No headaches after the post race celebrations!
Our little team had a very happy evening celebrating with Bruce, Anny and Clive Padgett.
After the race on Saturday the whole team were taken to the hospitality centre by Milky Quayle where free drinks were supplied to us all. The TT organisers have really gone out of their way to make us feel welcome.
People have asked about Bruce winning the Hailwood Trophy which is awarded for the first single cylinder bike.
The 2nd placed single cylinder Molnar Manx was not eligible for this award as it has a non-period 4 valve head which it is only allowed to run here on the Isle of Man. Under a dispensation it runs in the GP2 class for multi-cylinder bikes.
To quote from an earlier press release on the IoM website
Bruce Anstey will be competing for the Mike Hailwood Trophy awarded for 500cc single cylinder machines using a machine that is essentially true to 1962 specification against the much later pre-1973 period multi-cylinder bikes, but “with Bruce’s speed and the fickle nature of true ‘TT’ racing he is certainly in with a chance of an overall podium finish” says McIntosh. “Mike Hailwood lived in New Zealand when he retired from racing the first time so there is a special Hailwood connection there”
For Bruce to get on the podium was a double bonus.
Sunday arrived with beautiful weather. The Vintage Motorcycle Club Festival at Jurby Airfield and as it has about 20,000 people attending we thought it a good place to arrive late!
We took the two bikes to display and met a lot of people who had cheered Bruce on from around the circuit. They were all impressed with his immaculate lines through the corners, and how good the bike sounded. The Summerfield motor never missed a beat.
On Sunday evening Debbie and I were invited to the Classic TT Heroes Dinner where Niall McKenzie, Carl Fogarty, Croz and John McGuinness were all on stage with Neil Hodgson, who interviewed them about there experiences with Joey Dunlop. They were all full of praise for the man who won more TT’s than any other rider but also drove a van full of supplies to Bosnia for an orphanage during the Balkans War without any fanfare.
Michael Dunlop also spoke of his experiences of switching from Honda to BMW and was very forthright!
We sat with Malcolm Wheeler, the editor of Classic Racer magazine who was a TT winner himself. He told me Classic Racer is almost unique in it has bigger overseas sales than UK. I told him it was even on sale at Dubai Airport.
We also had Ferry Brouwer at our table, who sent the V4 125cc Yamaha to NZ for Hugh Anderson to ride. He disbanded his historic Yamaha team last year and has retired from classic racing and is enjoying his first “real” retirement. Charlie Williams who won 8 x TT’s in the 1970’s was very nice to talk to and is learning to sail a yacht . He had a good ride in the Classic TT this year after a long retirement.
Monday morning
The weather this morning is overcast and not expected to clear. The 350cc Classic Race and the Formula 1 Race (Bruce to ride the Yamaha 1992 V4 GP bike) are due to run but may be delayed until tomorrow.
Ken