Southern 100

We're recently back from a week in the Isle of Man watching the Southern 100 motorbike road races with my Dad. The weather was lovely all week – who'd have expected that? - we've come back sunburned and there was only one brief rain shower during a support race on the Wednesday evening, which caused it to be shortened to 4 laps (but the sidecar practice after it went ahead). We went over on the Sunday evening ferry from Liverpool, which was absolutely heaving with IoM residents heading back after their 4-day bank holiday weekend. We stayed at the Sefton Express airport hotel in Ballasalla – along the lines of a Travelodge but the staff were lovely, it was very handy for the racing and public transport, plus they had lots of Okells beers... well, slightly less by the time we left. Practice was Monday and Tuesday evenings with some racing also on Tues but the main racing starting on Wednesday evening and all day Thursday. So that left most of each day for sight-seeing. See lots of photos in the album over on the right =>

Monday

Monday we went to the Laxey Wheel 'cos bits of it were made in Wigan and it's also a pretty impressive mine water-pumping mechanism. As I've mentioned before, I love these ex-industrial areas because they show how quickly nature re-establishes itself once the industry stops; from a polluted wasteland 100 years ago the wheel is now set in a lovely valley and you can walk along the stream, which has trout in it once again, watching the dragonflies flit along over the waterfall. The abandoned and derelict mine buildings only seem to add to the picturesqueness of it for me as, I suppose, the ruined monastic buildings did for the Romantics 200 years ago. Or am I getting too poncey?

We had lunch in a great pub in Laxey, the Mines Tavern, which was right next to the electric tramway station (the trams go from Douglas up to the top of the Snaefell mountain). The bar is brill., not only because it stocks lots of local beers, but 'cos it looks like a tram! We also loved the café at the tram ticket office because it was so old-fashioned. After lunch we took the tram up to The Bungalow (on the TT Circuit) not realising that the motorcycle museum that had been up there was now closed. We had a wander around for an hour, looking at Joey Dunlop's statue and the fantastic view before heading back down in the tram and back to Castletown for the first evening's practice.

The hotel proved even handier for the Southern 100 circuit than we'd expected as a short-ish (mile?) walk across the fields behind the hotel (taking care not to get run over by a steam train when crossing the track!) brought us out just below Church Bends, which we'd heard was a good viewing spot. We settled down amongst the graves in Malew churchyard and waited for the practice to begin. The roads closed at 6.05pm and once the travelling marshals had checked the route was clear the session began. The Southern 100's 'Billown Circuit' is about 4 and a half miles long. The start/finish straight is on the Castletown by-pass and from there it follows a rough square going via Ballakeighan, Ballabeg and Malew.
View Southern 100 in a larger map
If I can get the map to work correctly, the rough square in blue is the circuit with the single blue line wobbling off to the right being the route we walked from the hotel to the circuit. This was my first experience of road racing because, although I've been to the TT before, the weather was too bad for racing (well, that was until they cancelled the day's session and then the sun decided to come out!). I knew that the lads got close to the wall but I was just amazed at how close you actually get to them. We were standing behind the churchyard wall at the apex of the corner and we could have patted them on the back as they went past (had they not been going at 100 mph that is, 'cos I think you'd be patting thin air as they streaked away!) and their heads were brushing the wall. There were better places to stand if you wanted to get good photos – like on the opposite side of the road in the overspill churchyard – but to get the pure atmosphere of road racing I'm not sure that the apex of Church Bends could be bettered.

Guy Martin (pictured) led the first practice sessions for the 1000s and 600s but you could see how hard Michael Dunlop was trying and you could tell he had it hooked up and was just going faster and faster; so by the end of the evening he was topping the timings sheets. Ian Lougher and local boy Conor Cummins (see his horrendous crash at the TT a couple of years ago here) were up there too. There was a short break whilst a sidecar crew were airlifted to hospital, but I understand that it wasn't too serious. There were no serious hold-ups and the roads were re-opened before the scheduled 9.40pm.

We walked back to Ballasalla town and had a couple of pints in The Whitestones (to be recommended, we went back and ate there twice later in the week).

