Snaefell Mountain Course

Snaefell Mountain Course
Mountain Course

Douglas , Isle of Man
Route type:	temporary racetrack
Opening:	1911
Track layout
Route data
Important events:	Isle of Man TT , Manx Grand Prix
Route length:	60.725  km (37.73  mi )
Curves:	264
Records
Track record: (motorcycle)	16: 42.778 min. ( Peter Hickman , BMW , 2018)
Track record: (motorcycle team)	18: 59.018 min. ( Ben Birchall / Tom Birchall, Honda , 2018)
Track record: (car)	19: 15.88 min. ( Mark Higgins , Subaru Impreza , 2014)
http://www.iomtt.com/

Coordinates: 54 ° 10 ′ 4 "  N , 4 ° 28 ′ 40"  W.

miles	Route section
0	TT Grandstand
	St. Ninian's Crossroads
	Bray Hill
1	Quarterbridge Road
	Quarterbridge
	Braddan Bridge
2	2nd milestone
3	Union Mills
	Ballahutchin Hill
	Glenlough
	Ballagarey Corner
	Glen Vine
4th	Crosby Cross-Roads
5
	Highlander
	Greeba Castle
6th
	Appledene
	Greeba Bridge
7th
	Gorse Lea
	Ballagarraghyn
	Ballacraine
	Ball track
8th
	Crowned
	Doran's Bend
9
	Laurel Bank
	Black Dub
	Glen Helen
	Sarah's Cottage
10
	Creg Willey's Hill
	Lambfell Cottage
	Cronk-y-Voddy
11	11th milestone
	Handley's Corner
12
	Barregarrow
13	13th milestone
	Cronk Urleigh
	Westwood Corner
14th	Douglas Road Corner
15th
	Rhencullen
	Birkin's Bend
16
	Bishopscourt
	Orrisdale North
	Dub Cottage
	Alpine Cottage
	ballad
17th
	Ballaugh Bridge
	Ballacrye Corner
18th
19th	Quarry Bends
	Sulby Crossroads
	Sulby Bridge
	Ginger Hall
21st	Kerrowmoar
	Glen Duff
	Glentramman
	Churchtown
	Lezayre War Memorial
	Sky Hill
	Milntown Cottage
	Gardener's Lane
	School House Corner
	Parliament Square
	Cruickshanks Corner
24	Whitegates
	Stella Maris
	Ramsey Hairpin
	Water Works Corner
25th	Tower bends
	Gooseneck
26th	Joey's
	Guthrie's Memorial
27
28	Mountain Mile
	East Mountain Gate
	Mountain Box
	Casey's
29
	Stonebreakers hat
	Verandah
30th
	Bungalow Bridge
31	bungalow
	Hailwood's Rise
	Hailwood's Height
	Brandywell
32	Duke's
	Windy Corner
33	33rd Milestone
	Clark's Corner
	Keppel Gate
34	Kate's Cottage
	Creg-ny-Baa
35	Gob-ny-Geay
	Brandish Corner
36	Hillberry Corner
	Cronk-ny-Mona
	Signpost Corner
37
	Bedstead Corner
	The Nook
	Governor's Bridge

The Snaefell Mountain Course or Mountain Course is a motorsport racetrack on the Isle of Man . It is named after the Snaefell , the highest mountain on the island at 621 meters above sea level, which the route also passes.

Today the race track is used exclusively for motorcycle races and is the oldest still used motorcycle race track in the world. It consists of public roads that are closed to racing according to a law of the Tynwald . The Mountain Course is home to two races, the Isle of Man TT , which has been held there since 1911, and the Manx Grand Prix , which has been held since 1923.

The Snaefell Mountain Course is 37,733 mi (60,725  km ) in length  . Glencrutchery Road (A2) in Douglas , the capital of the Isle of Man, serves as the start-finish straight . The route continues on the A1 from Douglas to the north-west to St. John's , then in a north-easterly direction on the A3 via Sulby to Ramsey and finally back south on the A18 to Douglas.

The highest point of the route at 422 meters is located on the A18 at the Snaefell Passage, just before Brandywell and is called Hailwood's Height , named after 14-time TT winner Mike Hailwood .

Routing

Curve names

The Snaefell Mountain Course has over 200 curves, around 60 of which have their own names.

The first corner, named after a racing driver, was Edges Corner on the A21 between Cronk-ny-Mona and the A22 Ballanard Road in Douglas in 1920 , which was driven through between 1911 and 1922.

