly leveled off from Maximum racing efficiency in addition more so than perhaps any normal racing circuit the mountain course is very much a living course in that it changes from one season to the next due to the nature of the roads not being used exclusively for racing you can try to keep the road clean of any sort of oil or rubber and you can try to account for how the seasons might change the overall conditions of the road with factors such as pavement friction and infrastructure damage contributing to the risk for the riders but there's no way to really plan for every eventuality this is without even getting into the mechanical effects of how pushing your motorcycle to the levels needed to win the TT are likely to cause machine failures than many other races of this type this is borne out by World Rally Car champion Mark Higgins a man who offered automobile magazine some insight through first-hand experience with the course basically there are any number of mechanical issues a rider could suffer whether it's some sort of gear problem or something as basic as a tire blowout and yeah you might know that this is the case in most auto sports which it is but a lot of these riders are hitting speeds in the high hundreds in an area with little or no runoff because due to the nature of this course these tracks don't exactly have a runoff the way a proper course does and when the mechanical failure occurs you're not going to have more than a fraction of a second to react and to make matters worse as Higgins notes detection for these riders basically amounts to a piece of leather and a helmet the course becomes even more perilous when you factor in the wild in the surrounding area as higgins recalled a race in which a rabbit hit one riders side car causing an accident that cost the man his arm even without animals on the road nature remains one of the biggest factors in the treacherous conditions of the Isle of Man Higgins says today they would never run it when it's foggy or wet but in the old days you could have fog on the mountain and rain and off you go in fact Higgins would go as far as to suggest that the race wouldn't have even been allowed had organizers attempted to set it up today the fact that it's even still around at all is because well it's always been around Higgins says that if they tried to set this course up now as a new thing it would never be allowed due to the likelihood of death and yet Higgins understands why friends such as previous Isle of Man champions John McGinnis and Ian Hutchinson step up to the plate it's a perfect test for man and machine the whole thing of having people waiting in the pits it's all very gladiatorial for the bike guys watch how people say goodbye to people watch the crews there's fear when people go out there on the track more so for the riders and families because the riders are doing what they love but some don't come back it's the most amazing place in the world it's addictive and yet the fact remains the same a lot of people really don't come back to date over 250 people have lost their lives on the Senay fel mountain course worst of all not all of the fatalities have happened in a race itself but before we get to that we have to go back to the start when the Isle of Man first acquired its reputation as the death race long before there was ever a death race 2000 it all began with Victor cirrage in 1911 who became not only the first person killed during the Isle of Man TT but the first person in the history of the Isle of Man to die in an automobile accident on June 27th 1911 Serge was practicing for the 1911 Isle of Man TT at Glen Helen giving the noose in a fell mountain course a whirl Serge was one of the first to try it out and he was the first to perish when he crashed into an embankment after attempting to pass another competitor why they didn't rethink using the mountain course after this is anyone's guess but an inquest at least comforted his family and friends with the knowledge that his death was likely instantaneous upon impact not that this would do much to quell any of the accidents that would come to characterize the event now granted in those first twenty years or so I don't think the death toll was any higher than you might expect from any high speed race in the early age of the automobile I mean the weather was as big a culprit in the demise of snow fell mountain riders as the mountain course itself for example in 1914 the junior TT was marred by inclement weather which resulted in Irish racer Frank Walker being thrown from his bike on multiple occasions Walker was a newcomer to the TT and had been leading the race before the first fall so he was eager to get back onto his bike and catch up with the new race leaders Eric Williams and Cyril Williams who shared no relation except a mutual skill at motorcycle racing but whereas Frank Walker's determination might have been rewarded in fair weather he failed to remain atop his royal enfield bike being thrown from the vehicle twice more still he soldiered on and although he didn't win the race he managed to claim a third place finish but in his haste he missed his turn onto Bray Hill for vehicle inspection and ended up crashing into a barrier along the route he was rushed to hospital and managed to hold on for four days but he had suffered severe internal injuries that ultimately led to his death making walker among the few to actually complete the course only to be killed in an accident after the race concluded and he wouldn't be the last as there would go on to be riders over the past century who have been killed in the parade lap as well as riders who were killed during practice sessions and yet despite the danger the TT enjoyed World Championship status through the FIM from 1949 until 1976 when it was considered to be too dangerous and had its championship status revoked considering the 1970s featured two of the deadliest years in the history of the race it's not that shocking that the primary governing body of international motorcycle racing revoked its world championship status after the glory years of the 1960s in particular 1970 was the single deadliest year in the history of the race claiming six lives including that of Grand Prix veteran Steenson who'd finished the 1969 junior TT in second behind the legendary Giacomo Agostini the race also claimed world championship contender Santiago Herrero who'd been a sports icon in his native Spain a racer virtually his entire life Herrero had been chosen by Eduardo hero the lead designer of the osa motorcycle company in order to help develop the osa 250cc that featured the new mono coke or single shell chassis this partnership led to victory in the 250cc spanish national championship in 1967 and it resulted in a fruitful partnership with OSA as Herrero claimed three international Grand Prix wins in 1969 alone which makes his death in the 1970 Isle of Man TT all the more tragic considering the prime of his career was arguably yet to come the accident occurred during the final lap of the 250cc lightweight TT as Herrera was thrown from his bike onto the open road where he was struck by fellow competitor Stanwood who had swerved in an attempt to avoid him although herreros injuries initially seemed comparatively minor numbering a broken ankle and two broken collarbones the spanish racer went into irreversible shock from his injuries two days later and died at the age of 27 Wood hypothesized that melting tar on the road may have been responsible for herreros crash considering the time of year and the sheer number of riders on the course it's not an implausible explanation still regardless of the reason herreros death broke hearts worldwide and even led to the OSA company getting out of the racing business altogether and don't think that death has in any way been called by advances in technology and protective gear as we lost three riders in the Isle of Man TT in 2017 just a few short months ago 48 year-old Davey Lambert died on Tuesday June 6 after a crash he suffered during the Superbike TT two days previous twenty-eight-year-old yochem Vanden Hoek would be killed the following day during the Superstock TT after having just competed against Lambert in the Superbike race the day before later on June 7th 33 year-old Alan Bonner was killed in a crash during the qualifying session for the senior TT completing the unfortunate trio of deaths at event Satre still Bonners career showed promise as he