Isle of Man Tourist Trophy
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|---|---|
| Isle of Man Tourist Trophy | |
| Region | Isle of Man |
| Course | Snaefell Mountain Course |
| Type | Road Course |
| Clerk of the Course | Gary Thompson MBE BEM |
| Event Organiser | ACU Events Ltd |
| Principal sponsor | Isle of Man Department of Economic Development |
| History | |
| First race | 1907 |
| Number of races | 97 (through 2016) |
| First winner | Charles R. Collier (1907) |
| Most wins | Joey Dunlop 26 (1977–2000) |
| Lap record | Michael Dunlop 16 minutes 53.929 seconds — 133.962 mph (215.591 km/h) (2016) |
The International Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Race is a motorcycle sport event held annually on the Isle of Man in May or June of each year since the inaugural race in 1907. The Isle of Man TT for many years was the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world and also seen as the ultimate test for competitors and machines alike. The Isle of Man TT has been administered by the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) (previously the Auto-Cycle Club) since 1907 and the Isle of Man TT race organisation is currently managed since 2008 by ACU Events Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the ACU. In 2016, the Vision Nine Group was appointed by the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development in a ten-year deal as a race promoter for the 2017 Isle of Man TT onwards. In a profit-sharing arrangement with the private promoter, the Vision Nine Group will invest £2.5 Million in the event and the promoter replacing the previous Isle of Man Department of Economic Development staff and race organisation.
The Isle of Man TT has been traditionally run in a time-trial format on public roads closed for racing by the provisions of an Act of Tynwald (the parliament of the Isle of Man). The event consists of one week of practice sessions followed by one week of racing. It has been a tradition perhaps started by racing competitors in the early 1920s for spectators to tour the Snaefell Mountain Course on motorcycles during the Isle of Man TT on "Mad Sunday," an informal and unofficial sanctioned event held on the Sunday between 'Practice Week' and 'Race Week.'
The first Isle of Man TT race was held on Tuesday 28 May 1907 and was called the International Auto-Cycle Tourist Trophy. The event was organised by the Auto-Cycle Club over 10 laps of the Isle of Man St John's Short Course of 15 miles 1,470 yards for road-legal 'touring' motorcycles with exhaust silencers, saddles, pedals and mudguards.
From 1911 the Isle of Man TT transferred to the much longer Snaefell Mountain Course of 37.40 miles (current length 37.73 miles). The race programme developed from a single race with two classes for the 1907 Isle of Man TT, expanding in 1911 to two individual races for the 350cc Junior TT motor-cycles and the Blue Riband event the 500cc Senior TT race. The race did not take place from 1915 to 1919 due to the First World War. It resumed in 1920. A 250cc Lightweight TT race was added to the Isle of Man TT programme in 1922 followed by a Sidecar TT race in 1923.
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