spec Superbikes and only a little
slower for Supersport, you really,
really must want to do this race.
I've wanted to race the Isle
of Man TT since I heard my dad
raced three of them (1978, 1980
and 1984). My mother always
told me if I ever did the TT, she'd
break both my legs, but that was
when I was a kid and I'm a lot
stronger than Mum now.
The want to do the TT has been
a constant in my life for as long
as I can remember, and in two
weeks I finally get to scratch that
decades-long itch by lining up for
the two Supersport TTs on the
PRF Racing Suzuki GSX-R600.
Just typing that, and knowing
it's actually true, feels completely
surreal. The Isle of Man TT is the
road racer's version of Dakar, the
mountaineer's Mount Everest or
the big wave surfer's Waimea Bay.
It is an incredibly dangerous
event—some things happen at the
Isle of Man that don't warrant my
writing here, but it is also an island
of legends, a place where men and
women come to do something in-
credible, knowing they are among
a very select few on this planet
who will ever do so. And after two
years of Covid-induced hiatus, the
longest break from racing since the
Second World War, the 2022 TT is
going to be absolutely massive.
The different names on the
course both inspire and ter-
rify—Bray Hill, Ago's Leap, Sulby
Straight, Ballagarey, Ginger
Hall, The Mountain—each name
signifies its own section, its own
personality of racetrack. The
A
sk anyone who knows
even a sliver of motorcycle
race lore and they will
probably tell you the Isle of Man
TT is either the greatest motor-
sport event on the planet, or an
archaic spectacle that should be
confined to history.
Indeed, it is a race so far
removed from modern occupa-
tional health and safety laws it
boggles the mind it even exists
today. At 37.73-miles long, the
TT Mountain Course has hardly
a run-off area to be found aside
from the odd slip road, and a lot
of sections have hay bales gaffer-
taped around telegraph poles
which will do absolutely nothing if
you hit them at any great speed.
And with those speeds reaching
over 200 mph for the WorldSBK-
P130
CN
III LOWSIDE
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
All's quiet in the
early morning on
Glencrutchery Road. It
will be very different in
two weeks' time!
RUNNING
DOWN A DREAM