Tuesday

At breakfast two chaps were just booking in after catching the 'plane over from Ireland with some slick tyres for one of the riders. I thought they'd have been for someone we'd never heard of but when we got chatting to them it turned out that they were for Michael Dunlop. He was using, appropriately enough, Dunlops but the tyre suppliers in the paddock were Pirelli so he'd 'phoned the chaps to ask them to collect the tyres for him and bring them over – familiar story for Dad who used to be asked to bring a new exhaust, etc, with him when he came over to support the Porters' riders for the TT. They said that the text explaining where they'd find the tyres was brilliant, along the lines of 'turn left at the blue garage, go a couple of miles up the road and after the farm turn right and at the third gate of the left you'll find two tyres behind the hedge' and there they were at 5.30 that morning touring the country roads of Antrim looking for the tyres!

We kept it local for day two and stayed quite close to Ballasalla. After a look round Castletown we drove around the circuit to see if there was anywhere else we fancied viewing from that evening, but nowhere really caught our attention. We dropped in at Rushen Abbey to look round the ruins and for some nostalgia by the older sections of our party – Dad could remember it being the place to go for cream teas and dancing when the family used to go over in the '50s and '60s. The Abbey's owners had fruit trees planted on the land and made their own famous preserves and held tea dances.

Back to Church Bends that evening, in the car this time - note the eager crowd waiting for the racing to begin... Unfortunately, the only accident of the evening happened here 15 mins before the roads were due to close, when a bike came round the corner only to find a van on his side of the road maneuvering to get through a narrow gate entrance. Luckily it was a low speed hit, although it made a heck of a noise, and he was taken to hospital complaining of arm and neck pain – fingers crossed he was OK and managed to see the rest of the week's racing. The marshals were fantastic; they swung into action directing traffic whilst the course medic treated him before the emergency services arrived. The roads opened less than 20 mins later than expected and by the end of the evening the timing was back on track.

We tried to go to The Sidings in Castletown after the practice but it was absolutely heaving – four deep at the bar – so we went back to the hotel and sampled Okells Maclir and 1907(brewed to commemorate the TT and a slightly excessive 6.1%!) and can pronounce them both excellent - but we kept trying them throughout the week, just to make sure...

Wednesday

Off to Peel today to see the castle. I was happy 'cos almost the first structure through the gate was a garderobe. So, ancient toilet fetish satisfied, I could concentrate on taking nice pictures of the castle! Seriously though, I don't think I've seen as many garderobes in one castle before, the residents were extremely well provided for. By the way, that blue stuff at the top of the photo is what the sky is supposed to look like in summer, rather than the grey we've been used to for the last 3 months...

Lovely lunch at The Creek public house – Jon's kippers (smoked less than 100 yards away) came piled up and in hindsight the side-order of chips may have been a mistake. Bushy's Oyster Stout (made with real oysters apparently) washed it down a treat. Apparently some of the riders were mackerel fishing on the harbour wall, but we didn't spot them.

In the evening we thought we'd try a different viewing spot and chose Stadium Bends at the beginning of the start/finish straight. We caught the steam train at Ronaldsway Halt, just behind the hotel, into Castletown – it stops by The Sidings pub. There are grandstands at Stadium Bends and also up by the start line, but we sat just a little bit further up from the corner. From there you can walk all the way along the start/finish straight, around the paddock, see the riders as they come in to the podium and the first corner.

It was the first proper night of racing with just a sidecar practice at the end. The closest race of the evening was Ryan Farquhar and Jamie Hamilton in the 650 class – team mates on Ryan's own bikes and they were swapping the lead throughout the race with Ryan using a 'wide elbow technique' to discourage Jamie from passing him! Farquhar won by a fraction of a second.

Those tyres of Michael Dunlop's got well-used in his races and he was dominant during the evening. He didn't always get away first but he sooner or later fought his way to the front and streaked away. He looked so relaxed during the sighting laps, arm resting on the tank, foot peddling along the pavement - on one occasion his bike actually was on the pavement! When racing he just seemed so smooth and in control. Guy Martin was second in the races he finished, but had a DNF in the 600 race. His Tyco team-mate Conor Cummins and Ian Lougher were usually dicing for third – very close racing – with Conor getting the best of it by the end. He came second in the races Guy didn't finish. You can find all the results here.

A short shower meant that the last race of the evening, the 125/400s, was shortened to 4 laps, but the sidecar practice ended the session as planned. Caught the bus back to the hotel (it stops just opposite at the airport) and sampled more of the Okells.

