Racing at Phillip Island Australia Day Weekend

This was the first time we have attended the Island Classic races.  We had heard lots of good things about them.  It is the biggest classic bike racing meet in Australia.

The Island Classic Races are very different to the Moto GP.  You can wander all around the pits, getting up close and personal with the racers.

There is a wide range of racing, from the locals to an international competition between Australia, New Zealand, the USA and the UK.  One of the drawcards for us attending this year is that some of the main racers from the Isle of Man TT were attending.

This is the UK team pit.  You can see John McGuinness’ leathers hanging up (with the picture of a pint of Guinness on his bum).  He is the fastest TT rider and this is his first time at this race meeting.

And, the man himself, being interviewed.

Oh, and I’m a bit of a groupy.  We had our photo taken with John in August on the Isle of Man, so I took it down and had him sign it.  The other fellow in this picture is Garry Johnson, another great Isle of Man TT race winner.

Australia’s favourite son in TT racing is Cam Donald.  We have had our photo taken with him a couple of times on the Isle of Man, once with me sitting on his race bike, so I had them signed as well, we just forgot to have a proper photo with him.

Here he is, ready to race on a Harley.  Unfortunately, although he would be leading the races, the bike would let him down.

On a more local level, there were two sidecar outfits from Bathurst.  Mick sometimes does some work with the rider of #11.  Unfortunately, their motor gave up the ghost during the weekend.

We also know the lady in the  sidecar of #128.  They did really well, keeping in touch with the leaders all the time.  I think they came 4th overall.  There were quite a few lady “swingers”.  Not for this little black duck.  I think I’ll just stay in our sedate sidecar. 

On the Saturday, we watched from a different spot along the track.  It was great being able to take you bike right up to the track, quite unlike the Moto GP.

The racetrack is in a really scenic location, backing onto Bass Strait.

Saturday and Sunday proved to be great days for racing.  The only downside was that we got rather sunburnt, despite wearing blockout.

After a great weekend, we headed north on Monday.

Extremes

Boy! Does the world throw some extremes at us. 

Pop over to Chookyblue’s to see the gorgeous summer weather she has been experiencing.  I’m sure it will be the summer holiday destination of choice for next year.

On the other hand, our favourite island – the Isle of Man has really been copping it over the last few days with more to come today.  They missed the worst of the weather over Christmas but are making up for it now.  My friend Lou has posted about it here and here.

Here are a few comparisons – photos we took in August on the left and ones I have borrowed from Lou’s blog, taken on Friday and Saturday, on the right. Castletown, where we stay, and Ramsey, where Lou lives, were the worst affected.  Our cottage would have been OK, but the street behind us copped the worst of the flooding.

Castletown

Ramsey

Ramsey again.  The shop on the bottom left is the patchwork shop.  There was a radio interview with the owner to say that the community had pitched in to help move her stock out of harm’s way before the flooding.

Douglas and  Peel

Our mate has his boat moored in the Castletown harbour.  We hope it was OK.  The other thing I wonder about is “Peggy”  She is reputably the oldest yacht in the world and lives in a boat house under the Nautical Museum in Castletown.  When we visited they were trying to arrange to move her prior to predicted record high tides in the coming spring. I found an article dated Christmas Eve about her restoration, and at that stage she hadn’t been moved.  See a break in the wall on the right of the photo on the right, well she lives in behind there.  I hope she is OK.

The Isle of Man is expected to cop it again today.  I’ll be thinking of them.

We, on the other hand, are having rather pleasant weather at the moment, only in the high 20s, much better than the 40 we had on Friday.  Now we just want to be greedy and get some rain.

A Sneak Peek – James May Sidecar

Remember when we were back on the Isle of Man.  Well, there is lots that I never got around to adding to my blog, so I’ll just occasionally add another little tit bit.

If any of you are familiar with the TV show “Top Gear” you will know of James May.  He has made a separate show on his own called James May’s Toy Story.  We saw a few episodes.  One was making a full scale Airfix model aeroplane, one was running model railway trains along the length of a disused railway line and another was building a bridge across a canal in Liverpool that would support a man made out of Meccano.

Well, he was at it again on the Isle of Man, making an episode for his Christmas special.  This time it was a motorcycle with sidecar made out of Meccano and he and his mate Oz Clarke were to do a lap of the TT Course – thirty seven and three quarter miles. 

There was quite a bit of hype leading up to the start, which was at the end of a day’s racing.  We waited patiently at our spot beside the track for him to appear, but gave up, deciding instead to drive back along the course towards the start line and see if we came across him.

We finally found him, just around the corner from the start line.  To our surprise, we were able to get quite close and take some great photos.  In typical Isle of Man fashion, there was no keeping the public out of the way.

The bike is a true work of art.

It is powered by 90, yes, 90, little Meccano electric motors.

There was also a battery kit from a golf cart to help up the hills.

Look at the work in the wheels.

And the front view.

He was a very brave man hopping in that sidecar, relying only on the little pieces to support him.

And off they go, down Bray Hill.  I hoped their brakes were good.

As we were heading back home we saw them still in Douglas, pulled up by their support van.  We hoped that there weren’t any major dramas.

Over the next couple of day people were ringing into the radio station giving updates on where they had seen the bike on its way around the course.  It took about 3 days to complete, but yes, they did make it all the way around and there was a big cheer for them at the finish line on the final day’s racing, just before the racing began.

I do hope they show the episode out here some time and that we don’t miss it.

Groudle Glen Railway

You’d better grab a cuppa for this one.

