TT2005 - Isle of Man

Once again the DOC put on an excellent club rally at the Waterfall Hotel, Glen Maye, on Mad Sunday. Problems with the weather on Saturday meant the Superbike TT was postponed unril Sunday at 2 pm, with the roads closing at 1.15. That meant that our rally was cut short at 12.30 (instead of the scheduled 2pm) in order for everyone to get to their chosen spectating site for the racing. Nevertheless, we still had a good turnout, with the usual early arrivals.

Here are some of the best bikes that showed up later.

A lovely CarboTech 999...

and from the other side....

a beutiful little single belonging to Kevin Moore,

Superlights and Monsters..

. 748's stood next to 999's..

along with a fair few 916-998 variants

Monsters were all over the place...

but this Laguna Seca is a real rarity....

as is a 750Gt from the mid '70s these days.

But we had to make a decision for some awards, and the Best Two Valve award went to Stuart Green fron Onchan, IOM, for his luvverly 1975 750GT. Never raced or rallied (he says!) and only ever dropped once. He recieved a helmet bag and trophy from Spaggy.

Regalia Sec Paul Johnstone presented the award for Best Four Valve to Brian Gee of Derbyshire, for his immaculate 996.

But the honour of giving the trophy for the Best Special went to Spaggy, and he presented Arue Wolleusak, also from the Island, with his trophy and a bottle of Champagne from the Waterfall Hotel Management.

The frame is a CarboTech carbon fibre job originally produced for the 996/998 series, but a complete set of carbon clothes makes this the only CarboTech 999 in the world. A bit special I would say. It weighs 140kg without fuel, the motor is now 1067cc, and it knocks out 175 horses. And cost a fortune!

The Laxey BBQ

So on Tuesday the DOC show moved on to Old Laxey, where new landlord Malcolm Yates made us most welcome for the annual DOC TT Barbeque. The evening sun shone on the righteous, and brought some stunning bikes out with it.

As is always the case, several people who couldn't make it to Glen Maye showed up at Laxey, adding to the variety of bikes to be seen and ogled at. Here are some of them.

The Spareshack Monster drew a big crowd,

and there were a couple of the new Multi-Strudles

Both Troy Bayliss and James Toseland turned up to have a look around (but couldn't be found!!!)..

and Angie BORROWED a 999 to come along (why don't I have mates like that?)

while Hayley brought her own Monster along.

The Barbie did a roaring trade in 7oz DesmoBurgers lovingly prepared by being doused in Bosun Bitter (yum)

But then the boys in blue turned up to give Jonno a hard time over some illegal street trading in DOC Regalia, which gave us all a laugh until he realised it was a wind-up!

Then to finish the week off we adopted a horse called Bobby (see the Club News page)

Here's looking forward to as good a time in 2006.

Thank you and good night from your Isle of Man DOC Team, Spaggy, Jonno and Geoff.

Our bit for Charity

At the 2005 TT, Team DOC took an executive decision and decided to spend a huge amount of the club funds on a good cause, namely the Retirement Home for Old Horses just outside Douglas.
For the princely sum of £10 we have adopted a horse (the nearest we could get to a red one) called Bobby, for a year. Bobby used to draw trams up and down Douglas Prom, and well deserves his retirement home. We thought you'd approve. Heartwarming, isn't it, seeing all these old animals able to live out their remaining years in the company of other old codgers in the evening of their lives. Still, enough about Jonno and Spaggy, Bobby has years left in him yet.

In addition to your financial support, Bobby got a pat from Jonno, and some nosebag from Spaggy. Click on the photos to enlarge them.