was the fastest ever TT rider from the Republic of Ireland recording a lap time of 127 point onine Oh miles per hour in 2015 overall the stats on the safe L Mountain Course fatalities are considerable numbering 269 deaths including riders spectators bystanders and officials over half of those deaths some 146 in total occurred during the Isle of Man TT the others are related to other events that occur on the same mountain course such as the Manx Grand Prix the early years featured the fewest deaths as the 1910s only claimed three lives thanks mostly to World War one putting the races on hold although the enormity of loss suffered in that war doesn't exactly make this statistic any sunnier as the decades rolled on seven riders died in the 1920s while the 1930s brought that number up to 11 a second world war led to the races being put on hold which again kept the number lower than it might otherwise have been while the 1950s brought a new record of fatalities with 33 for the decade the 1960s were considered some of the best years in the history of the sport but tragedy was never in short supply with 28 fatalities recorded that decade has already covered the 1970s were a positively terrible decade for accidents with six losing their lives in 1970 and 5 losing their lives in 1978 contributing to the 37 deaths that decade the numbers remained in double digits in the decades to come with the 1980s recording 28 deaths the 1990s taking the record as the deadliest decade in the history of the mountain course with 42 deaths and the 2000s ending with 31 fatalities so far the 2010s have had 28 deaths and we can only hope that number doesn't climb any higher in the next two years all in all 255 competitors have been killed as a result of crashes sustained during official races but the number increases if you include the race officials who were killed in 1976 in 2005 the two riders killed during the parade lap in 1998 in 2003 the three riders killed during unofficial testing in 1926 1951 and 1954 or the three fish killed on public roads in 1953 1962 and 2006 the two bystanders killed in 1980 in 2005 or the two spectators who died in 2007 so with 14 more deaths the grand total comes to a downright depressing 269 fatalities so yeah this is a course that sadly lives up to its reputation in the most heartbreaking way possible and yet racers from all corners of the globe come every year to take their shot at the legendary course so who are these people anyway what kind of madman would take on a course that has claimed close to 300 lives and what kind of person does it take to actually succeed at something that has resulted in disaster for so many others in short it takes a legend now from here I could probably go decade by decade and year by year listing all the changes to the Isle of Man TT like 1926 bearing witness to the first 70 mile-per-hour TT lap by the great Jimmy Simpson or how sidecars were first prohibited that same year a band that lasted until 1954 I could note how Harold daniil set a new record in 1938 with a 91 mile per hour lap on his Norton but I imagine that would all be as dry as hell especially considering all the facts and figures I've already made you listen to so instead I'd like to spend the next three chapters digging into the mythos of this race through three different sets of racers the men who challenged the course and the heirs they represented for the Isle of Man TT its early years its Golden Age and its modern era and who better to start with than the man some regard as the greatest motorsport athlete who ever lived because after all there has only ever been one Stanley woods Dublin born Stanley woods made his Isle of Man TT debut at the age of 17 tackling the 1922 junior TT of course that wouldn't happen today since you now have to be 18 to compete in an isle of man TT event but for its time the race drew a lot of hot-blooded eager young men to the challenge and Stanley was perhaps among the most eager there has ever been it's the kind of ridiculous story you only ever hear about in movies but it actually happened to all Stanley for one despite his enthusiasm and natural prowess for racing after years of practicing on his dad's old Harley Woods didn't actually have a motorcycle of his own for the Isle of Man TT so he personally wrote letters to any British motorcycle manufacturer he could think of with the hopes of persuading one of them to sponsor him he eventually struck gold with the cotton motorcycle company which provided him with the 350 cc bike that ran on an overhead valve blackburn engine naturally it wasn't until Woods arrived on the track that the cotton racing manager realized he was basically dealing with a kid complaining that the company had sent him a bloody schoolboy in fact the local Isle of Man newspapers painted woods as little more than an amateur with an enthusiasm for the sport and to be honest his fidgety overeager behavior sort of bears this out he was delayed at the start of the junior TT when he had to stop to pick up some spark plugs that had fallen out of his pockets in his first lap he clipped a curb pretty hard and made the exact same mistake at the exact same spot in the second lap in addition to falling off his motorcycle stopping to put out a fire in the grandstand and pulling over to replace an exhaust valve the pit fire resulted in his rear brake cam lever splitting rendering his brakes functionally useless it was a case where everything that possibly could have gone wrong ultimately did and yet despite officials and members of his own team trying to prevent him from reentering the race what's hopped right back on his still smoking bike and wore back onto the course without working brakes amazingly Woods would finish the race in fifth place with a time of three hours fifty-five minutes and 33 seconds it was a harbinger of things to come in woods his career as he would go on to win his first of a then-record 10 Isle of Man TT trophies the following year dubbed the Irish Dasher by the press Woods had an exclusive partnership with Norton Motors in his early career that resulted in countless Grand Prix wins between 1926 and 1934 with four of those wins coming from the 1927 Grand Prix alone and that's not all as he earned Norton a victory in the 500cc senior TT at the Isle of Man in 1926 along with wins in the 1929 Spanish Grand Prix the 350 cc race at the 1932 TT and the 500 cc raced the following year however while the norton partnership had seemed to work out for both parties Woods knew well enough to adjust as times change and the statute of the sport developed he also knew well enough to follow one of the biggest rules in marketing follow the money what's his talent was a brand and he sought to make that brand internationally known so he eventually defected to Swedish team Husqvarna on the promise of better money and broader worldwide recognition on the European circuit however that ended up being a load of bull in one memorable instance they had him test his new motorcycle on a frozen lake rather than on a proper track or even a closed Road to sum up experience with Husqvarna one need only look at the fact that he signed with them in 1934 but had defected to moto Guzzi by 1935 delivering the company's first TT victories by handing the Italian camp the 250 cc and 500 cc titles and that's not all as he delivered records from moto Guzzi as well breaking the average speed per lap record by 4 miles per hour overtaking new Norton team leader Jimmy Guthrie in the biggest middle finger he could possibly give to his ex camp and yet it's kind of weird if we're using the brevity of his time with Husqvarna to judge the quality of experience with the Swedish team then you would also assume that he probably didn't enjoy moto Guzzi that much either as he would bail on them in favor of a non-exclusive partnership with the velocity where he would race from 1936 until his retirement in 1939 if nothing else evidence bears out that this pairing was as close as he ever got to recapturing the kind of consistency he had with Norton as he had good relationships with the board of directors and with the men on the shop floor accepting a small retainer in exchange for the possibility of lucrative bonuses so this was a pretty big get for velocity in fact Woods earned every bit of his bonuses delivering Isle of Man TT victories for velocity in the final two years of his career to round out his Isle of Man TT total to 10 but