Back in Victorian times the Isle of Man was the place for the English to go for their holidays.  As a result lots of beautiful buildings were built and tourist attractions created.  One hundred and twenty years ago, this month, an electric railway was opened. 

At that time the terminus was at Groudle.

One entrepreneur opened a hotel at Groudle and developed various attractions, including rustic walks through the Glen to the little beach and the rocks beyond. 

There was a dance floor, music, rides, fortune tellers and stalls, as well as a pretty water wheel.

To add to all of this  he also opened a miniature railway.

Initially, there were two steam engines - “Sea Lion” and “Polar Bear”. At its peak the Groudle Glen Railway carried 100,000 passengers each year. 

The train ran out to the rocks by the sea where there was a tea room and a small zoo, the highlights being, funnily enough, sea lions and two polar bears, hence the names of the steam engines.  There was a high footbridge built over the water, so people could watch and feed the sea lions.

Unfortunately, World War One caused the railway to be closed for a few years.  When it reopened in 1920 the sea lions returned to the zoo, but there were no more polar bears.  At that time they also introduced some new fangled electric locomotives, also called “Sea Lion” and “Polar Bear”.  (The one below is a replica.)

They weren’t terribly successful, so the old steam engines were reintroduced in the early 1930s.

Once again the railway closed due to war and was reopened again in 1950.  The railway had suffered while it was closed and only “Polar Bear'” was used once the line reopened.  “Sea Lion” was stripped for spares and just left to rot.  The railway was troubled from then on, as the engine aged and vandals damaged things.  Finally in the early 60s the line closed.  Ohhhhhh!

“Polar Bear” and some spares were sold for 25 pounds and eventually what remained of “Sea Lion” left the island. The station and track bed was left to rot away and get overgrown.

But, all was not lost!!!

A trusty band of enthusiasts formed a group in 1982 and decided to try and get things up and running again.  They did lots of work on the overgrown track bed and were lucky enough in 1983 to buy a complete miniature railway, including two diesel locos, “Dolphin” and “Walrus”, from England.

“Sea Lion” also returned to the island that year and the first trains ran just before Christmas.

In the last 30 years the group of volunteers have done wonders.

“Sea Lion” was fully restored, commencing on the island and then being finished as an apprentice training project in the Lakes District.

Carriages were restored and built.

The station has been rebuilt.

New workshops were built.

A new Tea Rooms at Sea Lion Rocks has been built and staffed.

No, there is no zoo or polar bears.  There are just a few small reminders of what had been there in the past.

All new signage has been put in place.

The track needs constant maintenance.

As does the rolling stock.

The highlight for the railway each year is the Santa train.  Heaps of kids ride on the train and Santa’s helpers provide each with a Christmas gift.  Apparently it is hugely successful and now they have also introduced Easter trains.

The railway celebrated it centenary a few years ago and “Polar Bear” came to visit.  It is still going strong in England, which is great to hear.  It won’t be coming home permanently, though.

It is truly amazing what has been achieved in the time since the decision was made to try and get the railway up and running again.  Even if we had visited on our previous travels to the island we would not have seen as much as we did this year.

We were chatting to a couple of the volunteers and it was interesting that their day jobs are quite “white collar”, rather different to getting dirty with steam trains.  There are about thirty people involved and they run the railway each Sunday all day and on Wednesday evenings during the summer months.  Quite a commitment from them all.

They are also starting to restore another engine, which will be named “Brown Bear'”.  (Visitors could take brown bear cubs for a walk at the original zoo.)

As you can probably gather, despite not being a train buff by any means, this was one of the highlights of our visit to the island. It will definitely be somewhere we will visit next time we are on the Isle of Man.

By the way, there is also a miniature railway at Laxey Mine and one at the Wildlife Park.  That is in addition to the government owned one that runs down the south of the island all the time.  We’ll have to check out the others in the future as well

Practice at Ballaugh Bridge

Thursday evening of practice week produced the best weather of the week after a misty day.  Ballaugh Bridge is a popular place to watch the races due to the hump back bridge and “The Raven” pub is rather conveniently placed.

While waiting for the practice to start we watched the world go by.  Tractors with trailers are common on the roads.

The houses across the road.

On the right hand post of the front fence (just to the right of the above photo) there is a memorial to a previous TT rider.

A professional photographer was set up with a remotely controlled camera. Rather technical.

This couple and their dog were settled on the roof of their entry foyer, having an excellent view of the bridge.

So what about the bikes?  They come over the bridge.  Unfortunately, the sun was in a difficult position for photos.  This Triumph sounded wonderful every time it went past.  Note that he just rode over the bridge.

There are several different styles of tackling the bridge.

Many completely  leave the road, although, they generally weren’t as spectacular as the TT.

Once they cross the bridge, they disappear around the corner of the pub.

Here they come, around the corner of the pub.

They fly past the beer garden.  Impossible for me to take a clear photo – just too fast for my camera.

Then, off they go into the distance.  You can see here just how close they go past us.

This was as far as this poor fellow got.

Unfortunately, proceedings came to a stop when the session was red flagged.  Never good.  However, it wasn’t as bad as it sometimes is.  There were four accidents around the course within a couple of minutes, which was too much to deal with.  No one seriously injured.  Phew!  It was just enough to end the evening’s practice.

The only thing to do then was go into the pub and find a cosy nook to have dinner.

While waiting for dinner to arrive we had fun looking at all the interesting names of beers on the tap badges on display on the ceiling beams.  They do well to come up with all the creative names.

Then it was time to head back home before it got too dark.