The Brandish Corner was named after Walter Brandish, who fell during training while trying to overtake in the Upper Hilberry Corner between Creg-ny-Baa and Hillberry and broke his leg.

Archie Birkin had a fatal accident during training for the Isle of Man TT 1927 . While trying to avoid a delivery van on the A3 in Rhencullen, he crashed into a wall, which was then named Birkin's Bend . It was not until 1928 that the training runs for the TT and the Manx Grand Prix were held on closed roads.

Handley's Corner is between the 11th and 12th milestones. It got its name after the four-time TT winner Wal Handley fell on his Rudge on the first lap of the 1932 senior TT race there and sustained severe vertebral injuries.

In 1939 a stone memorial was erected at The Cutting for the six-time TT winner and four-time European champion Jimmie Guthrie, who died in 1937 at the Sachsenring . The place where Guthrie was eliminated in his last TT race. The following S-curve has since been called Guthrie's Memorial .

Drinkwater's Bend got its name from Ben Drinkwater, who had a fatal accident at this point in the Junior TT race in 1949.

Kate's Cottage was initially known as Tate's. However, this name was mispronounced by a BBC reporter and was established as Kate's.

After an accident in the evening practice of William Doran's TT 1952 between Ballig Bridge and Laurel Bank , a curve was christened Doran's Bend .

In 1955, a stone shelter was built on the A18 Mountain Road between the 30th and 31st milestones in honor of the first 500 cc world champion in history, Leslie Graham , who had a fatal accident in the 1953 senior race. The section there has been called Les Graham Memorial since then , but is often called Bungalow Bridge or Shepherd's Hut .

In 2002, a right turn on the 26th milestone was named Joey’s , named after the 26-time TT winner Joey Dunlop , who had a fatal accident in Estonia in 2000 . The following year, the part around the 32nd milestone was named after the six-time world champion Geoff Duke Dukes .

history

Snaefell Mountain Course

Overlooking the Brandywell - marshals -Schutzhütte and -Wetterstation on the A18 Mountain Road / B10 Sartfield Road . In the background the Snaefell and the North Barrule

Emergence

The first motorsport event on the Isle of Man was the Gordon Bennett Car Trials , first held in 1904 and reserved for automobiles . After the Parliament of the United Kingdom imposed a speed limit of 20  mph (32  km / h ) on all automobile traffic in Great Britain by the Motor Car Act 1903 , the Secretary of the Automobile Car Club of Britain and Ireland asked that automobile racing be stopped to be allowed to perform on public roads to the government of the independent Isle of Man. The Tynwald then allowed with the The Highways (Light Locomotives) Act 1904 to conduct the Gordon Bennett Car Trial on the 52.15  mi (83.93  km ) long Highroads Course in 1904 .

In 1905, a motorcycle test was held as part of the Gordon Bennett Car event . Since it was technically not yet possible for motorcycles to drive the steep mountain section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road , the organizers were forced to find their own route for the motorcycle pilots, which was 25 mi (40.2 km) long Part of the Gordon Bennett Trial course. For this reason, the first edition of the Isle of Man TT , held in 1907, also used the 15.84 mi (25.49 km) St. John's Short Course .

For the RAC Tourist Trophy , which was held as the successor to the Gordon Bennett Car Trials from 1906 , the Highroads Course was shortened to just over 40 mi (64.4 km) in the first year. In 1908 the Peel and Sandygate curves were no longer driven, which shortened the distance again, this time to 37.5 mi (60.4 km). This course is Four Inch Course named because from 1908 the cylinders of the engines of participating in the RAC Tourist Trophy race car has a maximum diameter of 4  in (101.6  mm could own).

The Four Inch Course was adopted by the Auto Cycle Club from 1911 for the Isle of Man TT races and was known as the Snaefell Mountain Course or Mountain Course in the following years .

Route changes 1920–1939

For the Isle of Man TT races of 1920, the first after World War I , some changes were made to the Mountain Course that increased the track length from 37.50  mi (60.35  km ) to 37.75 mi ( 60.75 km) increased. So the drivers turned left at Cronk-ny-Mona and followed the A18 Mountain Road to the Governor's Bridge . A new start-finish straight has been created on Glencrutchery Road .