Woods was more than just a consummate athlete for all his racing prowess Woods was equally well known among his competitors for basically being the Candy Man of the TT bringing boxes of toffee for his competitors and for the scouts in control of the scoreboard why tophi well when he wasn't busy setting records on the safe L Mountain Course Woods was a candymaker producing his own toffee under the brand name Stanley Woods limited based out of his hometown of Dublin toffee ran in the family after all since his father supported their family in the early 20th century with a job at the McIntosh toffee factory in Dublin an actual Stanley Woods limited Tov Etan would probably fetch a pretty good price on the antique market these days not just due to the relative rarity of a tin case from that company but because of the detailed image of woods on his motorcycle which adorned the tin itself granted woods many different hats throughout his career such as part-time Globetrotter you see after carrying on a passionate love affair with a French woman that led to a secret marriage and a public divorce Woods married Mildred Ross a Canadian woman of Irish descent together they would go on to travel the world with Mildred taking countless recordings of their adventures on sinneth film in such places as Australia and Egypt over 70 years later many of those recordings remain intact and offer a glimpse into what it was like for the lovebirds as they traveled the world as for other hats Woods wore throughout his career he would eventually become president of the TT riders Association and also served as a commandant in Ireland's 4th Cavalry motorcycle riders during the Second World War however road racing was temporarily suspended during the war which essentially denied woods one last run at glory as his health had taken a turn by 1945 it was sad because by the time the war had ended Woods felt he can no longer compete at the level he once did but he remained active in the racing scene organizing trials and other events culminating in automotive sports experts naming Woods the greatest Isle of Man competitor in history in 1968 sadly despite making a boatload of money during his racing career poor management left him facing financial ruin so he sold his trophies to be Ulster folk and Transport Museum in order to keep his head above water Woods died on July 28th 1993 at the ripe old age of 89 although woods record of 10 wins was eventually bested by mike hailwood's 14 TT victories hailwood's career took inspiration from forebears like woods who helped bring motorcycle racing to prominence in the early to mid 20th century but who is Mike Hailwood exactly the Englishman who had come to be known as Mike the bike was born Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood in 1940 the year after Stanley woods retired and like many automotive athletes before and since Hailwood fell in love with the sport at a young age after his father took him to his first race however it wasn't until Hailwood was 16 that he witnessed his first Isle of Man TT one year later he followed in Woods's footsteps by ending his first TT at age 17 while that first race didn't have the same number of problems Woods debut race did like the failing brakes or the fiery mid race pitstop Hailwood posted an 11th place finish but it was a promising start to his young career as he would go on to win the pin hard prize the following year in recognition of his performances in the 125 CC 250 CC and 350 CC classes that season the panhard prize which is awarded to motorcyclists under the age of 21 went a long way in establishing hailwood's reputation as someone worth keeping an eye on by June 1961 Hailwood was already a legend in the making becoming the first racer and Isle of Man TT history to win three races in one week besting all other competitors in the 125 CC 250 CC and 500 CC categories and he might have even won a fourth had his AJ s7 are not suffered a broken gudgeon pin during the 350 cc race which he was actually leading at the time of his mechanical failure but Hale wood would make up for that loss by winning the 1961 World Championship in the 250 CC on his four-cylinder four-stroke Honda after signing with MV Agusta in 1962 Hailwood would go on to win the 500cc world championship on four consecutive occasions before setting a new 1 hour speed record on the MV 500cc on the Daytona circuit averaging 144 point eight miles per hour so it's not that big of a surprise that Hale would would go on to dominate at the Isle of Man TT triumphing in what is typically regarded as the most dramatic race in the history of the event the 1967 senior TT Hale would and his four-cylinder Honda c18 one to battle against his rival italian legend Giacomo Agostini who raced on his MV Agusta 503 sure there were four other competitors in the race but it might as well have been a one-on-one duel between the rivals it all started off with Agostini in the lead shattering hailwood's previous first lap record by reaching speeds of 108 point four miles per hour although Halewood would fire back with a 100 8.8 mile-per-hour second lap Agostini held on to the lead by eight point six seconds as the men entered the third lap however the third lap proved crucial to hailwood's chances at overtaking the Italian champ as Halewood managed to cut Agostini's lead in half by the time they hit the half point pit stop unfortunately Halewood lost valuable time adjusting the twist grip which had become misaligned during the previous lap with only three more laps to go in the six lap contest Hailwood was a man possessed he pushed his Honda to the limit in a desperate gamble to cut into Augustine he's now commanding 11.6 second lead it wasn't until the fifth lap that Hale would miraculously close the distance resulting in a race that was for all intents and purposes neck-and-neck right up until the end Hale would continue to press Agostini forcing the Italian to push his MV Agusta even harder to keep ahead with how hard he was pushing his bike it was virtually inevitable that things would go haywire for Agostini in the final mountain section of the course as his chain broke and forced him to drop out in one of the more heartbreaking turns in TT history unopposed Hailwood briefs to the finish line with a record lap of 100 5.6 miles per hour a number that would stand for eight years by the end of hailwood's career he would amass 12 victories at the Isle of Man TT and nine Grand Prix motorcycling Championships and that's not all as he transitioned to formula 1 competing in 50 Grand Prix races and finishing on the podium twice with one of those podium finishes occurring at LeMans throughout his career Hailwood cultivated a persona as the life of the party with British 1976 world champion James Hunt crediting Mike of the bike with teaching him how to live the playboy life Halewood was basically Ric Flair before Ric Flair he loved fast cars faster bikes good booze and beautiful women and not necessarily in that order either he once arrived to erase late due to a hangover from partying the previous night sure he could have been on time but he apparently was so drunk the night before that by the next morning he'd completely forgotten where he'd parked his car this is in addition to all the hotel rooms he trashed and all the crazy parties he threw studying at the altar of Hailwood James Hunt became every bit as debauched as he was talented he'd show up in plain clothes for black-tie events including one particular time where he wore a shirt that simply read sex the breakfast of champions and it wasn't just that hunt partied hard smoked like a chimney and drank like a fish he also turned racing into hockey straight up fighting with fellow competitors if he felt a crash wasn't his fault anyone who ever had an issue with Hunt's hard-partying ways could probably thank Mike Hailwood for showing him the ropes and yet Hale would slow down a bit later in his life having two children a daughter named Michelle and a son named David before going on to marry their mother a supermodel named Pauline sounds normal enough but here's where things get weird you see Pauline had initially been hesitant to the idea of marrying someone who regularly raced in a competition that had killed so many people a race which had the potential to see him in an early grave at any moment but Hailwood told Pauline a strange story about something that happened to him during an international