IOM TT 2019
Photographing the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy 2019
It’s 1:30 in the morning, there is a whiff of coffee and bacon in the air and there is an odd throbbing coming through my chair. It's nothing to do with the coffee, it’s that time of year when the Steam Packet Ferry company are running flat out transporting road racing fans to the Isle of Man. For those who don’t know, the IOM is a small island located in the Irish Sea about 4 hours from Liverpool, Dublin and Belfast and holds the oldest, biggest and most dangerous motorcycle road racing event in the world - the IOM Tourist Trophy.
We took the ferry from Heysham on the Lancashire coast to the IOM. If you have ever travelled by ferry overnight you will be familiar with the slumped bodies trying to grab a little shut eye before the final push to the journey's end.
The ferry to the IOM is a little different to most other ferry trips I have taken. The corporate three legged IOM branding on the ferry is everywhere just in case you didn’t know where you were going. Nearly all the passengers are sporting jackets announcing their preferred motorcycle race team, telling you all of these people taking this trip have something in common.
That common ground is not necessarily the love of road racing as you would expect but the love of the TT experience. The TT as an event is unparalleled in the world. First run for motorcycles in 1907, it has come to be more than a road race and more of an event to experience.
To be clear, the TT is not a race but a time trial where the riders set off at predetermined intervals to try and set the fastest time on the day around nearly 38 miles of closed public roads. However, they do catch up with each other and racing ensues.
Around 45,000 people make the journey each year and I would say that most of them are from the UK but many have travelled from further afield. The Germans, French and Dutch are very well represented with all of the other European nations putting in a good show of numbers.
From further afield I got chatting to a lot of Americans and Canadians who absolutely loved this quintessential IOM and British experience. One guy in the paddock who parked next to me was originally from Leeds but now lives on the Big Island of Hawaii. He had flown over and purchased a motorbike for his two weeks at the TT. His story was not an uncommon one.
I also met a couple of Australians who come over every year and volunteer to marshal at the event. Flying over, they rely on people helping them out with lifts and on the day I met them that hadn't happened so they had hiked for two hours to get to the Goose Neck. That’s dedication.
We will produce a guide on how to get to the TT and where to stay but for this report we will look at the TT experience. We will give you some tips on taking photos at the event and what you can expect as a spectator photographer. We visited the TT for a week, hoping to take in three days of practice and three days of racing. That kind of didn’t happen due to the weather, more on that later.
My first tip for visiting the TT is to do some research and plan your days out. The 37 mile course is massive with many locations but, due to road closures, you could get stuck at one spot for most of the day. Looking at pictures on here and the WWW will give you an idea of what sort of image you want to capture. I would then check out the location on google maps and work out how you are going to get to those places.
My second tip is to check that you have adequate travel insurance. The IOM hospitals will treat you in an emergency but as the IOM is not in the European Union and sort of not in the UK, they don’t have the reciprocal medical agreements in place that you would expect in the rest of the UK and Europe. My next tip is check out your phone provider's terms and conditions, as the IOM is not in the EU roaming charges can be extremely expensive for some.
Taking photos at this event is relatively easy as it has been held since 1907. The locations for the iconic TT shots are well known but also not well known.
What I mean by that is there could be space for 500 people at your location but there will only be a few feet that will give you the best chance of getting the shot. My tip will be chat to the marshals and ask where they will be putting the barriers. I watched a lot of people get into location before the race start, only to be moved back behind the safety barriers put out later by the marshals.
To get to the location you want to is relatively easy but can take some time depending on your mode of transport. The traffic through Douglas and the other major towns and outlying roads can be an issue but parking even at the best locations isn't a problem if you are in a car, van or bike.
The locals will open fields next to the best spots and relieve you of a pound or two. Taking a motorbike is your best option as this is the easiest way to get through the traffic and also the most fun. If using a car you will need to set off a lot earlier than if you are on two wheels.
Public transport and taxis are also an option. Many TT visitors are ferry foot passengers or have arrived by air, so rely on the bus service. Getting round the track can be done by bus but will take some planning and using the taxi service is an option, if an expensive one. I did see people being dropped off by taxi at some obscure locations. As a foot passenger a hire car is the best option - hire car round the race circuit? Now that’s a good idea!
