Speed at the TT Races: Faster and Faster

For over 100 years the world's best motorcycle racers have pitted themselves against the grueling 373/4 -mile Isle of Man Mountain Course at the annual event known worldwide simple as "The TT". The Tourist Trophy meeting represents perhaps the greatest challenge that the sport of motorcycle racing can offer. The top names in road racing--Collier, Wood, Duke, Hailwood, Agostini, Hislop, Jefferies, McGuinness, Hutchinson and the Dunlop dynasty--have all considered the pursuit of a Tourist Trophy to be the ultimate goal. From riding the earliest single-cylinder, belt-driven machines with outputs of under 10bhp, to coping with today's sophisticated four-cylinder machines giving well over 200bhp, generations of riders have risked their lives to satisfy the desire to go faster than the next man and to win a TT. In the process, they have lifted lap speeds by almost 100mph. Exactly how that huge increase has been achieved is told within these pages, set against the background of the triumph and the tragedies of the TT history.

David Wright's interest in the TT goes back over fifty years to the era when the Italian machines of Gilera and MV Agusta dominated the races in the hands of riders like Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Carlo Ubbiali. A constant follower of Island racing ever since, he greatly admires the performances of today's TT-winning machines from Japan and the riders who have the courage and talent to race over the famous Mountain Course. David is the author of several books including Vincent - The Complete Story and 100 Years of the Isle of Man TT, both published by Crowood.