trip that essentially turned him into the fearless racer he would become Hailwood recounted Pauline a story in which he travelled to South Africa and while there visited a local fortune-teller this fortune-teller assured him that he needn't worry about being killed in any of his races it was a relief at first until the fortune teller added that the reason he shouldn't worry about dying in a race is because he wouldn't live past 40 according to the fortune tellers prophecy he would be killed by a truck not on the racetrack although it seemed silly Hale would apparently took the prediction seriously albeit while maintaining his relatively rise sense of humor because after all reassuring you're worried wife that you won't die in a race solely because some random truck had already called dibs it's the kind of absurdity that isn't really all that surprising for a guy like Mike if nothing else it was enough for Pauline to let go of her issues about marrying Hailwood but hailwood's accomplishments went beyond racing and family life for instance he had his heroic moments too namely an incident at the 1973 South African Grand Prix at Kayal ami Halewood collided with fellow racer clay Regazzoni on the second lap of the race resulting in Regazzoni being rendered unconscious when regazzoni's car subsequently caught fire hail wood sprung into action pulling the unconscious driver to safety even after his own clothes caught fire during his first attempt to pull the Italian man free when Hale would return to the Isle of Man TT in 1978 it was as a man who'd been humbled by family life and who'd been somewhat out of practice in the art of motorcycle racing particularly against a field of new comers who were as hungry as Hale would had ever been during his youth while Hale would no longer look to the part of the playboy athlete he was in 1958 he managed to win yet another Isle of Man TT race race that no one had given him a chance of winning at all riding a Ducati 900 to victory the following year he made his final Isle of Man TT appearance winning the senior TT on a two-stroke Suzuki rg500 bringing his career Isle of Man wins to 14 in total before using that same Suzuki to challenge TT Pro Alex George in the unlimited classic a race he lost by only two seconds and with that Hailwood called it a day on his legendary racing career at the age of 39 Hailwood went on to open a Honda motorcycle dealership in Birmingham and it looked as though he would hang around on the fringes of the sport as an elder statesman for years to come however the fortune-tellers prophecy would turn out to be tragically prescient on Saturday March 21st 1981 Hailwood left his home to pick up fish and chips for dinner for his family taking his kids Michelle and David along with him he drove his Rover sd1 along the a43 five as he approached his home in tan worth in Arden but just as they were nearing their destination a truck driver decided now would be a great time to make an illegal turn and the result well the lorry collided with Hale woods Rover instantly killing nine year old Michele Mike and David were taken to the hospital to treat their injuries and while young David ultimately survived the accident claimed the life of his father who died from internal injuries at the age of 40 however in probably the fortune-tellers prediction had come to pass and the only penalty the truck driver incurred for causing the tragic accident a mere 100 pound fine as Hale wood was laid to rest his greatest friends and competitors came to pay him tribute among his pallbearers were Protege James Hunt friend and rival Giacomo Agostini and four-time 500cc motorcycle world champion John Surtees his loss was felt as deeply and as profoundly as his impact on the sport he loved and he continues to be universally regarded as a legend of motorsports a legacy he earned in large part due to his immense accomplishments at the Isle of Man TT but unfortunately Hale wood would be far from the only legend on this list to be taken from us in an auto accident you could argue that more than any story I'll tell you about today the legend of the Dunlop family dynasty is the most iconic while simultaneously being the most tragic while the Dunlop family has given a lot to this sport they've also lost the most as a result and it all started with the blue-collar man who had become a folk hero in his own time Joey Dunlop born on February 25th 1952 in County Antrim Northern Ireland Joey Dunlop like many TT legends before him began racing professionally at the age of 17 his first bike which he bought 450 pounds was a 192 cc Triumph tiger cub which he raced at Magga Barry he didn't make much racing so he had to finance his dream with odd jobs in construction and driving since being a motorcyclist is nothing if not expensive as hell but it certainly helped that Joey had Talent in addition to determination because he might not have made it no matter how much he was able to scrimp and save if he didn't actually have the talent to back up his passion yet while Joey spent close to a decade gaining experience and building a reputation as a racer he didn't actually make his Isle of Man TT debut until 1976 which was a harrowing year for the once venerated racing event Joey came to the Isle of Man TT at a time when its status was as precarious as ever by 1976 the Isle of Man TT had lost its British Grand Prix World Championship status due in large part to the mounting danger of the race famed TT regular gilberto par Lottie had been killed during the lightweight TT four years earlier leading to a boycott from such writers as Giacomo Agostini and Phil Reid on average two riders were killed during the TT each year which further compounded concerns that the race was just too dangerous to be allowed to continue while the race itself retained a certain measure of prestige and credibility within the racing community the Isle of Man TT didn't carry with it the cultural cachet at once did the race had acquired the taint of barbarism which added a mystique that would do as much to harm its worldwide reputation as to bolster it in that first year Joey Dunlop finished 16th in the junior TT and 18th in the senior TT the following year Joey would win the first of his record 26 victories at the Isle of Man keeping the TT like I see within the lineage of great Irish riders like his forebears Stanley woods and true to form Joey would managed to achieve victory in spectacular fashion as it turns out joey arrived on the Isle of Man on his friends fishing boat bringing along a strange Yamaha Suzuki hybrid that mounted a Yamaha TZ 750 engine 2 a twin shock Suzuki chassis the Yamazaki as it was called came into the race with little fanfare as joey had finished low the year before but things were a bit different for 1977 as a special race called the schweppe e's jubilee classic was being held as part of TT festivities in honour of queen elizabeth ii 25th year on the throne Joey's initial entry into the race was not accepted so he holed himself up at the lodgings of fellow Irish racer Norman done until the situation could be sorted sure enough by the end of the week Joey had his place on the start line there would be a long journey in front of him but Joey would manage to make the most of it by pacing himself he ran on three cylinders for the first lap before the fourth kicked in at around the eight mile mark while the race was only four laps Joey knew the mountain asphalt would wreak havoc on his tyres so he tried not to push the Yama's uki too hard at least not until the final lap at Parliament Square where he let loose for the final 14 miles concluding not just with a victory but with a lap time that bested TT mainstay Phil Reed clocking in at 110 point nine three miles per hour it was the end of a race and the start of a great career after winning the 1980 classic 1000 cc race Joey defected to the works Honda team on the promise of bikes for life from then Honda boss Bob McMillen initially the executives in charge tried to clean Joey up to make him more physically presentable in addition to trying to smooth out what was perceived as his difficult Irish accent of course this was failing to recognize that part of Joey's charm indeed part of his appeal was that he came across as an everyman he was the working-class hero and relatable to the people in the stands Honda wanted Joey Dunlop but he would only come aboard as the genuine article as Joey once famously