In 1923, further changes followed with the relocation of the runway to a private road between Parliament Square and May Hill in Ramsey, which reduced the route length to 37.739 mi (60.735 km). By 1926, the route was extensively improved, for example the mountain section was completely paved .

The East Snaefell Mountain sheep-gate was removed for the 1934 races . A short time later, a humped bridge in Ballig was removed. Before the 1935 edition, the route was widened in the sections Highlander , Laurel Bank and Glen Helen . In Brandywell was Beinn-y-Phott sheep-gate removed.

In 1938, the circuit was expanded at 26th Milestone , Greeba Bridge and Sulby Straight . For the 1939 edition, the slope at the Water Works Corner and between the Gooseneck and the 26th Milestone was expanded. At The Cutting ,  the Guthrie Memorial was erected in honor of Jimmie Guthrie for £ 1500 .

In 1938, the official route length was also corrected to 37.733 mi (60.725 km), which is still valid today.

Route changes 1947–1999

In the run-up to the 1947 Isle of Man TT, the first after the end of World War II , expansion work took place at the 33rd Milestone , which improved the safety of drivers on this section of the route. Further work took place in 1953. At Bedstead Corner and Gorse Lea the line was widened, at Signpost Corner and Cronk-ny-Mona the road was raised. In the winter of 1953/54, work was carried out on the Mountain Course to improve the navigability of the Clypse Course . The carriageway on the A18 Mountain Road at Creg-ny-Baa , Signpost Corner , Cronk-ny-Mona and in the approach to Governor's Bridge was widened.

Before the TT in 1954, the approach to Quarterbridge was widened and re- profiled and the jumps at Highlander and Ballagarraghyn Cottages were removed. In addition, the roadway at Appledene , Handley's Corner , Barregarrow , Rhencullen , Ballaugh Bridge , Ginger Hall and Kerrowmoar was widened.

In the winter of 1957/58 the hotel at the level crossing at Bungalow was demolished.

In the 1960s, further road extensions were carried out at Ballig and Greeba Bridge on the A1. In 1963 the crossing at Quarterbridge was provided with a roundabout . In the winter of 1970/71, the route on the A18 Mountain Road near Verandah was widened. In 1975/76 the line in Snugbrough was extended to the level of the 2nd Milestone . In 1986 the intersection at Quarterbridge was rebuilt. A traffic island and some trees have been removed and the roundabout has been replaced by two roundabouts.

In the winter of 1987, the slope at Quarry Bends was widened and re-profiled. In the winter months of 1991/92 the roadway on the A18 Mountain Road between the 26th Milestone and Mountain Box and between Windy Corner and Keppel Gate was renewed.

Construction work on Governor's Bridge in 2008

Route changes since 2000

From 2003 to 2006 the A3 between Barregarrow and Cronk-y-Voddy , including Handley's Corner and the 11th Milestone, was repaired. In 2004 an embankment on the west side of the A18 Mountain Road at Guthrie's Memorial was cleared . In the winter of 2004/05, the route at Windy Corner was widened, followed by the widening at Brandish Corner the following winter .

In October 2007, the Isle of Man Department of Transport started expansion work at Braddan Bridge . It was also announced that a new connection and supply road would be built between Signpost Corner and Governor's Bridge , which would include the existing A18 Bemahague Road . The work for this began in February 2008 and was completed in late summer.

In July 2008, the Isle of Man Department of Transport announced that it would invest £ 4 million in rebuilding the Quarterbridge crossing. This work should include the construction of a new roundabout and the demolition of the Quarterbridge Hotel .

In August 2009, for the Manx Grand Prix, a grass banquet on the south side of Keppel Gate was removed and replaced by a run-off zone . At this point, Cameron Donald and a marshal were injured at the TT that year .

Official lap records

The official lap record of the Snaefell Mountain Course is 16 minutes and 42.778 seconds, which corresponds to an average speed of 135.452 mph (217.989 km / h), and was set by Peter Hickman on a BMW during the senior race in 2018 .

The race record also comes from the senior TT race of 2018, which was held over six laps with a distance of 226.398  mi (364.352  km ). The winner Peter Hickman took 1 hour 43 minutes and 8.065 seconds, which corresponds to an average speed of 131.700  mph (211.951  km / h ).

The absolute lap record for sidecars as part of the Sidecar TT is 18 minutes and 59.018 seconds, which corresponds to an average speed of 118.281  mph (190.355  km / h ) and was set by Ben Birchall and his co-driver and brother Tom Birchall in 2018. The racing record for sidecars is an average speed of 116.259  mph (187.101  km / h ) and was also set by the Birchall brothers in the second team race in 2015 over three laps and a distance of 113.199  mi (182.176  km ) in 58 minutes and 24.971 seconds .

