Isle of Man TT Mountain Course
The Isle of Man TT Mountain Course or TT Course or Snaefell Mountain Course or Elmo’s Mountain Course is a street and public rural road circuit located in the Isle of Man, used for motorcycle racing. The motorcycle TT Course is used principally for the Isle of Man TT Races and also the separate event of the Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling for the Manx Grand Prix and Classic TT Races held in September of each year. The start-line for the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course is located on Glencrutchery Road in the City of Douglas, Isle of Man.
The clockwise course has a lap of, from the start line at the TT Grandstand on Glencrutchery Road in the island's main town of Douglas. After negotiating urban streets, the racing circuit turns right to leave Douglas at Quarter Bridge, then proceeds along the A1 Douglas to Peel Road from Braddan Bridge, through the villages of Union Mills, Glen Vine, Crosby, and Greeba. The course then turns right at Ballacraine on to the A3 Castletown to Ramsey road, firstly through countryside glens followed by agricultural land interspersed by the villages of Kirk Michael, Ballaugh and Sulby, finally intersecting with the A18 Snaefell mountain road after negotiating urban streets in the town of Ramsey. The A18 then takes the course back to Douglas through the highest point, situated after the Bungalow at Hailwood's Height near the 31st Milestone and the UK Ordnance Survey spot height of above sea level. The descent starts through countryside before entering the residential outskirts of Douglas back to the finish line.
History
Motor racing began on the Isle of Man in 1904 with the Gordon Bennett Trial and originally was restricted to touring automobiles. As the UK Motor Car Act 1903 placed a speed restriction of on cars within the United Kingdom, the Secretary of the Automobile Club of Britain and Ireland approached the authorities in the Isle of Man to seek permission to race cars on public roads. The Highways Act 1904 passed by Tynwald gave permission to use local roads for the Highroads Course for the 1904 Gordon Bennett Trial.For the 1905 Gordon Bennett Car event it was decided to run a trial for motor-cycles the day after for a team to represent Great Britain in the International Motor-Cycle Cup Races. The inability of the motorcycle competitors to climb the steep primary A18 Snaefell Mountain Road section of the course forced the organisers to use a section of the Gordon Bennett Trial course. For this reason, the 1907 Isle of Man TT Race used the St. John's Short Course. The 1906 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race for automobiles the Highroad Course was reduced from to. For the 1908 Tourist Trophy race for automobiles, the course was again reduced to with the removal of the Peel and Sandygate loops and was known as the Four Inch Course. The name of the course derives from the regulations for the 1908 Tourist Trophy adopted by the Royal Automobile Club which limited the engines of the competing automobiles to a cylinder diameter of. The Four-Inch Course was adopted by the Auto-Cycle Club for the 1911 races. The Four-Inch Course subsequently became known as the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course or TT Course when used for motor-cycle racing.
Course changes: 1920–1939
For the 1919 Isle of Man TT, changes were made to the Mountain Course and competitors turned left at Cronk-ny-Mona and followed the primary A18 Mountain Road to Governor's Bridge with a new start/finish line on Glencrutchery Road which lengthened the course from the pre-World War I length of to. An extensive programme of road improvements occurred to many roads in 1922 by the Highway Board including the Mountain Course with road widening at Sulby Bridge, from Port-e-Chee on the A1 Peel Road to Braddan Bridge and part of the main road through Crosby. Modification of Signpost Corner including rounding off the bend occurred in 1922 along with further road widening at Governor's Bridge with the completion of the link road to A2 Glencrutchery Road/Governor's Road and the removal of fence posts at Keppel Gate. Further changes to the course followed in 1922 with the adoption of a private road part of the Ballastowle Estate between Parliament Square and May Hill in Ramsey. The course had previously had negotiated the A2 Albert Road and Tower Road in Ramsey and the new course length was now. The official course distance for the Snaefell Mountain Course was amended in 1938 to which is the current course length.For the 1934 Isle of Man TT races major alterations to the TT Mountain Course were carried out which included the removal of the East Snaefell Mountain sheep-gate. This was followed by the removal of the hump-backed bridge at Ballig and the road work was completed for the Manx Grand Prix in September 1935. Road widening occurred on the Mountain Course at the Highlander, Laurel Bank, Glen Helen, and at Brandywell with the removal of the Beinn-y-Phott sheep-gate for the 1935 Isle of Man TT races. Road Improvements occurred at the 26th Milestone, Greeba Bridge and on the Sulby Straight for the 1938 Isle of Man TT races. Further road widening and landscaping occurred at the Waterworks with road widening between the Gooseneck and the 26th Milestone for the 1939 races. A memorial to Jimmie Guthrie was built in 1939 at The Cutting at a cost of £1,500.