said of his career I never really wanted to be a superstar I just wanted to be myself over the next three years Joey would add wins at the Ulster Grand Prix and the Northwest 200 to his considerable resume before handing TT victories to Honda like Halloween candy starting in 1983 Joey began an undefeated streak in the f1 event at the Isle of Man winning the f1 World Championship five times sadly a crash in 1989 at Brands Hatch brought his streak to an end but Joey would bounce back by remaining unbeaten in the ultra lightweight TT from 1992 to 1994 winning the lightweight TT every year from 1995 to 1998 and picking up wins in the 1994 junior TT and the 1995 senior TT in 2000 his 32nd year as a professional motorcyclist and his final TT ever Joey claimed victory in the ultra lightweight lightweight and formula 1 TT races to bring his overall Isle of Man TT total to 26 wins the all-time record in addition he brought his number of Isle of Man finishes to 78 the third best of all time behind Dave Madsen Migdal and Ian Laufer from his first win atop the yamazaki to the final eighteen years of his career at Honda Joey would not only claim the record 26 Isle of Man TT victories but he would also earn twenty four victories in the Ulster Grand Prix 17 wins at the scary's 113 wins at the Northwest 200 among other accolades that rendered him virtually unrivaled in the realm of Motorsports and yet for all his racing prowess Joey Dunlop was kind of a softie at heart sharing in his success with his five children and his wife childhood sweetheart Linda he also spent an inordinate amount of time performing charitable works during numerous off seasons in his racing career Joey travelled to Bosnia Romania and Albania to provide aid to orphans in trips that occurred largely without any press recognition so ever he wasn't in it for the publicity Joey just wanted to help now with that said the charity trips weren't without a certain amount of risk themselves on May 26 1985 Joey traveled to Romania with his brother Robert and their friend fellow racer Brian Reid aboard a fishing vessel dubbed the mfv tour nimona enroute the tour nimona ran into Saint Patrick's rock where the boats rudder broke off and caused the vessel to begin sinking at an alarming rate really it's a story that should have ended far worse than it did but for the saving grace that the boat was near the entrance to Strangford Lough the largest inlet in the British Isles so rescue wasn't very far off naturally Joey helped get all 13 passengers and crew members onto the port a ferry lifeboat even as his and Reed's motorcycles were lost in the sinking the bikes were eventually recovered but it does speak to Joey's overall goodness that he didn't seem particularly fazed by their loss as long as everyone made it off the vessel safe and sound then again it could just be that his signature fleet of works Honda's arrived on another ship entirely either way for his tireless charitable efforts Joey would be awarded an OBE that he would later regard as his proudest achievement more so than any of his racing championships the Order of the British Empire honours citizens who have exercised a major local role in any activity including people whose work has made them known nationally in their chosen career so yeah Joey more than earned this all in all life treated Joey Dunlop pretty well and he tried to pay it forward as often as he could standing as a role model not just in the racing community but among celebrities and humanitarians of all stripes who knows what else Joey could have contributed had he not been taken from us as soon as he was on July 2nd 2000 so we was competing in a 125cc race in Tallinn Estonia he was in the lead although the wet road conditions had made the competition a bit more challenging for him than it might otherwise have been had the road been dry this story might have ended differently and at least one facet of the Dunlop family legacy of tragic endings could have been avoided but it just didn't work out that way Joey lost control spike on the wet road crashing into a clump of trees he was killed on impact Joey Dunlop was just 48 years old true to the magnitude of the loss 50,000 mourners paid their respects as part of his funeral procession from Gary Duff Presbyterian Church in Garrard F Northern Ireland to his burial site in the nearby cemetery it was the same Church where he and his beloved wife had recently renewed their wedding vows for their 25th anniversary and it would be where the sports world would come together to see their hero off it was a procession befitting royalty with mourners from such countries as Australia Japan South Africa and New Zealand the streets were clogged with grief-stricken fans looking to pay their last respects as his core Taj went by uproars of teary eyed applause accompany Joey's journey as he passed into history in his memory a special award was created for the Isle of Man TT for the most successful overall Rider each year named the Joey Dunlop Cup in addition a statue was erected in Bali Moni his hometown where his love of motorcycles was born there is also a statue of Joey on the Isle of Man itself on the Sanae fell Mountain Course he conquered so many times resulting in his nickname the king of the mountain in 2016 motorcycle news voted Joey Dunlop the second greatest motorcycle icon of all time second only to Valentino Rossi but for as much as his racing legacy will endure it's his charitable spirit that lives on best through the Joey Dunlop Foundation which offers special accommodations for disabled Isle of Man visitors so that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the races Joey loved so much regardless of disability and yet while Joey would be the most famous of the Dunlop's the family legacy would extend beyond him for better and for worse as success and loss would go hand in hand although he was the recipient of fewer accolades than his older brother Joey Robert Dunlop was every bit the automotive icon in his own right much like Joey he gravitated towards motorcycles early in his youth taking an apprenticeship on short circuits that he then parlayed into a racing career making his debut in 1979 at the annual temple 100 in Northern Ireland the temple 100 would later become notorious in the sense that it succeeded in doing something the Isle of Man never has the course was deemed so dangerous and prompted so many otherwise avoidable fatalities that the motorcycle Union of Ireland shut it down in 1999 while the temple motorcycle club remains active and even still organises their own racing events the temple 100 was put to bed for good yeah but I digress in the years that followed the temple 100 Robert would go on to make his professional debut at Agra dahui in 1981 and his Isle of Man TT debut in 1983 winning the newcomers 350 CC Manx Grand Prix as Joey continued to cement his place in the sport Robert followed through on building a solid reputation of his own returning into the Cookstown 100 in historic County Tyrone in Northern Ireland to become one of the most venerated racers in the history of that event his run at the event began in 1985 when Robert entered the 250 cc race and set a new all-time record in route to his first win by 1987 his hat-trick of victories in the 125 350 and 1000 cc races earned him the coveted man of the meeting honours and he would proceed to win the 125 CC for more times in 1988 1989 1991 and 1993 eventually gaining the nickname the mighty micro for his accomplishments in ultra lightweight racing this in addition to a well-earned Macau Grand Prix win in 1989 in keeping with Dunlop family tradition at that point Robert claimed victory atop a Honda in this case a Honda 500 but to further his career Robert branched out beyond Honda joining the JPS Norton racing team in 1990 on a Wankel powered RC W 588 Robert would go on to post an MCN Super Cup win and a double in the legendary Northwest 204 more narrative relevance here as the annual event would come to define Roberts racing career for better and worse but more on that later as the 80s neared its close Robert turned his attention back to the Isle of Man by this point Robert had already won the ultra lightweight TT twice setting a new lap record of 103 point zero two miles per hour in 1989 and topping himself the following year at 104 point zero nine miles per hour so naturally he hoped to extend his overall Isle of Man record in 1991 granted it would