For this year there have been some changes to the racing format. Basically there are now 10 races, 8 solo and 2 sidecar races that will take on the 37.73 mile course around the island.

The TT is only held for two weeks once a year with next year’s provisional dates of five days of qualifying starting Monday 27th May ending on Friday the 31st May 2024. Race week will likely be Saturday 1st June to Saturday 8th June 2024 (TBC). 

The track is all on public roads which, as you can imagine, causes havoc with the local traffic flow. All of the locals I spoke to were ok with the disruption and seemed to enjoy the 50k visitors (official numbers from the government) to the island. I think that number is a bit conservative as the TT spectators generally don’t come for the full two weeks.

The Steam Packet ferries are running flat out from England and Ireland before the start of practice week and well after the final chequered flag has dropped. In those two weeks the port of Douglas vehicle park was packed at every sailing with bikes, cars and vans every day. In 2022 over 38k people flew in and out of Douglas airport alone!

I got chatting to a guy from Liverpool who had come over on the ferry on his push bike. He was only staying a few days as he didn’t really have much interest in motorcycle road racing but wanted to experience the TT. However, once the first bikes had screamed past he was hooked and was making plans for a longer stay next year.

His journey to the island was relatively easy and cheap as he was a foot passenger on the ferry. The two Australian guys on the other side of us had a much much longer trip from down under and were staying for the duration. It seems to be normal at the TT to start chatting with your fellow fans, and as there was a bit of a delay due to low visibility on the mountain the chat turned to motorcycles. 

On this occasion it turned into a bit of top trumps on who had the most interesting bike in their garage. Smart phones out and pictures shown. One of the Aussies won with his great grandfather’s bike that he had used on his wedding day and was still in the family’s possession, closely followed by the sector marshal’s WLA Harley copy, a Yam Twin in a genuine WLA frame.

All of this trackside motorcycle chat inevitably turned to who was going to be standing on this year’s podium. To be fair it was quite a short chat, Hickey, MD and Dean Harrison were the crowds favourite for those positions, so quite a short list as lists go. These three are in a class of their own out of the 50+ starters and there is a bit of a gap to the next best racers.

This was quite obvious after a few laps, as Harrison, MD and Hickey would go past then there was quite a while to wait for the likes of McGuinness, Todd, Hillier, Coward and Cummins.

That sounds like I’m being disingenuous. I’m not, the next best are all quality racers, but and it’s a big but, the teams that they run with don’t have the financial backing that the top riders have. Especially FHO racing who are in a league of their own with team principle Faye Ho backing a two rider team this year - Peter Hickman and Josh Brookes. 

Josh last raced at the TT in 2018 and made his first appearance ten years ago in 2013, setting an average speed of 127.726mph on his debut, securing the title of the fastest ever TT newcomer at the time so he knows his way round the track. He would go on to a top five finish in the Senior TT Race and a podium in the Supertwins on the Dafabet Racing Kawasaki ER-6f. 

Hickey on the other hand was expected to clean up again after a dominant 2022, but didn’t get it all his own way as he didn’t get his Superbike set up to his liking until the end of the meeting.

To be fair he had a good TT, with four wins taking his career total to 13 including the blue ribbon Milwaukee Senior TT Race riding the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW BMW M1000RR K66. Right from the start of the Senior we knew Hickey was on it in the final race as he claimed the quickest standing start lap record ever with a 135.349 mph. 

He also went on to set the fastest lap of the race at 135.507mph on lap two. However, he set the fastest lap ever round the course in the Superstock race 2 at an average speed of 136.358mph. On a stocker, amazing!

Dunlop was riding his own MD Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SC82 in the Superstock Races (two second places) and a Paton S1-R in the Supertwins, taking the win in race one and retiring in race two.

With two wins in the Supersport and the one Superbike victory on the Hawk Racing Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP SC82 MD now has 25 wins, one behind his late uncle Joey Dunlop.

It’s almost certain he will make TT history next year with the most wins ever, and I can’t wait to be there and see a bit of motorcycling history.

Dean Harrison joined MD and Hickey on the podium but couldn’t dislodge either from the top step, with a second in the Senior Race on the DAO Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR ZXT02N and 5 third places it’s a very good haul. When you look into the eyes of the racers as they come into Parc Ferme you can tell if they are happy with the result. Dean wasn’t, he so wants that top step and quite right too.

The Supertwins saw a few different faces join #6 MD on the podium for the first race, with #16 Mike Brown second and #4 Jamie Coward third. In race two it was #10 Hickey, #8 Pierre Yves Bian and Hickey’s team mate #7 Josh Brookes. Jamie Coward also took the Privateer Trophy with all top 6 finishes and his podium in the Supertwins.

This year, Peter Hickman was the winner of the John Hartle award as winner of the Superstock TT, the Gavin Lee Trophy for the best Solo Competitor and the Joey Dunlop Cup for the most successful rider at the Isle of Man TT Races.

The IoM TT sidecars were celebrating a centenary at the races with a special lap on Saturday the 10th. We didn’t see that event as we had left the island as had most of the sidecars, since the last race for them was on Wednesday the 7th.

The overnight ferry on the 8th had loads of sidecar teams on it, so it was a shame they didn’t take part. 

The big talking point for the sidecars was not who would win, but how fast the Birchall brothers, Tom and Ben would go while claiming that win, which would be their 10th consecutive victory at the TT.

In race one they broke the 120mph barrier for the first time with an average lap speed of 120.357mph. Jevan Walmsley/Peter Founds came in second and John Holden/Maxime Vasseyr third.

Race two was more of the same, with the Birchall brothers first, Jevan Walmsley/Peter Founds second again and Callum and Ryan Crowe taking third to make up for their retirement at Keppel Gate in race one.

So there you have it, a week of qualifying and a week of racing with some of the best weather any of us can remember. Lap times tumbled helped by the clean dry track, which resulted in plenty of practice during qualifying week.

The racing was epic with drama from start to finish, organised superbly, and with some of the best marshals in the world.

To be fair, its not just the local IoM marshals putting on the orange bibs they are the marshals of the world of motorcycle racing, coming from world’s race tracks to provide a safe race experience for all, at considerable personal expense. Thanks marshals!

This year was also one of the safest TT meetings, except for the very sad passing of 46 year old Raul Torras Martinez following an incident in the Tuesday evening’s Supertwin race. Raul was the fastest Spaniard ever at the TT, having first competed in 2017 and will be missed by all of the fans and racers.

When we return next year we will remember him and all of the other fallen racers with a few words as we disembark from the ferry and head to a hedge to watch the greatest free motorsports event in the world, the TT. 

Our next report from the TT will be a follow up to last years unsung heroes where we looked at some of the privateer riders. This year we have added Jack Petrie to the mix as it was his first time at the TT and he talks about his experience heading down Bray Hill for the first time! 

If you have not seen the No Room for Error IoM TT documentary I would highly recommend it, here is the trailer. The four episodes can be found on ITV-X catch up UK only Im afraid. Warning some of the language is fruity!