As you can imagine, as this is a 37 mile road race the road and the roads linking to it have to be closed and blocked. The rule of thumb is the roads will be closed an hour before the racing starts. You will need to keep an eye on the TT websites to find out when the racing is due to start as it can be flexible due to the weather. However, you can work on 6 in the evening for a start time and finishing at 9 during practice and around 10:45am start for race week.
So, you need to be at your chosen location early to get the best spot to take photos and as you probably won’t be moving until they re-open the roads again, pick your location wisely. Some places you can only get one shot - it might be the one shot you are looking for but it could be a very boring day doing the same thing for hours on end.
Quite a few locations you can pack up and move to a new spot. Douglas has a few of these that you can do on foot around the paddock area and start line. Others you are able to drive to as you can have up to an hour between races. However, considering every one else is trying to get home/to the next spot, be prepared for some traffic delays if you are in a car.
If you are on a motorcycle be prepared for what I can only describe as organised mayhem, with a huge slice of fun thrown in. The marshal opening the roads is like the starter at a race track dropping the flag. To be fair, most of the bikers stick to the speed limit but it is still a hoot riding with loads of other bikers from your spot, joining up at the next junction with loads more bikers all riding inches apart.
So how did we get on? Day one started off well with a pleasant summer's evening and great light. We were staying close to Ballaugh Bridge and as it was within walking distance and a great spot to start the week's photography that’s where we headed. The Ballaugh Bridge jump shot is one that any TT spectator photographer will be happy to have in the bag on day one. I certainly was.
There are a number of locations on either side of the road to get a shot here. To get this shot you need to be on the opposite side of the road to the Ravens Public House. Don’t try anything fancy here, a high shutter speed will freeze the action and get you the shot.
If like me you couldn’t get the best angle and the background is distracting, try and get as wide an aperture as possible to blur it out. Remember, when the road is closed and the racing starts you will be held in the location you have chosen even after the racing has stopped.
This is because course cars, safety vehicles, recovery trucks and fast medical response motorcycle riders can be on the track. It can be soul destroying watching the race fans getting a pint in the pub 50 feet away and you are stuck on the other side of the road.
The sidecars were next, pictured is Maria Costello MBE roaring past the Raven. She would go onto make history by being the first woman to race a sidecar and a solo race on the same day, a fantastic achievement.
A lot of the shots you will be taking at the TT are high speed head on pictures. Unlike circuit racing where most of your pictures will be some sort of panning shot, the TT roads are narrow and you are very close to the action. One thing you will hear a lot is the marshals asking people not to lean out with their phones as they could come into contact with a rider - you are that close.
A bike inches away at over 160mph is something to behold and gives you not much of a chance of an arty panning shot. Up the shutter speed - in the evening I was regularly at 1000 ISO so if your DSLR doesn't handle high ISO think about renting some kit or taking a large f2.8 lens.
After that great start at Ballaugh Bridge during the next few days the weather was not as kind to us or the race teams. The official IOM TT web feeds were telling us the practice races were getting cancelled. We headed for the paddock area in Douglas - it is sign posted as soon as you get close to the Capital and easy to find.
The pits, team garages, paddock, start line and large retail village are located here and give you ample opportunity to get up close to the race bikes and riders to get those paparazzi shots.
As there was no racing, the riders were happy to be hanging around the pit garages posing for pictures and signing autographs which made it easy to pap them and the bikes
Always optimistic that the racing would go ahead, we spent three consecutive days standing in the same wet ditch next to the pub at Creg-ny-baa (rock of the cow in Manx) hoping they would run the races, which they didn't.
Due to the size of the course and the elevation change it can be bright and dry on the coast but blowing a gale and raining on top of the mountain. So when you set off you don’t really know what's going to happen.
So here is my next tip for the TT if you want the best spot to photograph the riders. Get to your chosen location early and stake a claim regardless of the weather and take waterproof clothing. On one occasion we rode through rain and fog only to arrive at the Goose Neck to find it in bright sunshine.