have been a tall order for anybody to catch up to Joey Dunlop's considerable accomplishments on the Isle of Man much less for his own brother but Robert managed to double down on victory taking wins in both the ultra lightweight race and the junior TT along with a podium finish on the senior TT although not as successful in the immediate aftermath he remained formidable in the years that followed managing podium finishes in 1992 in the ultra lightweight and the junior and senior TT s and adding another ultra lightweight podium finish to his record in 1993 all told Robert would manage 14 podium finishes over the course of his TT career and likely would have added many many more had he not suffered an accident that while not fatal was all but a deathblow to his racing career as he had come to enjoy it during the formula 1 TT event in the 1994 Isle of Man TT Robert crashed at 130 miles per hour when the back wheel collapsed on a 750 cc Honda RC 45 for all intents and purposes the crash probably should have ended his racing career all together as Robert was left with a broken right arm and right leg an extensive nerve and tendon damage that restricted his range of motion such as rendering him incapable fully closing his right hand Robert went through over a dozen operations to get back into racing shape and even then he wasn't the same although modifications were made to allow him to use a button to operate his front brake the former champs struggled to reclaim his past glory his diminished movement as a result of the injuries left him limited to racing only in the ultra lightweight class which he wouldn't think would be a disappointment for a man who literally made a name for himself as the mighty micro in that Barre class but Robert was talented in a variety of other classes so one can hardly blame him for being upset at having been limited to only one class after missing the 1994 and 1995 seasons Robert made his return at the Cookstown 100 on April 20th 1996 making a courageous showing in which he finished in 9th place in the race that was eventually won by of all people his older brother Joey and true to the determination that seemed to be as much a trait of the Dunlop family as their Irish heritage Robert competed in the Cookstown 100 every single year steadily improving with each showing going from a fourth place finish in 1998 to a third-place finish in 2002 right up to a second-place finish in 2004 but he would never win the Cookstown 100 again still he'd done more than enough to prove he was still capable of hanging with the new blood of the competition in much the same way I found myself questioning how Joey story might have ended earlier in this section i similarly wondered what might have happened had Robert Dunlop remained committed to his vow to retire from the sport after the 2004 season like any sport racing held within a certain draw it's the kind of thrill that can be hard to replicate through other means but then no that's reductive it's not just about the thrills for these guys it's not just the white-knuckle speeds the treacherous roads presenting danger at every turn or the uncertainty of each race it's the challenge the sport of it all the camaraderie of competition at a high level it can be really hard to give that up Roberts struggled with the desire to prove he was still the racer he'd been prior to the accident hoping to go out on top at the Isle of Man TT and the Northwest 200 before he retired and while he did finish second in the ultra lightweight race he couldn't bridge the gap between past skill and his own current limitations in a sense it's not all that surprising that he ultimately filed a lawsuit over the crash that he felt robbed him of the capacity for greater accomplishments and earnings in racing in 2002 robert was awarded 700,000 pounds about half of what he initially asked for in his lawsuit against Stewart med the former boss of his team and the man running the RC 45 that failed which caused the 1994 crash he was also suing Marv ik the wheel makers on the RC 45 and their former UK distributor racing lines Roberts argument at the time was that the accident had placed a ceiling on what he could hope to accomplish as a racer that he could have gone on to even greater success had the accident never occurred and it's hard to argue against that claim although it's naturally impossible to know just what the future would have held for his career if it hadn't been this accident it might have been another for all anyone knows or as was the case with Mike Hailwood it could have been an accident completely unrelated to the sport you just never know well unless you're a South African fortune-teller regardless the High Court in London heard expert testimony about Roberts immense talent and his potential prior to the accident Robert himself also argued before the court stating I think my abilities and determination were such that I would have been one of the top three Superbike riders in the world in the second half of the 1990s but as a result of the accident he lost out on significant potential earnings which resulted in Robert having to move his wife and three sons from their 10-bedroom country house to a fairly simple 85 pound per week home the 700,000 pounds was as much in recognition of the income he loss over the course of 1994 1995 and the intervening years as it was a statement regarding the potential the accident had throttled now some might have just taken the win and moved on as Robert had a lot to be happy about in the years following his retirement he became the inaugural inductee into the Irish Motorcycle Hall of Fame in February 2005 ahead of even his brother Joey he was also beginning to recover some of the movement he lost in the 1994 accident all in all Robert was in good health but it was that good health that led him down the path back to racing as he announced at his Hall of Fame induction that he would be entering the hospital to undergo a procedure in which his right leg would be broken and lengthened presumably to heal more efficiently yeah I don't know either way the procedure went well and left Robert feeling good enough to make a comeback for the 2005 racing season and you know what it was shaping up to be his best season in over a decade as he claimed of then record-breaking fifteenth victory in the northwest 200 in 2006 and you see therein lies the rub remember earlier when I noted that the Northwest 200 would become the race that would define Roberts career in some respects well this is where that all comes to fruition you see between them the brothers Dunlop knew the North West 200 better than arguably any racers who'd ever tackled the course except fellow Irishman Alastair Sealy who won the damn thing a record 21 times regardless it was clear that Robert knew the event inside and out he knew those roads like the back of his hand but anybody in Motorsports will tell you it doesn't matter how many times you've run a course or how well you think you know the roads in front of you anything can happen at any time whether you're a newcomer or one of the most celebrated veterans in the history of the sport like his brother Joey Robert Dunlop suffered an accident on the racetrack that would prove to be fatal the fateful accident occurred at the 2008 North West 200 during a practice run for the event which runs along a nine mile circuit of closed roads that linked the towns of Port Stewart Colerain and Portrush in Causeway coast and Glen's in Northern Ireland this connection of roads creates a course known as the triangle which is much like the snake fell mountain course among the world's most dangerous due to the excessive speeds the course provokes as writers are capable of reaching speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour this would be challenging for riders at a hundred percent health much less a guy who while far healthier than he had been in years previous was still experiencing lingering effects from the crash he suffered 14 years earlier and so it came to pass that Robert while at the mathers cross section of the course between Colerain and Portrush was thrown from his Honda 250 cc TSR after the bike inexplicably seized while Robert was somewhere between 150 and 155 miles per hour the accident occurred so suddenly that fellow rider Darren Burns was unable to avoid hitting Robert with his bike which resulted in burns himself being flung forward and suffering severe