Thursday

A full day of racing today, so we drove over to Church Bends and staked our place at the apex of the corner again. The Irish gentlemen from the hotel were there - very happy that their man was doing so well. It was a lovely day but there was a chilly breeze - well, that's my excuse for wearing shades and a sun hat with a mac and walking socks!

Mr Dunlop started where he'd left off the previous evening and won everything he entered. Conor Cummins came second in the races that Guy Martin DNF'd. The racing was great in all the classes. To be honest some of the riders were, to paraphrase Howlin' Wolf, built for comfort rather than speed but they were all heroes as far as I was concerned - look at the photos in the album to see how close to the wall they got. This isn't circuit racing with nice big run-offs if you get it wrong (although that's dangerous enough); the thing you hit here is a house, a garden wall, a tree. Paul Shoesmith (pictured) provided some light relief by turning out in the Evel Knievel leathers that he wore at the TT - complete with tassels!

The church at Malew is lovely, with original box-pews, balcony and a very unusual banked aisle. Members of the church opened the kitchen today and did drinks, burgers, sausages, etc to raise money for the church funds. I hope they did very well. The church is well worth a visit if you're on your way back from Castletown or Ports Erin or St Mary.

After a fantastic day's racing it was off to Castletown Square in the evening for the prize-giving. Everyone received a plaque for taking part was well as those who were up there to collect cheques and silverware. It was nice to stand in the Square next to world famous and not so famous riders, all of whom seemed happy to sign autographs or shake hands with the fans. Unfortunately, all riders look the same with their helmets on so I didn't recognise most of them until Jon pointed them out! Except Conor Cummins, of course, 'cos he's ten foot tall and even though I was standing on the Smelt Monument he still blocked my view of the stage!

Michael Dunlop's clean sweep of wins and 4 new lap records, including an absolute track record, meant that for his final trip to the stage the organisers had to give him a very unglamorous large cardboard box to take all his trophies away in! Local boy Conor Cummins got the loudest cheers every time he went to the stage - as did his Dad when he collected his winner's trophy for the Junior Support Consolation Race. Guy Martin was conspicuous by his absence to collect the first 2 of his 2nd place trophies - I think he was at the back of the bar in the George Hotel and couldn't get out (well, that's my charitable interpretation anyway!) - but he made it out at the third attempt and went off with an armful of trophies.

Friday/Saturday

We started the day with a trip to the steam museum at Port Erin which is quite literally at the end of the line on the most southerly stop on the Isle of Man Steam Railway. So you get to see the trains coming in and out of the shed as well as the static ones displayed in the museum.

Then we had a trip up to Douglas to have a mooch around the shops. We didn't buy much today but bought loads when we were waiting for the ferry on Saturday! We had a nice afternoon tea at the Alpine Cafe on Regent Street and on Saturday we enjoyed our lunch at The Velvet Lobster on North Quay

We popped into the Tourist Info Office to find out where the bikes from Murray's Motorcycle Museum at the Bungalow had ended up and were told that Peter Murray now has them at a museum at his home in Santon. The lady gave us the details but suggested that we ring first because the opening times could be somewhat erratic. So, we headed back to the hotel and, as we went through Santon, we noticed that for the first time that week the museum's sign was out so we decided to pay a visit. To find it, take the A5 towards Castletown. When you see the house (pictured) seemingly in the middle of the road, the museum is through a farm gate on the left of the house. If you get to Fairy Bridge ('Hello fairies') you've gone too far. It's an amazing collection, all the more interesting because it's now just in a large two story garage - it reminded us of the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum near us in Calne.

Mr Murray was on hand to provide teas and coffees and lots of information. Whilst we were there one of the riders from the Southern 100 and his wife were looking round (possibly Chris Palmer, but I didn't like to let on that I didn't recognise him - see my comments above about all riders looking the same...), plus a TT marshal, so I think it gets the more knowledgeable type of bike enthusiasts. There were some brilliant bits of engine on the bench with melted bits to illustrate what happens when a piston lets go, etc. We'd not meant to stay long but it was almost 2 hours later when we made our escape.

Dinner in the evening was with friends of my parents at The Garrison - again very generous portions and I had to give my side dishes away, sob.

Back home on the Saturday after a shopping trip to Douglas, thankfully the ferry was a little quieter!

It looks like the races are on Eurosport2 over the weekend of the 4th August and into next week - look out for 'Motorcycling: Southern 100' and 'Motorcycling: Billown Races' each day.