In training for the Isle of Man TT 2006, New Zealander Bruce Anstey set an unofficial record for the highest top speed ever achieved. He was measured with his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 at the end of the Sulby straight at 206 mph (332 km / h). However, since this speed was only measured with the machine's data recording system, it is not officially recognized.

Cycling race

In addition to motorsport, bike races and individual time trials were held on the Snaefell Mountain Course . On June 18, 1936, the Manx Trophy was the first mass start race on the track , won by Charles Holland of the Midland Cycle and Athletics Club in 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds.

gallery

• 

  Bray Hill

• 

  11th milestone

• 

  Handley's Corner

• 

  Ballaugh Bridge

• 

  Quarry Bends

• 

  Guthrie's Memorial

• 

  Dunlop Memorial at Bungalow Bridge

• 

  Brandywell

• 

  Kate's Cottage

• 

  Creg-ny-Baa

• 

  Windy Corner

• 

  Governor's Bridge

References

Web links

Commons : Snaefell Mountain Course  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Isle of Man TT (English)
• 2D and 3D maps of the Snaefell Mountain Course (English)
• Route of the Snaefell Mountain Course (interactive map )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Isle of Man Centenary TT - ACU / MMCC Official Race Guide , p. 67, Isle of Man Department of Tourism and Leisure (2007), Mannin Media Group Ltd
2. ↑ Official TT Guide 1992, p. 45, Mannin Media Publication / Isle of Man Department of Tourism
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Mountain Course 1990 - present. www.iomtt.com, accessed October 13, 2010 (English). 
4. ↑ TT 100 - The Authorized History of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Racing by Mick Duckworth, p. 29, (2007) (1st Edition) Lily Publications ISBN 1-899602-67-4
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Mountain Course 1920–1949. www.iomtt.com, accessed July 20, 2010 (English). 
6. ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times , p. 18, ed June 17, 1939
7. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , pp. 9, June 10, 1955
8. ↑ Mountain Course 1950-1969. www.iomtt.com, accessed July 20, 2010 (English). 
9. ↑ TT News - Issue 1 , p. 20, June 1, 2003
10. ↑ Island Racer 2004, pp. 112-113, Mortons Media Group Ltd ISSN  1743-5838
11. ^ The Statutes of the Isle of Man Vol VII from 1896 to 1905 , p. 569, edited by CT W Hughes-Games Brown and Sons Ltd
12. ↑ TT Pioneers - Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man , pp. 103-104, Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996) (1st Edition), The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN 1-873120-61-3
13. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , May 31, 1934
14. ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times , May 25, 1935
15. ↑ Isle of Man Weekly Times , p. 4, May 13, 1939
16. ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times , p. 18, June 17, 1939
17. ↑ Official TT Guide 1992 , p. 45, edited by Norrie White Isle of Man Department of Tourism (1992) Mannin Media Ltd
18. ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times , May 12, 1947
19. ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times , 7, April 25, 1953
20. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , p. 12, Jan. 5, 1954
21. ↑ TT 100 - The Authorized History of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Racing by Mick Duckworth, p. 111, (2007) (1st Edition), Lily Publications ISBN 1-899602-67-4
22. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , 6, May 28, 1954
23. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , pp. 1, April 10, 1958
24. ↑ TT 100 - The Authorized History of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Racing by Mick Duckworth, p. 29, (2007) (1st Edition), Lily Publications ISBN 1-899602-67-4
25. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , p. 5, June 6, 1963
26. ↑ Isle of Man Weekly Times , p. 1, Jan. 6, 1971
27. ↑ Isle of Man Examiner , p. 5, February 5, 2008
28. ↑ Manx Independent , p. 3, July 4, 2008
29. ↑ ^{a b} New lap and race records for victorious Hickman in PokerStars Senior TT. www.iomtt.com, June 6, 2018, accessed March 15, 2019 . 
30. ^ New Isle of Man Top Speed ​​Record. (No longer available online.) Www.motorcycledaily.com, Aug 12, 2006, archived from the original Jan 2, 2008 ; accessed on October 13, 2010 (English). 
31. ^ Isle of Man Examiner , p. 15, Jan. 29, 2008