injuries of his own in the form of a fractured hip and a broken tailbone as Burns would recount in the official inquest it appeared as though Robert was attempting to move down a gear as the riders were coming up on the right-hand curve at Mathers cross but the rear wheel locked and the rest is history amplifying the tragedy is that Robert might have survived had he not been using a push button to engage his front brake you'll recall that the 1994 accident left Robert incapable of fully closing his right hand which meant he couldn't engage the front brake through traditional means necessitating the addition of a button on each side to activate the front brake experts called to testify in the official inquest stated that in a situation such as the bike seizure that Robert experienced a rider would only have a split second to engage the clutch in order to free the wheel but the theory is that in his panic Robert accidentally hit the front brake button which was clumsily situated on the left-hand side of the handlebars near the clutch and as if that wasn't unfortunate enough it turns out Robert actually had his doubts about the functionality of the 250cc bike prior to the race on the Tuesday before the accident Robert could only bring himself to run two practice laps before dismounting and telling his sponsor that the bike was lurching in Top Gear as if it might seize up more troubling B's telltale occurrences happen at the Mathers cross section of the course where the deadly accident would occur just a few days later this despite an independent inspector checking the bike on both the Tuesday before and the Thursday on which the accident occurred in both instances the inspector found nothing amiss with the bike but an inspector with the Northern Ireland Forensic service who performed an examination on the bike following the crash determined that the Pistons had seized in the inquest the forensic examiner made note of the fickle nature of two-stroke engines and added that in situations like this one generally has to sacrifice reliability for more power why Robert decided to race despite his concerns about the seizures is anyone's guess but it's not hard to imagine that competitive spirit might have had something to do with it regardless of the why the crash scene was a nightmare with Robert and burns lying amidst the wreckage of their bikes and Robert's elder son William trying to break through the carnage to see his father only to be restrained by northwest 200 clerk Mervyn White Robert Dunlop was taken to the nearby causeway hospital in Coleraine but his injuries were too severe and later that day on May 15th 2008 Robert Dunlop died at the age of 47 just a year younger than Joey was when he passed needless to say the racing world wasn't ready to lose another Dunlop while William Dunlop would go on to compete in the northwest 200 and win the race in his father's honor a black cloud remained hanging over the entire event three days after the accident on May 18th 2008 Robert was laid to rest at Gary Duff Presbyterian Church Cemetery alongside his late brother and yet the Dunlop tale doesn't end there you see Roberts Widow Louise Dunlop was among those to speak out against protesters claiming that the North West 200 should be discontinued telling reporters if we don't understand something the first thing we'll say is that it should be banned Robert said to me we're a bit of a nanny state we have to have everything so safe we don't live she would go on to say we do have concerns of course we do it's like any sport that is high-risk and there are quite a few of them motorcycle racing isn't the only one and yet while acknowledging that danger Louise also noted that she couldn't fathom her husband giving it up stating I didn't ever see Robert going into retirement he was Robert that was the person I married poignant Lee she recalled Robert once telling her if I hadn't got this sport who would I be what would I be in the grand scheme of things it wasn't simply that Robert was some kind of thrill seeker it was as much about the spirit of competition and the desire to be the best it was an athlete's dedication and he'd maintained that level of dedication right up until the end Louise defending the sport her husband loved probably would have put a smile on his face if for no other reason than that it reflected the resilient spirit of the Dunlop family she lost a husband but she still stuck up for racing even as she still had a considerable amount left to lose like every dumb mop writer before him Roberts son William Dunlop started racing at the age of 17 kicking around on 125cc bikes when you're the nephew of the man considered to be among the greatest automotive athletes in history and the son of another all-time great it's probably best to get started early especially when you have a little brother named Michael nipping at your heels eager to take his own run at greatness in the family business it's kind of stunning how quickly William began making a name for himself even with the pedigree of his family name joining with Tyco BMW motorad racing and making use of the formidable BMW s1000rr and Suzuki GSX are 600 William began building his Isle of Man TT record by competing in 90 t seasons over a nine-year period beginning in 2006 and ending in 2015 when he broke with Tyco BMW after being hired to ride Yamahas in internationally sanctioned races some of which were included in the British championship while Williams record at the Isle of Man TT wasn't nearly as impressive as his father's or his uncles he posted two second-place finishes and for third place finishes across the 125 CC Super Sport and classic races and really the Dunlop legacy was never about just the Isle of Man TT as the family name carried over into the northwest 200 it was here where William best acquitted himself running to North West 200 race victories in 2009 the year after the North West 200 victory he dedicated to the memory of his late father and yet well I mean you could make the argument that one brother is the superior racer I mean really Williams record would be considerable for any athlete in the sport but in this case Michael Dunlop has managed to craft a unique legacy all his own not only is he the solo lap record holder for the snail Mountain Course in the senior TT event he is the first rider in the history of the Isle of Man TT to record a lap time under 17 minutes clocking in at 16 minutes fifty three point nine to nine seconds at a speed of 133 point 9 6 2 miles per hour although he's claimed victories in the 125 CC and 250 cc race at cooks town his personal website still lists his favorite course as the Isle of Man TT which she gives some idea of the competitive nature of a man who has essentially been going balls to the wall since his 2007 debut in the Superbike TT now naturally Michael and William have a competitive rivalry but they share that Dunlop resiliency as Michael followed in Williams footsteps in choosing to compete in the days after their father's death finishing 10th in the senior TT while he didn't win the race he sent a dunlop family milestone with a personal best lap of 120 4.77 three miles per hour he became the fastest dunlop on the TT course besting the times of his father uncle and brother thus began his run of impressive performances at the Isle of Man as he would ride a 600 cc Yamaha and route to victory in the 2009 Super Sport TT and follow up with podium finishes in the super sport and Superbike TT races in 2010 he would also claim victory in the Superstock TT in 2011 the Supersport TT in 2012 and outright dominance across multiple events in 2013 with wins in the Superbike Super Sport Super Stock and classic TT Formula One races his win streak continued into 2014 in an epic race that pit brother against brother in winning to senior TT event Michael set a new lap record of 131 point six six eight miles per hour although it was a bittersweet win as Williams suffered a high-speed crash that took him out of the race and necessitated his being lifted to nobles hospital for treatment of a broken leg although Michael was victorious he was beside himself with worry even in the winner's circle and couldn't allow himself to properly celebrate until he heard from Williams girlfriend that he would be okay Michael told the press I saw what had happened to William on the mountain and my head when I asked about him at the pit stops he means more to me than the race