Isle of Man - worth a road trip?

[Jimny33]

So for a petrol head, is the Isle of Man worth a visit just for a drive rather than the race?

Discuss.

Thanks

James

[RedAndy]

yes. its a nice little place with some lovely roads/scenery. and you dont need to go daft to enjoy it.

[rfn]

Absolutely. We went two years ago and had a fabulous time. You'd enjoy it.

We went as a group of 14 or so and hired some cottages together. Went karting, enjoyed the zoo, fishing and the different villages, and enjoyed the roads.

[Turn7]

Yes.

We went last year after the TT and I really enjoyed it.

Lots of interesting stuff to do and see and then yuo have the ciruit as well.

I would advise lots of onboards before you go, for familiarisation.

The circuit has all the kerbs still painted and all the big corners have the name just before them.

I think we did about 5 laps total and it has grown my already large appreciation for the riders skills considerably.

Its great place with lots of nooks crannies to explore. Hotel we stayed at had a group of 7 big quad riders doing all the green lanes.

Another thiing we saw, was loads of advance warnings that certain sections of public highways would be closed on certain dates for the manx rally.

Oh, and we cheated - flew in and rented a car.......

[dhutch]

It would like to do it. I have almost no interest in the TT or driving public roads like they are a race track, but have enjoyed road trips in a group with freinds from the uni motor club (large group to Nurburg Ring and Ireland as a smaller group) as well as solo trips with just the one car to middle of France.

I've also got it in mind to try and get to the isle of wight before the remove change the rolling stock.

Daniel

[Meld]

It's always worth a trip to The Island, but don't rush just yet as the borders are effectively closed. Being self governing, they have managed to stop Covid-19 in its tracks (no new cases for a month now) and social distancing has ended this week. But the proviso is that the borders are still shut to visitors, with strict 14 day quarantine for returning residents.

[IanJ9375]

Lovely part of the world, lots of car clubs tend to go over in groups - Porsche Club used to go, found myself on a ferry with them all by chance one year.

After Covid you might get some of the deals that used to happen - Steampacket used to do a discounted package of hotel plus either foot passenger on the ferry or discounted car prices. They were brilliant deals to be fair

[timbo999]

If you go between the TT and the Manx then the kerbs are still painted and the signage for the course is still up which gives you a good insight as to what the bikey lunatics get up to in the races! The timing boards are usually still up as well. Well worth it.

[Mr Tidy]

I'd definitely recommend it.

Mrs Tidy and I flew over for 4 or 5 days back in September 2003 and rented a car for a couple of days. There is some great scenery as well as the TT course, but we did most of that anyway - you could tell because the bales and signs were still there from the Manx (now called the Classic) a week or so before.

I'd like to go again on a lads trip and visit the Murray Motorcycle Museum as well as Jurby for the circuit and the Motor Museum there.

And there are bits of road with no speed limit - probably why Top Gear used to go there!

[CypSIdders]

timbo999 said:

If you go between the TT and the Manx then the kerbs are still painted and the signage for the course is still up which gives you a good insight as to what the bikey lunatics get up to in the races! The timing boards are usually still up as well. Well worth it.

The painted kerbs etc. and the course signs are permanent fixtures, they aren't removed for the rest of the year.
The only things you won't see in non race months are barriers closing roads and some crash protection stuff on certain corners!