The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) is an iconic motorcycle race that has been taking place on the island for over a century. However, many people may not realize that the event actually began as a car race. In the early 1900s, the Isle of Man was a popular destination for wealthy visitors, including those who brought along their new motorcars. These early pioneers in automotive racing are considered the founding fathers of the TT.
The race originally started as a way for touring cars to showcase their speed and performance. This was a time when road closures for racing were banned in the United Kingdom, but the Isle of Man was willing to make an exception. The leftenant governor of the island, who happened to be related to the chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, played a key role in making the race a reality.
The TT quickly became a significant event for the Isle of Man, which was heavily reliant on tourism as a major part of its economy. Today, the Isle of Man TT is synonymous with motorcycle racing, but it’s important to remember its origins as a car race and the role it played in the history of motorsports.
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Just before the first world war we were seeing 600 650,000 people visiting the island every summer huge huge huge numbers of visitors among those visitors around the turn of the 20th century were a few wealthy people who brought with them new fangled machines called Motorcars the speechs they were doing
Were quite phenomenal according to Matthew Richardson curator at the MS National Heritage Museum these were the founding fathers of the race now known as the Isle of Man and TT the TT began actually as a car race that’s where we get the name Tourist Trophy from because
It began as a race for touring cars uh there was no opportunity to race cars in the United Kingdom at this time because Parliament there had banned road closures for racing and you guys just said yeah sure we’ll close our roads down well partly the leftenant governor
Was the cousin of the chairman of the royal Automobile Club sir Julian or the island man economy at that time was heavily dependent on tourists coming here
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Video “How the Isle of Man TT began #shorts” was uploaded on 01/17/2024 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes