200 MPH Plus - Isle of Man TT.

I just can't get over the allure and the brush with near death experience. It comes to us all eventually, but to tweak the nose of the grim Reaper and get away with it. People find all sorts of ways of testing themselves and many brave fellows die in such pursuits of speed.

Jim Clark, Wolfgang von Trips, Peter Collins, Donald Campbell, Ayton Senna upon racing cars. Then there is this motorbike circuit like no other in the world. It brings out the knight in all across the world. They flock to this event and many die pitting their wits against this extreme speed demon. 

There will always be people like this who test the boundaries and I am in awe of them and their bravery. I could never do it, yet I get excited watching the grand race.

Isle of Man TT 2014 - The Knights of the World Gathered.

I would never have the bottle to do this, but can't help being drawn to the event. I love watching it and get an adrenalin rush just observing the audacity of these guys. Heaven knows what it must be like, skimming the very limit of such a danger zone - just brushing it and getting the 'do or dare' buzz - gritting ones teeth at the face of danger or sticking two fingers up to it. Once again, the knights of the planet are drawn to the monster that lives on a small island. The Isle of Man TT.

New Ducks, Chickens, and a visit from Ryan and Graham

 

 

Isle Of Man TT Speed Needs of the Chancers

The Isle of Man TT is a Motorbike race like no other. The regulations are less stringent, so the safety aspect is reduced. The race is dangerous, to say the least. The Isle of Man TT is like a Mecca for those with an unyielding need to push themselves to the limit. Sometimes with dire consequences.

Watch the above clip and get an idea of the speed these racers go to and see what can happen with just the merest lapse in concentration.

    

Review of The Limit (Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit) by Michael Cannell

I loved this era of Formula one racing and Le Mans too. The 1950s was one of the most dangerous times during the history of motor racing. This book delves into the life of American F1 hero Phil Hill, German hero Wolfgang Von Trips and car designer Enzo Ferrari who had both the racers on his elite motor racing team. All the other great are featured as well, including Hawthorn, Collins, Ascari etc.

It is buzzing with excitement and eye witness accounts of many fatal crashes, including Le Mans 1955. Old time greats come into this historical account. I honestly could not put this book down. It was a cracking read. If you love the history of Motorsports; you'll love this. I have not enjoyed anything on par for a long time. We see Hill and Von Trips advancing up the rankings of the Ferrari team as those drivers above are killed.

We see the relaxation life of the driving superstars as they go around the world waiting for the next big race and who will be dining and laughing afterwards. These guys are speed gladiators and one of them: Stirling Moss survived all this. This is a real eye opener.

The Limit
Michael Cannell

Isle Of Man Motorbike TT Speed Freaks.

The Isle of Man TT Race. I don't know how these guys have got the courage but if you have, the thrill must be addictive. Uplifting like nothing I can imagine. Just watching these daredevils is breathtaking. Guy Martin - the thrill-seeking adventurer takes part in these races and his ambition is to one day win it.

The Isle of Man TT has public roads shut off and the road around the island in the Irish Sea, between Britain and Ireland, is exempt from certain UK or Ireland Government rules. The Isle of Man has its own parliament and has not allowed the UK, Ireland, or EU road safety restrictions to stop its prestigious and monumental race. It is also one of the most dangerous racing events in the world. In around one hundred and seven events since 1907, the TT has claimed in excess of 240 lives during race and training sessions.

Combined with other non-fatal, yet hair raising crashes, the event speaks for itself. Every year, when the race is held, it is like a Mecca for motorbike enthusiasts and race spectators. People from around the planet flock to the island. I, like all good spectators, wish to go and watch the Isle of Man TT. At least once in my life. 

Would You Like To Drive One of Jim Clark's Formula One Cars?

Driving Jim Clark's Lotus 25 would be a dream come true for anyone who enjoys formula one and its high octane, fuel injected, excitingly dangerous history. Where the thin line between winning glory and devastating acceleration into the afterlife can happen in the flicker of a blink.

 

Jim Clark tasted both sides - the euphoric adulation of winning while skimming the danger of death and finally the flip side of the formula one coin. His name now echoes in eternity and the thought of driving one of his actual cars is something close to the legend he has become. I would be too terrified to even contemplate racing in formula one, but to take one on a spin on an empty open track? Oh yes! I think I could manage that.

 

David Coulthard got to do just that, but then he is one of the many who have tweaked the nose of Formula one danger. I have a Lotus 25 diecast 1:18 of Jim Clark's 1967 Dutch Grand Prix car. It has pride of place in my little office room. I enjoy watching Formula One, but I get this interest in fads. I am going through such a fad of interest at the moment. It will settle down, but its Ron Howard, the late James Hunt and Nikki Lauda's fault.

For now, I'm enjoying going through a retro buzz  and the great Retro Brit names of the 50s and 60s are compelling me to look at the sport. Jim Clark, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jackie Stewart. That fifteen years was a golden age for British Formula One. Great days with only some of the vehicles of some of the ghosts that have left us.

 

Mike Hawthorn - Formula One Championship Winner 1958.

Stirling Moss with Mike Hawthorn

Mike Hawthorn was born in Yorkshire, the UK in 1929. His family moved to Sussex where he grew up and was schooled. He was a very distinguished-looking young man who only lived to be 29 years of age. He had platinum blond hair and always wore a bow tie beneath his motor racing boiler suit, often smoking a pipe. He was a bit like a Retro Brit schoolboy comic book hero of that time. Some that knew him well, said he was not such the modest young Englishman that he looked. He was often given to playing playful pranks, some of which, might not be acceptable in today's politically correct world. I think he was probably a product of his times, looking a little more like Campbell and son speed record breakers - the last of a stereotype Retro British bulldog breed. I think it is with this affection that Mike Hawthorn is remembered. He lived his short life to the full and in the fast lane.

He began his career in 1950 and raced for a few different teams. He won the Le Mans 1955 tournament under a cloud of resentment and disrespect for, during the race, there was a terrible crash and other competitors retired because over 80 spectators and a formula 1 driver were killed. Mike Hawthorn was a part involved though no harm came to him. It is often believed he may have inadvertently contributed to the crash while slowing for a pit stop. Another driver swerved to miss him and this driver caused the next car behind to somersault up to the vehicle's rear wheel arch and into the crowd of spectators. The death and carnage were awful, but Mike Hawthorn had already moved on and this happened behind him.

In 1958 he won the Formula 1 championship but decided to retire because of a death of his Ferrari team mate in the German Grand Prix. Mike Hawthorn and his team mate often shared their winnings and developed a great rivalry with another. Another teammate was an Italian driver called  Luigi Musso. For some reason, Hawthorn and Collins excluded Luigi from the winnings deal and it brought about a rivalry and resentment that caused all three to take greater risk competing with one another for the overall championship prize money. Luigi Musso took one risk too many at the French Grand Prix of 1958 and was killed in a terrible crash. He was rushed to the hospital where he died.

Luigi Musso

Luigi Musso's girlfriend (Faimma Breschi) at the time of his death, revealed the nature of Musso's rivalry with Hawthorn and Collins and she had great cause to dislike the two Englishmen. She claims that when she returned from hospital to the hotel after watching her lover Luigi Musso die; Nigel Hawthorn and fellow British team-mate, Peter Collins, were laughing and joking in the hotel grounds, playing football. There was also a discarded can of beer which she found very disrespectful.

Before the championship ended the other Ferrari team member Peter Collins was killed in a crash during the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring. This brought Mike Hawthorn to the decision of quitting F1 motor racing.




Peter Collins

Then within the year, Mike Hawthorn was killed on the A3 near Guilford when his jaguar crashed. He was not in a race but driving the roads as any everyday citizen would. It was a terrible irony for the man who had become a legend in his time.

Luigi Musso's girlfriend (Fiamma Breschi) said she did not shed a tear for either of the F1 racing drivers because she was embittered that Nigel Hawthorn and his teammate caused the extreme risk-taking that led to the death of Luigi Musso.