Manx TT - Bad News

[Hink]

David Jefferies was killed in practice after hitting a telephone pole at Crosby. He is the track record holder - this guy was like a new Joey Dunlop.

http://www.iomonline.co.im/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=870&ArticleID=524630

[lone_groover]

Tragic.

I'm all for tradition, but it seems to me that almost NOTHING has ever been done to mitigate the danger of having trees, telephone poles, stone walls, curbs, bridges, etc. along the race course.

Maybe Irish-style road racing has become unnacceptably dangerous for the 2000s. :(

[Hink]

Yeah - I don't know. The TT is the last true paved road course in the world. (Rally fans may disagree - Corsica).

I don't know what you do. You'd need 75 miles of barriers for a 37.5 mile course.

[oddlycalm]

Sad news indeed. Jeffries was the best of the current crop.

There have always been riders killed riding the TT, but I suspect that the absolute limits of the course are being pushed. For a lot of years during the 50's and 60's speeds were fairly static. After years in the high 90mph range, the 100mph barrier was finally breeched. In 1965 the Junior TT bikes (350cc) and 250's that Redman rode were faster overall than Hailwoods speed on the 500cc MV Augusta in the Senior TT, which tells the story well enough. In 1967 when I attended, the speeds Hailwood posted for the 250, 350 & 500 Hondas were rougly equal, however the majority of the field was still on the Norton and Matchless single cylinder bikes in the Senior and Junior TT as they had been for nearly a decade. These bikes were light as a feather, forgiving and handleds incredibly well.

Since 1970 when most of the field was starting to transition to multis, speeds for the larger bikes have increased out of proportion to the smaller displacements. The Senior and F1 classes are up 10mph over the 600's on average now and speeds for the top class have increased roughly 25% in 25yrs. The largest bikes run pre-1970 were half liter in the Senior TT, and the Junior TT was for 350cc bikes. Now the 600cc supersports are the Junior class. Roughly doubling displacement does make quite a difference.

Knowing what we know historically about how lighter, better handling bikes were traditionally the faster way around, and seeing the displacement increase over time to include 1.0L+ firebreathers, it's not really all that surprising to see the seriousnous of the wrecks increase as well. Suspensions and tires now exist to allow a 500lb. bike to take advantage of the horsepower of a large and powerful motor. That means that when things do let go, it happens in a bigger way, and the weight of the bike makes recovery more difficult.

The mountain course could never be said to be safe for any size bike, but I think that 200+hp bikes that carry a lot of weight are going to continue to be very tough to deal with. The reason for them being there is obviously that they are widely available for sale, but that doesn't mean that they fit the course as it existed in 1965.

Historical TT results page (http://www.iomtt.com/results/TTResults.asp)

oc