Culture – Tourist Trophy: better understand the “ deadly ” route of the Isle of Man –

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Tourist Trophy: better understand the “ deadly ” route of the Isle of Man

Culture - Tourist Trophy: better understand the `` deadly '' route of the Isle of Man -

How to grasp the magnitude of the challenge that the motorcycle riders of the Tourist Trophy take up each year? Watching their terrifying on-board videos, of course. But there is an image which, on its own, makes it possible to understand how difficult this test is: a work entitled ” Race Tracks to Scale ”…

Contested for the very first time in 1907 on the "small" St-John route (25.5 km anyway), the Tourist Trophy has been taking place on the same route since 1938: the famous "Mountain Course", 60 , 73 km, composed of more than 200 turns and equipped with a single radar in front of which it is a question of passing as quickly as possible … Deadly !?

This circuit which partially circles the Isle of Man – around Snaefell Mountain, in fact – is indeed so dangerous that it fell off the calendar of the world championship of motorcycle speed, the famous Grand Prix, in 1976..

One – macabre or respectful? – also scrupulously lists the names of the pilots (257 dead in practice or in the race), officials (2) and spectators (2) who disappeared during the 99 editions of the formidable "TiTi".

Culture - Tourist Trophy: better understand the `` deadly '' route of the Isle of Man -

Fearsome, sometimes fatal, the Tourist Trophy remains essential today for many bikers, whether they are actors or observers. For the latter, however, unless you had the chance – like MNC during the for example! – to ride on the track, it is not easy to perceive the level of difficulty of this test.

Today’s videos – HD, 4K, 360 °, etc! – allow to get a good idea of ​​what men and their machines endure. A fortiori when it comes to embedded videos! To complete these too "terrible" testimonies, Site offers you another image, fixed but just as telling…

Mountain course: the largest circuit in the world

Designed and since 2014 by a certain Matt Dunlop – Australian designer unrelated to Joey and Michael -, the work "Race Tracks to Scale" represents, as its name suggests in English, circuits to scale. Among the 95 drawn lines, there are also 4 French ones (click on the image to enlarge!).

Site readers – who, as everyone knows, have a little more culture than others – will quickly have spotted the legendary Sarthe circuit (associated with Bugatti, theater of the Grand Prix de France and), Dijon-Prenois ( ), Paul Ricard () and Magny-Cours ().

Even longer, harder and better (?) Than the 24H Le Mans Auto track (13.63 km and 38 turns), the climb to Pikes Peak (19.99 km and 156 turns) and the Nurburgring Nordschleife (20, 81 km and 154 turns) are not however commensurate with the "Mountain Course" which frames the 94 other circuits. Too deadly, no ?

Snaefell Mountain Course route

Culture - Tourist Trophy: better understand the `` deadly '' route of the Isle of Man -

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