Course changes: 1947–1999
Major road widening occurred on the Mountain course at the 33rd Milestone, including the removal of fence posts at road level and the removal of a section of a grass bank before the start of the 1947 Isle of Man TT races. Changes to the Mountain Course occurred for the 1953 races including road widening at Bedstead Corner, elevation works at Signpost Corner and Cronk-ny-Mona, and the widening of the corner at Gorse Lea. Before the commencement of racing for the 1953 Manx Grand Prix, the cottage at Appledene Corner was demolished between the 6th and 7th Milestone road-side marker on the primary A1 Douglas to Peel road on the Mountain Course. Further changes occurred to the Mountain Course to facilitate racing on the Clypse Course and during the winter of 1953/54 road widening occurred on the primary A18 Mountain Road at Creg-ny-Baa, Signpost Corner, Cronk-ny-Mona, and at the approach to Governor's Bridge. The approach to the Quarterbridge on the primary A2 Douglas to Peel road was widened and re-profiled and the jumps at the Highlander and adjacent to Ballagarraghyn Cottages were removed for the 1954 Isle of Man TT Races. Other major course alterations for the 1954 Isle of Man TT Races included road widening at Appledene, Handley's Corner, Barregarrow, Rhencullen, Ballaugh Bridge, Ginger Hall, and Kerrowmoar. During the winter of 1957/58 the hotel at the Bungalow tram-crossing was removed on the Mountain Section of the course.During the 1960s further road-widening occurred at Ballig and also at Greeba Bridge on the primary A1 Douglas to Peel road. In 1963 a roundabout was added to the road junction at the Quarterbridge. The winter of 1970/1971 and road-widening occurred on the A18 Mountain Road at Verandah by cutting into the hillside. During the winter of 1975/76 road-widening and landscaping by the Isle of Man Highway Board occurred at Snugbrough on the primary A2 road at the 2nd Milestone. The winter of 1986 further re-profiling occurred at the Quarterbridge road junction with a new road traffic system including two new mini-roundabouts, the removal of a traffic island, and trees. Road re-profiling and widening occurred at Quarry Bends during the winter of 1987. During the winter months of 1991/1992 the A18 Mountain Road was closed for repair work to the road foundation between the 26th Milestone and the Mountain Box and also between the Windy Corner and Keppel Gate.
Course changes: 2000–present
From 2003 to 2006, road repair work was carried-out on the primary A3 road from Barregarrow to Cronk-y-Voddy, including Handley's Corner and the 11th Milestone. In 2004 the western-side embankment is removed from Guthrie's Memorial on the A18 Mountain Road. Also, during the winter of 2004/2005 road widening occurred at Windy Corner followed by Brandish Corner during the winter of 2005/2006 by the Department of Transport. In October 2007 the Department of Transport began road widening at Braddan Bridge on the Mountain Course with the creation of a new roundabout incorporating the 'Jubilee Oak' Tree on the A1 Douglas to Peel Road. The Department of Transport also announced the proposal of building a new section of road and roundabout for the Mountain Course with a link road from Signpost Corner to Governor's Bridge using the existing A18 Bemahague Road. This road widening scheme began in February 2008 with the removal of trees on the Bemahague Estate which included Government House, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor, and the creation of a small mini-roundabout. Further work by the Department of Transport in July and September 2008 included a storm drain and the completion of the mini-roundabout. The TT races and Manx Grand Prix continued to use the original A18 Bemahague Road that runs parallel to the new link road and the Governor's Dip for motorcycle racing. In July 2008, the Department of Transport announced a £4 Million road safety scheme for the Quarterbridge road junction, including the building of a new roundabout and the demolition of the Quarterbridge Hotel. In August 2009, for the 2009 Manx Grand Prix a section of grass bank is removed from the southern side of Keppel Gate. This was to provide a run-off area after a practice crash by the Australian TT competitor Cameron Donald and a further more serious incident involving Travelling Marshal John McBride at Keppel Gate during the 2009 Isle of Man TT races.During the winter of 2010, further road construction and repair work was carried out by the Isle of Man Department of Infrastructure Highways Division, and the Isle of Man Water Authority between Cronk Urleigh and the 13th Milestone. This was followed by major road resurfacing work between the 13th Milestone and Westwood Corner near Kirk Michael, Barregarrow Hill, and Sulby Straight from Kella Crossroads to Sulby Bridge during the spring of 2011. The Highways Division modified the road junction at Signpost Corner including improved drainage, elevation changes, and repairs to the road surface in November 2010 and the same major repair process of road resurfacing was repeated for the Quarter Bridge road junction in February 2011. The Department of Infrastructure during the winter of 2011/2012 removed and re-positioned roadside fence-posts from Brandywell to the 32nd Milestone and from Windy Corner to the 33rd Milestone. During the winter of 2012/2013 the stone TT Marshal shelter at Guthrie's Memorial was demolished. The roadway at Hillberry Corner underwent repairs to the carriageway and was resurfaced and re-profiled by the Isle of Man Department of Infrastructure, Highways Division during the spring of 2014. In April 2015, the Highways Division instigated a programme of landscaping at Keppel Gate including the removal of a small grass bank on the north-eastern side of the corner, road re-profiling and re-surfacing work.