Isle of Man TT:
No Room for Error
Anyone with even a passing interest in motorcycle racing will know at least a little about the legendary Isle of Man TT circuit, and anyone who rides a bike can probably imagine what a challenge it must be to compete at such speeds on public roads. Few people ever get to ride the iconic Isle of Man course at anything approaching TT speeds, but our video of Honda Racing's new recruit Davey Todd doing a race-speed lap gives an incredible insight into what it must feel like.
For the 2020 Isle of Man TT, Davey was due to compete for the new-look Honda Racing team for the first time at the world-famous event on the all-new 2020 Honda CBR1000RR-R SP Fireblade. It would also have been the first time racing at the TT ever for his new teammate, Glenn Irwin. Sadly, like so many other events, the 2020 Isle of Man TT succumbed to the coronavirus outbreak, but the video of Davey doing a lap of the TT circuit definitely whets the appetite for seeing the pair getting to grips with the new Fireblade when things start returning to normal.
When the lap gets underway and Davey powers away from the start, the rider soon comes to Bray Hill and the difference between racing on a track and on the road quickly becomes frighteningly apparent. As Davey moves from one side of the road to the other at what can only be described as breakneck speed, he comments, "You have to make sure your lines are right. Down Bray Hill there's quite a few big bumps and little jumps, I guess, so it's very hard to change direction with a bike, especially at that speed."
Greeba Castle is at the 5-mile point of the circuit, and Davey is going flat-out in sixth gear in this section. When it comes to approaching the lap, Davey says he leaves his nerves behind at the start line. "Sat on the start line, you’re that focused on the job ahead of you and the fact you're going to be going straight from C roads to 150-plus miles per hour almost instantly, the nerves seem to go out the window and you’re just focused on the job ahead of you."
This is a really difficult section physically for the rider. As Davey explains, "You have to make sure your bike's handling well to get it to change direction in two really hard left-right corners where you’re heaving the bike from one side to the other side. It's a physical section that's tough on the body."
With his extensive experience of Motorcross riding, Davey is no stranger to bumpy surfaces, but bumps on a Motocross bike at considerably lower speeds are an entirely different matter to the TT experience.
The Churchtown section at 22 miles is a particularly difficult part of the circuit due to its bumpy nature. Although it's hard to see bumps in the video, Davey assures us that they're definitely there. Before he experienced the circuit for himself, as a former Motocross rider he wasn't particularly concerned at the prospect when other riders told him about this section.
"I didn’t think too much of it," Davey tells us before adding, "But when I first got round there myself I knew they were talking sense because, man, it was bumpy. It's so rough there's no explaining through that section."
Of course, it's the sheer speed riders achieve through sections like this that make completing the race such an achievement. Because of the nature of a road circuit that wasn't designed for racing, Davey says his lean angle can’t be anywhere near what it should be at those speeds if he was on a track circuit.
One of Davey's favourite parts of the entire course arrives at the Mountain section, in particular, the part between 32nd and 33rd milestones. It's an incredibly fast section, which again has a bit of a track feel about it due to a lack of houses, walls and other obstructions racers don’t have to contend with if they are on a track.
In the video, it shows Davey coming up behind the bike of TT legend Peter Hickman ("Hickey") in this section where we're told a lot of time can be made up if necessary. Modestly, Davey admits that he uses the opportunity here to learn a few things from watching the much more experienced rider ahead of him.
Although this section looks a little more straightforward than in the towns and village sections, we learn that another obstacle comes into play in areas like this, which is the wind.
As he approaches the end of the lap, Davey gives us an insight into what a rider is thinking at this point. "At that point, you're thinking don’t make a mistake here because I've completed a full lap and I don’t want to mess the lap up for these niggly little corners. It's just a crazy feeling; for one of having completed a lap, but for another reason, to be going flat-out and getting to do another lap around this awesome circuit."
Hopefully, Davey will be back into practice on his CBR1000RR-R SP for Honda Racing before too long, and the rest of us can get back to enjoying riders like him entertaining us while we watch from the safety of our sofas or the side of the road.
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