The Place

How many laps have you done round the course on a sidecar?
How many laps does it take to actually KNOW your way round. I don't mean really know as in a fast lap, I think that's something that goes on forever, but how many till you can know what follows from one section to the next?

I just wondered because of course while Jo was working yesterday morning I headed out for a lap (knowing that at Ramsey I'd be heading for the more scenic coast road back due to the mountain closed for sporting reasons) and was still surprised, and I've done that bit probably 20-30 times now..

As I told Dave Saunders et al, while we were waiting to walk out to the tower of refuge, the mountain is the easy bit

Graham must of done it over a 1000 times on his TT DISC,

ive been round at least 150 times but not on a sidecar if i close my eyes i can see maybe 70% of the course not including the mountain section -----im going this year too thats 21 times for me

See, that's why I said "on a sidecar" I guess sidecarwise Roy must be near the top of the list of laps.

How many do you do in one TT? 5 nights practice, 2 laps a night on average, if you miss a night but get 3 in on a couple of nights (does it work like that?).
So that would be 10ish in practice. 2 x 3 laps racing, and maybe another couple of practice laps.

So how many in one TT on a sidecar? 15? multiply that by the number of TTs?

I can see why GE wants two bikes for the TT.

it must depend on the person Steve re how long it takes to know the place.

I did about 10 part laps on saturday and was getting very frustrated with all the traffic and push bikes, closed mountain etc. it was hard to focus on the course and not all the other stuff. i was thinking that i'd need at least another 10 laps.

then I did a flyer yesterday at just after 6am and with no other distractions i was amazed how much i actually did know. Still lots of times i wasn't too sure so eased off a bit.

i'm under no illusion that it will all be different on the bike but the more laps you can do the better.

wasn't a bad lap time either not as fast as tony pond but he was on slicks.

jc

little chud wrote: not as fast as tony pond but he was on slicks.

I don't even need to know my way round, it's not like I'm going to race it. It's just good to know the best way to the shops

You can never do enough laps Steve. Im not the best at storing new info but leaning the TT was so enjoyable and I found it easy. Its 2005 since I did a lap when taking some people around but its all still there, appart from the changes to Windy and Brandish corners. I always found the Mountain section the most difficult to get the best from Steve. Its all good though.

So Geoff, how many laps do you think you've done?

Havent a clue Steve but we spent a fortune in petrol . I went over a couple of weeks before our first go in 88 and did about 10 laps. Then it was out on the bike. The Tony Pond video didnt exist then so we made do with a lap in the course car from the Manx. A Mini Metro at about 75mph. There was a Mick Grant solo video and that was about it. Later the Tony Pond video was what we watched. Its lot cheaper watching a video than going over there.

Tell me about the cost I've been over 5 times so far this year

26 laps Steve. Although still nowhere near enough.
Showed a video on my phone to a mate at work. Just by listening to it, I was surprised by how much was remembered.

Dags

like Geoff,cant say i know it all,but still think i could qualifiy on my first lap,seems to print a picture in your mind,as for how many laps,16yrs of TT qualified every yr so thats 48 laps alone(3 laps min)in 95,bike finished 17laps alone
I think the most laps on a sidecar is between Roy Hanks or Eddy Kiff

That's easy, exactly zero. Done one complete lap in a Sprinter van with KEW in the fog (I kept forgetting the mountain road was one way which led to me wanting to close my eyes a few times ). Plus a couple of partial laps in the dark out looking for stranded s/c teams after practice. Hope to get a few more car/van laps in Sunday June 2nd before our evening flight home.

Chris

i did thirty year's 52 start's 32 finishe's and loved every minute of it!best ride's of my life ,better than sex.

I've done about 60 laps in 3 years with a fastest lap of 107mph and still consider myself a newbie over there...... Maybe I will get some more laps in 1 day