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Thanks guys!
The 103 and change time was an aggregate for the whole race including the pit stop. My fastest lap was 107.5mph on the last lap of the race. I am pretty pleased with that!
This was quite a different Manx for me, last year I started with the shell shock of the course and during the event kind of got it under control. This year I started under control and ended the my race with that far away stare. Going 160+ mph for long periods of time, with jumps and wheelies interspersed is quite a mental overload.
The TZ was a "tool", my Grandstand speed was 151 mph (no where near the fastest part of the circuit) and just 5 mph down on the largest 4 stroke.
To give you a brief view of part of the circuit, (sorry no video, a stone put a big crack in my screen just where a camera might be mounted), you come out of the Nook to enter the start finish straight, this is super slow and slippery, in first gear. The bike is very eager to accelerate in first and it is difficult to smoothly apply the throttle, standing the bike up right I short shift into 2nd.
Now out of the slippery stuff and upright I fully open the throttles, the power hits in 2nd gear, up comes the front wheel and I try to hold the throttles open for as long as possible as I see more of the sky. I change into third, as the power comes in again, the front wheel hovers a foot above the track. Accelerating hard I hit 4th, 5th and 6th just before the start/finish line.
You can see a fuzzy blur of people at the side of the track, but at 150 mph your periphery vision does not work. At 10k in 6th gear (165 mph) you cross the first traffic lights, the bike wheelies as you lean slightly left, this is followed by a crest as the road goes slightly right, you take off for a brief second. You now really start down the steepest part of the hill as the road bears left again and you prepare for the bottom of the hill.
Holding the throttle fully open at this stage still takes me a lot of will power, in my head I scream M' F'er as I hit the right hand apex at the bottom of the hill. You are crushed into the tank by the force of the dip, something on the bike hits the road and then you rise out of the over side of the hill. Throttle still pinned.
At Ago's leap the bike wheelies hard in 6th gear for perhaps 50 yards, it lands for another 50 and you hit a crest again and the bike wheelies again. As it lands for the second time, I take a few big breaths and I have the biggest grin on my face!
That is just 1 of 38 miles.
Dave
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