Two hours later it was the same all over the course and the first sidecars came screaming through. The shot below is of the Birchall brothers. This was the third shot I took on the day, sometimes all that effort pays off.
I could have cropped the photo above a little tighter but the photographer in the ditch was my travelling companion for the trip, RP Watkinson Photography (RPWP).
He is an experienced motorsport photographer who has covered just about everything on two and four wheels but his passion is the British Super Bikes and the TT. When we planned this trip we thought it would be cool to get shots from an accredited Bib wearing perspective and the PistonClick spectator photographer view point. Below is his shot from the ditch.
Next round the corner were the SuperBikes being ridden hard by the regular TT riders . The Goose Neck is a slow right hand corner with loads of different angles to get great shots.
On a race day there will be six laps for you to get that picture of the rider you are after. On practice runs it could be only four and sometimes the riders will pull into the pits to make adjustments, so you might just see them once.
After the practice and qualifying we decided to capture the start and finish of the SuperBike race in Douglas. There are loads of places to grab a shot here.
The Grandstand is a great location but you will need to pre-book and pay to get a seat. If money is no option take a look at the VIP passes. For around £50 you can get right next to the start line and with some packages you can be taken round the course in the official course car and get start line access.
I went for the free public viewing area with RPWP shooting from the other side of the road as an official TT photographer. We had planned where I needed to be, but to be fair anywhere along the road next to the start line is good and you will get some nice shots of the start.
To get back to the paddock you need to walk through the cemetery. Here you will see a memorial to the 259 riders that have lost their lives at the TT.
One thing that did annoy me was the very small number of people who were using the cemetery as a viewing spot. No amateur or pro photographers here, just people with smart phones. This in my mind was very disrespectful of the dead as you had to walk over graves to get to the fence.
Once through the cemetery and over the pedestrian bridge you are back to the paddock. Here we wanted the champagne shots but the race was red flagged and put on hold.
We expected it to start again so headed off into Douglas to get another view point. Unfortunately when we arrived at the next spot we found out the race was declared a result as Daley Mathison had crashed and lost his life at Snugborough on lap three.
Our next spot was Quarter Bridge which is a public house. There were a lot of people here but there is enough space to move around and get a few different shots. And as a bonus, there is food and drink and parking close by, and a great atmosphere.
From this location you can arrive and leave at any time so if it's not working you can head off to Union Mills or a few other locations using the narrow TT service road to the left of the pub as you look at the track.
The first racers we saw were the sidecars. Bike 20 driver was Mick Alton with Stephen Bonne as the passenger, but it was to be the Birchall brothers on bike 1 who were to go on to win and get a ninth sidecar trophy. I tried a bit of traditional panning here as you can stand well back from the corner and the bikes are not going flat out, having just taken the corner.
There are two recognized shots here - the head on shot into the corner through some safety wire fencing and my favourite as this is typical TT shot as the riders depart to Braddan Bridge.
There is a safety fence on the outside of the corner next to the pub but the wire is thin and there is no problem in shooting through it at the apex of the corner. Peter Hickman was riding the Norton in the Lightweight qualifying. He had been declared the winner in the shortened Superbike race giving him a third TT win.
Hickman is a relative newcomer to the TT but holds the 37 mile lap record which he set last year on a BMW S 1000 RR at 16:42.778 minutes at an average speed of 135.452 mph.
This shot of Hickman (10) is with a Nikon 200-500mm at 200mm through the wire. RPWP shot of Gary Johnson (7) is with a Nikon 300mm f2.8 from the grassed TT slip road area, no wire.
The TT as an event is unique in the world of motorsport and a must-attend event for the enthusiastic motorcycle photographer. To get to the island on the best days does take some planning but is well worth the effort to get those unique photographs.
That concludes our look at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy for 2019 however, the PistonClick team will be back at the IOM TT in 2020.
I hope you have enjoyed this article as always we don’t claim to be experts just a few friends out with some camera gear and in this case a few bikes.
Yes we did the TT on the mighty Grom. We will be doing another report soon on our experience of taking these high powered beasts to the TT.
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