Aaannnnnd, breathe! I can never totally relax through TT week – two weeks, actually – because, even though all the riders know what they are doing, the nature of the course is such that you have to expect the unexpected and experience counts for nothing when the track or the machinery is against you.
It’s difficult to know how to look at TT 2023: are we fortunate that ‘only’ one rider was killed – infinitely better than last year’s tally of six – or is that still too many? Do we concentrate solely on the top ten riders – after all, it is they on whom the media concentrates – or do we remember that there are many riders for whom simply competing is enough and for whom exposure in the media is unlikely? Do we celebrate loudly those victories or do we dial down the euphoria and doff our caps in memoriam of he who won’t be going home?
It’s a conundrum many people struggle with year after year and yet, the riders will still go back and we will still watch, listen or read about it. Perhaps that is the right way: acknowledge the skill and dedication while being realistic about the risks that are inherent in any form of motorsport and at the Isle of Man especially and understand the reasons why the riders do it.
For the record, the rider killed was Raul Torres Martinez who was not, as you might assume, a newcomer: the race in which he was killed was his 21st TT race. When asked what his ambitions in road racing were, he has said “to have fun with the bike, and to be able to fight for a top-20 finish at the TT in a 1000cc class”. You see: doing it not for the glory but for personal satisfaction. That sums up the TT.
TT 2023 was about two men: Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman: race wins, lap records and speed records fell to these two elite athletes throughout the two weeks. Peter Hickman won four races and set both the fastest recorded speed on the Sulby Straight of just over 200mph and the fastest outright lap record, at 136.5mph, or around 16 minutes and thirty seconds. If you can make any comparison between the past and the present, it is interesting to note that Stanley Woods’ fastest lap in 1922 was 40 minutes and 50 seconds.
Actually, that first race for Woods – who would go on to win ten TTs in the 1920s and ‘30s – was not unusual for the time. Just think about his race: stopped to pick up spark plugs that had fallen out of his pocket: fell off at Sulby and re-mounted: hit a curb and lost part of his exhaust: fire in the pits while re-fuelling, which he helped put out: hit the curb again: stopped on the course to replace an inlet valve with only the tools he carried with him (!): lost all brakes: fell off again: finished fifth. Makes today’s sub-17-minute laps look easy by comparison!
But I digress. Michael Dunlop had every chance of not only matching his uncle Joey’s tally of 26 wins, but surpassing it. He came within a whisker of achieving that, taking his 25th win and retiring while leading the next race, putting him second on the all-time victories list and there is nothing to suggest that next year he won’t be able to finish what he started this year. For the record to fall to another Dunlop will be fitting, for the family has given everything and their lives to the sport. Watching Michael race the TT course is to watch a man visibly wrestle and fight his bike every inch of the way, while others, such as John McGuinness, make it look so smooth and effortless. Well, as effortless as racing at the Isle of Man can ever be. They might not look like the fittest blokes on the planet but make no mistake, you can be nothing but super fit to endure one lap at racing speed, let alone three, four or six, sometimes twice in one day.
If the TT riders lack the svelte PR-friendly build and attitude of their MotoGP or World Superbike counterparts, they more than make up for it in other-worldly skill and a no-nonsense, no bullshit approach to what they are doing.
Asked in an interview what suspension adjustments he had made to his Superbike which prevented him from challenging for the win in the week-ending Senior TT race, he refused, replying: ‘Would I ask you what kind of knickers your wife is wearing?’ We need more like him.
Dunlop started the week off well, winning the first Supersport race and the Superbike race. He’s not always as comfortable on the big 1000cc bikes as he is on the 600cc Supersport bikes (he set a new lap record for the Supersport class of just over 130mph) but he proved that, with the right set-up, he is capable of winning on anything. He was robbed of a fourth-of-the-week and record-equalling win in the Supertwins race by mechanical failure.
That in itself is amazing. The punishment meted out to the race bikes over the course of a race is incredible – quite how many more engines don’t simply give up the ghost is incomprehensible and is testament to the quality of not only the base product as it left the factory, but also the skill of the engine builders and mechanics. To finish a race is incredible: to run at the front and possibly win is something else again.
What a week for Peter Hickman. Four race wins, taking his tally to thirteen, top speed record and an outright lap record. As with Michael Dunlop, this is but a temporary step on the road to more wins, which will surely come. Of course, the barriers to achieving that are many, including injury and mechanical failure but, as was demonstrated this year, once you are on a winning roll around here, it’s difficult to stop the momentum. Remember Ian Hutchinson? Won all five races in one week, back in 2010 (as documented in that excellent documentary TT: Closer to the Edge), only to break his leg badly shortly afterwards in a circuit race in England, suffer two or three years and thirty operations of recovery. But he came back and continued winning: he now has 16 wins to his name and sadly missed this year’s event through yet more injury. But he’ll be back and most likely he’ll win again.
One notable absence this year was the TT Zero for electric bikes. Sadly it has died through lack of interest, which is surprising given the noise everyone is making about electric power for cars and bikes. I would have thought that, with the increasing urgency to develop viable electric solutions, the cauldron of racing would be the perfect place to try out and showcase new technology.
The general lack of interest in electric motorcycle racing – when did you last see a MotoE race on TV? – gives some indication of the public’s antipathy towards the electrification movement. If it is inevitable, then the manufacturers and lawmakers need to come up with some way of making it more attractive to those of us who will inevitably be supporting their efforts by buying them.
Back to the present day, if you are not moved by the sensations the Isle of Man TT week imparts, then I suggest a visit to your doctor, because you are clearly not firing on all cylinders. I’ve said it before, but MotoGP racing looks like a children’s playground compared to the TT so watch MotoGP by all means but take the time to really understand the TT and you will find your eyes opened wide.