anything else would be heartless I just hope that he is all right and yet as competitiveness festered the brothers became estranged particularly after William defeated Michael in the first Superbike event at the Northwest 200 in 2014 Michael would fire back by winning the second Superbike contests to match his brothers own accomplishment but despite both brothers making their way into the winner's circle it was clear that this was something that went beyond mere sibling rivalry in a 2016 interview with the Belfast Telegraph William would explain why he and his brother didn't really seem to get along I don't see too much of Michael we do are separate things since the northwest a couple of years ago we haven't really been on good terms in racing I would be a better 600 rider and he would be a better Superbike rider but we always cross paths somewhere there's always going to be rivalry with everyone in races and that exists with us as well we maybe treat each other worse than other riders Michael is that obsessed if he isn't going to win a race he doesn't want you to win it either we get on as brothers but the actual racing side of things is hard there are other brothers in motorcycling who get on very well but they don't race against each other I think it will be a lot better for me and Michael when we both finish racing of course William was softened somewhat by becoming a father to his newborn daughter Ella in 2016 noting before I was wishing my dad would have been there with us at the bikes but now with Ella coming along I know there is more to life than that and I wish he was around to see his granddaughter that's how your mind changes I would hope that is proud of me naturally William would admit that despite victories in the northwest 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix he still has his own shortcomings in certain family won races for some reason the TT hasn't happened for me yet I've had the worst luck ever at the Isle of Man you couldn't write the stories over the last three or four years it has been ridiculous I've had crashes but they haven't been my fault I crashed upright twice it wasn't down the rider error crash has never really affected me though the one this year definitely knocked me as it was out of my control which was hard to take on the other side of the coin yes Michael was achieving big victories but he also suffered some major setbacks Michael left Milwaukee Yamaha in favor of build base BMW in 2015 to win the 2016 Superbike TT and the senior TT in addition to the John Williams Trophy but it would be a race downhill from there after earning second place in the Supersport Junior hundred titi michael was disqualified following a post-race inspection that revealed non-standard parts which were in violation of race regulations to make matters worse Michael couldn't seem to get things moving in the Superstock titi as his 1000 cc BMW pretty much quit on him completely forcing him to retire from the race after the first lap however Michael would redeem himself in the second Super Sport junior TT setting a new lap record against Ian Hutchinson and claiming a victory margin of 31 seconds Michael had won out but he saw the writing on the wall and opted to switch teams this time trading in BMW for the Suzuki racing team winning the Supersport TT and senior TT in 2017 it was a measure of redemption for the younger Dunlop brother a rare happy ending for the family their story remains unwritten as either William and Michael could soldier on in the years to come and perhaps surpass the legacies of either father or uncle regardless of what they decide to do it seems clear that the Dunlop legacy is in capable hands and that the legend of the Isle of Man TT will live on regardless on its 110th year the popularity of the Isle of Man TT indoors especially now in an age of onboard cameras capable of filming in high-definition allowing enthusiasts vicarious access to the Isle of Man TT experience this in addition to the usual highlights that are on television in the UK and on Discovery Channel stateside to say nothing of the number of YouTube videos you can find on any given race some of those videos even depict the accidents that have claimed lives although I really have no desire to watch any of those but hey they're still there for whatever reason what's crazy is that this race apparently came pretty close to being stopped all together initially it looked like the Isle of Man TT would be phased out by the Manx government after its centenary in 2007 but one man went out of his way to ensure that didn't happen a hardcore race man an avid Isle of Man TT enthusiast by the name of Paul Phillips quit his job in finance in 2006 in order to take a position as the motorsport development manager for the Isle of Man it was an official government position and Phillips took to it with enthusiasm together with his team Phillips renegotiated media contracts and worked with various organisations to improve the safety of the event while also recruiting new and exciting writers of all backgrounds and skill levels for the event everyone from longtime veterans to newcomers with raw natural skill and the urge to meet the challenge that the Senay fell Mountain Course presented on top of it all Phillips also provided a refined marketing strategy issuing what he claimed to be the bloodthirsty and ignorant approach of the previous administration in favour of a marketing blitz that emphasized the skill required of these races even while acknowledging the perceived barbarism of a race that's caused so much death in its over 100 year history his idea framed the riders as gladiators as sportsmen willing to take any risk for the glory of the race rather than painting them as simplistic thrill-seekers unsurprisingly the approach worked and tourists from all over the world are coming in record numbers to witness the spectacle today race fans enjoy something that's more akin to a sort of County Fair with unprecedented accessibility to the racers paddocks here fans just waltz right over to the paddock and meet their favorite it's very much a community event and I don't just mean locally wherever you're from if you're in the Isle of Man for those two weeks you're a part of the community of the Isle of Man TT when asked by cycle world in 2014 why he continues to compete in the teeth he after so many years and so many close calls Guy Martin stated because there's nothing like that course the first night of practice makes me think ah this is why I ride motorbikes I guess the long and short of it is that the Isle of Man TT isn't for everybody but for the people who hold that connection to the event it's akin to something spiritual and in a world where people don't feel like they have all that much to believe in anymore there's a kind of peace to how people find comfort in the mad embrace of a race that like nature is completely indifferent to the efforts of man hey guys thank you so much for listening to this RC our story's cast um I can't tell you how hard it's been over the past four months going over research writing and rewriting passages endlessly and then recording this entire thing just to get it done before the damn year is out I mean my voice is cracking from talking so long recording this stuff previously I never wrote more than 12 single spaced pages of material for these artists er stories but this script took up 20 pages actually 22 after I went back and edited because I'm one of those editors who actually adds things instead of taking them away like it's weird I don't know so needless to say I don't think I'm going to do anything that takes this long for a while mostly because I really want to have these out more often than every few months it's just that the actual writing takes forever what with the research and the worry that goes along with possibly getting something wrong either way it's done now and open to judgment but regardless of your reaction to it it means a lot that you listened at all especially if you made it all the way through so so thanks again guys you you really are the best

Channel: Regular Car Reviews

Views: 289,538

Keywords: Regular, Car, Reviews, Isale of Man, isle of man TT, Isle of man documentary, Doc Isle of man tt, Morotrcycle race, deadily motorcycle race, Deadly motorcycle race, Regular Car Reviews, RCR sotries

Id: FbBCHlZaTb0

Length: 84min 55sec (5095 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2017