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56th INTERNATIONAL VMCC TT RALLY
June 5th - 12th, 2011Sunday 5th June
The Rally started on a high when the sun came out just before the start. Just short of one hundred participants congregated on at Tony East's Museum at The Old Vicarage in Kirk Michael, where a Channel 4 film crew were busy recording the event. There was Tony Lloyd's 1914 Calthorpe Junior, Juan Clague's 1930 Scott Flying Squirrel, Howard Ostle's Norton Manx Four, Bill Bewley's 1951 Vincent Rapide and many more. The line up of machines was magnificent against the backdrop of Tony's lovely garden.
Earlier a scout car driven by Paul Wilsdon Tagg was sent over Druidale as a safety measure because mist was hanging over the hilltops. Paul gave the all clear and bang on time the rally got under way. The route through the superb scenery of Druidale, then Baldwin, which was at it's best, although quite testing for the older bikes was given the thumbs up by everyone.One by one riders arrived at the Neb.Cafe at Tynwald Mills for a quality packed lunch, and a good chinwag.
At 1.30 The Cavalcade ride to 'Peel in Motion', a celebration of everything that moves, was led off by Roger Halliwell on his 1949 Triumph Speed twin. Our excellent Marshals did the impossible by lining the bikes up in a semi circle on the Creg Malin car park. Wow! What an afternoon we had. We were jam packed with people wanting to get a better look at our bikes, for nearly three hours. The atmosphere was buzzing. The whole thing went with a swing. Gradually the numbers dwindled as riders went their seperate ways and the first day was over.
Tuesday 7th June
Once again the early morning weather was a bit undecided, but improved greatly as things progressed. This year for the first time we became part and parcel of the Ramsey Sprint Complex on the Vollan amenity area, with a paddock and marquee. This proved to be a great improvement on previous arrangements as we had crowds of interested people visiting our display area throughout the day.
At eleven o'clock our gallant VMCC riders led by Roger Halliwell left en mass for The Coast to Coast scenic tour of the North of the Island, returning in time for lunch from the Lakeside Cafe. During the afternoon our concourse judges, a husband and wife team carefully inspected the bikes and picked out the lucky winners. Then came the Red Arrows. What a display! As the Yanks would say – Awesome. By the end our riders were all revving up ready to show their bikes off to the huge crowd on a lap of the sprint course. This went down well. Returning to the paddock there were grins all round.
Another pleasant and enjoyable day came to an end as riders gradually fired up and set off home. Thank goodness we had Tony East book the good weather!
Thursday 9th June
The Rally started late afternoon. Once again we used the good facilities at the Neb cafe at Tynwald Mills, before we set off South at four o'clock. We took the lovely, scenic road through Glen May to the Round table and on to the Sloc. What a view of the south! Eventually riders began to trickle in to Castletown Square where they parked up in rows on either side. A lovely sight to see, Soon after six with a chill in the air we all retired to the Civic Hall where a feast fit for a king was laid out. Congratulations to our ladies Jennifer, Cindy and Jane for all their hard work. Everyone tucked in heartily and were soon a replete, so it was time to find out who had won the cups. They were presented by fast lady Carolynn Sells – 2009 MGP Ultra Lightweight winner.
A fitting end to a great weeks motorcycling.