26th August 2018 - Ballasholague Farm, Isle of Man
Kms today 86
Kms to date 10,027
Rain was predicted for today and that's what happened. It was not a race day and the only event was the Jurby Festival held on an airfield the other side of Ramsey. The festival was built around special race bikes that do laps around a simple circuit. Neither Alan or I relished the thought of getting a soaking so we stayed at home and caught up with the blog. Betty had her helper, Derek, light a fire in the lounge room for us as it was bloody cold. However the weather brightened in the afternoon so after lunch I set off to see what was going on a Jurby. Things were winding down when I got there, but there were still a number of bikes circulating and quite a few in the pits. One bike I noticed was the same 750 Suzuki single in a special frame that we saw at the Faugheen 50 in Ireland.
I got to sit on a beautiful 4 cylinder racer in a Yamaha TD2 frame - a bit of a squeeze. There was a large museum of cars and bikes at Jurby too and I wanted to go back and have a proper look later.
The weather had cleared up by now so I went for a ride around the TT course, but in the reverse direction from Ballaugh to Douglas looking for good places to view the races tomorrow. I decided that Braddon Bridge was the spot to be as an enterprising church was allowing spectators access to its front garden providing seating and a great lunch in the parish hall. They had parking as well for a modest fee. The view was of the bikes coming out of Braddon Bridge across a road junction and on to Crosby. It was also attractive because I could leave after the first race to ride round the back roads to the paddock and get a close look at the RC30s in the parade lap and get back for the next race. there are so many viewing spots on the TT course its hard to chose which is the best.
I rode back through Douglas to Laxey, picked up a bottle of wine and some nibbles and headed back to Betty's. Alan had written loads of days on the blog and was glad of some refreshment. We had a chat with Betty and discovered her father ran a motorcycle manufacturer called DMW in the 1960's. She used to help him building the wheels. They used Villiers engines but the rest of the bike was their own. They even had a race team and entered bikes in the TT in the 1960's with Jack Findlay as a rider in one instance. Betty was the team manager and mechanic and got to know the other teams including Mr Honda himself and the Yamaha team who she shared a garage with. She had a delightful photo of her in the midst of the paddock changing the plugs on the DMW wearing a cotton print dress!
She regaled us with stories of her racing days for the rest of our stay, usually over a cup of tea in her sitting room.
Kms to date 10,027
Rain was predicted for today and that's what happened. It was not a race day and the only event was the Jurby Festival held on an airfield the other side of Ramsey. The festival was built around special race bikes that do laps around a simple circuit. Neither Alan or I relished the thought of getting a soaking so we stayed at home and caught up with the blog. Betty had her helper, Derek, light a fire in the lounge room for us as it was bloody cold. However the weather brightened in the afternoon so after lunch I set off to see what was going on a Jurby. Things were winding down when I got there, but there were still a number of bikes circulating and quite a few in the pits. One bike I noticed was the same 750 Suzuki single in a special frame that we saw at the Faugheen 50 in Ireland.
Rob North Racing Triumph triple with the home built
Suzuki 70 single behind at Jurby
Suzuki 70 single behind at Jurby
I got to sit on a beautiful 4 cylinder racer in a Yamaha TD2 frame - a bit of a squeeze. There was a large museum of cars and bikes at Jurby too and I wanted to go back and have a proper look later.
A tight squeeze for Colin on a home built Yamaha 250 4 cylinder
The weather had cleared up by now so I went for a ride around the TT course, but in the reverse direction from Ballaugh to Douglas looking for good places to view the races tomorrow. I decided that Braddon Bridge was the spot to be as an enterprising church was allowing spectators access to its front garden providing seating and a great lunch in the parish hall. They had parking as well for a modest fee. The view was of the bikes coming out of Braddon Bridge across a road junction and on to Crosby. It was also attractive because I could leave after the first race to ride round the back roads to the paddock and get a close look at the RC30s in the parade lap and get back for the next race. there are so many viewing spots on the TT course its hard to chose which is the best.
I rode back through Douglas to Laxey, picked up a bottle of wine and some nibbles and headed back to Betty's. Alan had written loads of days on the blog and was glad of some refreshment. We had a chat with Betty and discovered her father ran a motorcycle manufacturer called DMW in the 1960's. She used to help him building the wheels. They used Villiers engines but the rest of the bike was their own. They even had a race team and entered bikes in the TT in the 1960's with Jack Findlay as a rider in one instance. Betty was the team manager and mechanic and got to know the other teams including Mr Honda himself and the Yamaha team who she shared a garage with. She had a delightful photo of her in the midst of the paddock changing the plugs on the DMW wearing a cotton print dress!
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| Betty in her Sunday best tuning the bikes! |
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