Let the Practice Begin for 2013 Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT

The format for the Festival of Motorcycling consisted of practice each evening for a week, followed by racing every second day of the second week.

We watched the start of the practice week at the start line, thereby seeing the very first of the racing.

We had a bit more wander around the pits and came across Dave Milligan from Get Routed.  He is the fellow who shipped our bikes over to the UK previously.  He was looking after the Britton.  This is a famous race bike designed in New Zealand in the 80s.  It was way ahead of its time and either won by a large margin or blew up.  It was also unusual to see a bike painted blue and pink.

The remaining models are not often seen in action, so it was great to get up so close and personal.

Kiwi Bruce Anstey was the lucky fellow to get to ride it in some displays this time.

We saw lots more bikes in the pits that hadn’t been there on our earlier visit, but I won’t bore you with them.

Before the bikes go out on the road they have to pass scrutineering.  Lots of waiting around for them.

While we waited for the start, we checked out the score board. All the scoring is done manually by the local scouts.  They do a fantastic job.

We had a great bird’s eye view of the start from the grandstand. I was rather taken with one lady’s overalls. They stood out quite well.

I always kept my eye out for the bright pink helmet going around in the races and gave them a little cheer.  I’ve no idea who they were.

And they’re off.

After they all left the start, we headed around to Quarter Bridge, which is a popular viewing point and watched them go around.  It was quite hard to get photos as the light was fading.

Unfortunately, this fellow had to pull out.

The evening’s procedures were called off a bit earlier than planned due to an oil spill on the road, but it was good to see everything underway.

On the way home we called in at the Fairy Bridge.  Visiting the Fairy bridge is now a tradition for us each visit.  It is most important to say “Hello” and wave to the fairies whenever you cross the bridge, which for us was nearly every day we were on the island.  If you don’t, terrible things could happen to you.

Check out all the Aussie stickers on the back of the sign. 

It was a good way to end another day in paradise.