The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy [TT] is among the most iconic events in motorsport – an annual two-week motorcycle event held on a 37.73-mile closed public roads circuit.
Situated on a small island on the Irish Sea, the challenging and unforgiving TT Mountain Course offers up the ultimate test of both riders and machines.
A week of practising and qualifying is followed by a week of racing for solo machines and sidecars in the form of time-trials, taking in villages, country roads used by everyday traffic for the remainder of the year, and the picturesque mountain section.
A thrilling spectacle, but a dangerous one given the natural hazards of a roads circuit, competitors reach speeds up to 200mph between stone walls, hedges, telegraph poles, houses and grass banks, recording fastest average lap speeds up to 136mph.
This year riders from across the globe will again converge on the IOM aiming to pit their skills, fulfil their dreams and chase their targets on one of the most daunting sporting stages imaginable.
The 2024 Isle of Man TT has the potential to be a historic one as Michael Dunlop closes in on his uncle Joey’s record of 26 wins, while a number of other riders will be out to thwart the Northern Irishman’s efforts.
Dunlop chalked up four victories last year to move to 25 TT wins over the demanding Mountain Course while Peter Hickman also clinched a quadruple to take his tally to 13 at the famous international public road race event.
Both riders will be gunning for more success this time out, and will start as favourites to do just that, but the unpredictable nature of TT racing, with so many different factors at play in what as regarded as the ultimate test of man and machine, may just throw up a few surprises.
Now resident in Laxey in the Isle of Man, Dean Harrison made the move to Honda Racing for the 2024 season after a productive eight-year partnership with DAO Racing Kawasaki came to an end.
The 35-year-old has competed in the opening rounds of the British Superbike season on the new version of the Honda Fireblade for his new team and took second place in a Superstock race and third in the closing Superbike event at the recent North West 200.
Davey Todd gave another indication of his undoubted potential to break the dominance of the ‘big three’ TT riders with a stellar performance at the North West 200 which yielded a double win in the Superstock races, a Supersport triumph and three times finishing a close second to British Superbike frontrunner Glenn Irwin in the feature Superbike races.
A strong field of riders has been assembled for this year’s races with Isle of Man rider Conor Cummins remaining with the Milenco by Padgett’s team, where his team-mate will be Ian Hutchinson, who returns after missing out last year because of suffering a stroke in the months leading up to the event.
Twenty-three time TT winner John McGuinness and Nathan Harrison join Dean Harrison in the Honda Racing set-up, while James Hillier is also Honda-mounted in the 1000cc classes but switches to a Bournemouth Kawasaki for the 600s.
The meeting roars into action with qualifying from Monday until Friday, with the first race, Supersport race one, scheduled for Saturday morning.
