Notice how narrow the old pit lane was too, there was no stop box or pit lane speed limit either in those days.

I remember kneeling down trying to fix problems like some of the guys seen in those shots, and if you had a pit near the top bikes would be coming past you at over 100mph just feet away from you heading down to their pits near the bottom, likewise if you had a pit down at the bottom they would be accelerating past you from the top end at a similar speed, it was a scary place to be!!

Indeed Mod2, I was 16yrs old and on visor / screen duty in F2, prod and Junior - truly amazing unique sound/smell memories of the bikes whizzing past with some out of control trying to slow down in time. In the pic of Mick Grant I can see the big "dump tank" vacuum fuelling rig that only the bigger teams ever seemed to have - was it around 3 or 4 secs they could put the fuel into the tank ? also rider 59 looks like he has a big 3 lap tank on his TZ so he can get more flying laps in but that would be apx 7 gallons/31 litres which is bl**dy heavy.

And Koala as for The Lido, lets just say it was drinking carnage some of which most won't remember haha.

Cheers for the comments. I must admit it looks a bit hairy in that pit area, but I'm guessing at the time you just accepted it as normal?

When I watch the TT now on TV, I'm always interested at the length of time the bikes spend in the pits, especially when the race can be lost or won by a few seconds - is there a big pressure in the teams to reduce pit stop times?

Re the Lido, I was probably too old & boring even in 1984 to go there. Sadly seemed to remember spending my time supping Guinness in pubs instead...

So after the Senior I managed to get some pics of the paddock (is it called the paddock - I think it's called a parc ferme in car racing  - where the bikes/cars park up after the race?), here's a fuzzy shot of Mick Grant (I think):

And here's some non-fuzzy shots:

(01-06-2020, 10:17 AM)Alfie Noakes Wrote: also rider 59 looks like he has a big 3 lap tank on his TZ so he can get more flying laps in but that would be apx 7 gallons/31 litres which is bl

Yes 7 gallons in those big tanks, we fitted one to my mates TZ in around 1986, we filled it to the brim and sent him out in practice to see how it felt, he was only a little guy and could hardly reach around it!!

He'd been lapping around 98mph quite happily all week but when we put the big tank on and sent him out he did one lap at about 70mph before coming in white faced and sweating, his first words were "take that f@&£!)g thing off and get my old tank back on!!

haha ^^ defo .. I ran a big 3 lap(pitstop1 and 3) tank it was just shy of 32 litres at the 92 MGP Junior on my 350 TZ, luckily i'm quite tall for a TZ at 6ft so my arms reached and didn't have quite so far to lean forward/down to get chin on tank ... BUT - the bike took some extra hauling up on approach to QB and Union Mills after pit and usually over the top of Crosby the bike would stand up lovely all tucked in on the pin but with all that fuel it just about extended the forks to max over the crest, it took until Kirk Michael before it started behaving properly. Can't beat an extra flying lap past the Grandstand though, well worth it.

And final podium shots after the Senior (including bonus Anneka Rice pic):

And following the Senior I have a few shots of the sidecar (second leg) race:

I love that last shot, it illustrates just how much things have changed while the essence of the event stays the same.

Thanks for the comment hammerhead, I clearly need to come back to the island to see how things have changed in the last few decades! Maybe in 2021....

And on the subject of time passing, this is my last set of photos. It seems that the Monday was my last day at the 84 TT, although it's equally possible I just ran out of film!

A few shots from around the paddock area:

















Not sure where I saw this famous one but thought I'd include it:



And of course (!) this picture to finish with:

(04-06-2020, 12:15 PM)koala27 Wrote:

I'm struggling to place this one, i cant think where we have or have ever had those types of fences in Nobles Park, and nothing else in the background is familiar, anyone got any ideas?

most curious indeed, looks like a heavy duty race type awning workshop nailed into tarmac but with no branding or livery, the yellow Cortina and car in front looks to be parked at top of a fair slope that drops to an area with a tall security prison type fence that looks same height as windows of 2nd/top floor of building behind, no idea where those 2 racers/riders can be going, no other fans milling around, the 3 Hondas look too clean for post race, no ideas at mo and am trying to think of anywhere you'd find the 3 Honda bikes parked up like that with only Dunlop tape for security.

I had a thought that it might actually be Brands Hatch? The concrete steps with metal hand rail, the fence, the building, and as you say Alfie the slope, nothing there seems familiar to the TT paddock past or present to me.

Test Centre at Tromode ?

Thanks for the replies - interesting discussion. I've gone back on my negatives and I've found the strip of film where that picture comes from.

The strip has 4 negs on it, one from my home (no idea of the date) and 3 others:









so these pics were probably taken at about the same time. But because this is obviously pre-digital I have no way of dating this.

It's weird you mention Brands Hatch, as I have visited Brands on many occasions but the only pictures I have from that track are of the 1982 Transatlantic Trophy and I'm sure the they're not from there.

It's a mystery....

Can't see any of the little round TT Scrutineering stickers on the bikes either ( a fair bit of my work involves studying pics for property repairs and surveys).

(04-06-2020, 09:20 PM)koala27 Wrote: Thanks for the replies - interesting discussion. I've gone back on my negatives and I've found the strip of film where that picture comes from.

The strip has 4 negs on it, one from my home (no idea of the date) and 3 others:

It's weird you mention Brands Hatch, as I have visited Brands on many occasions but the only pictures I have from that track are of the 1982 Transatlantic Trophy and I'm sure the they're not from there.

It's a mystery....

1982 is too early for the RS500 Honda's shown in the photo, I think 1984 saw the first customer versions which is what Honda Britain had.

I think the rider on the right of the photo is possibly Mark Salle on his RG500, I get a feeling it's a test day somewhere.

Wild guess could it be out at Jurby.?

So as you can see, I've finally run out of pictures! That was the 1984 TT (for me) that was.

A final thank you to all who replied on the thread, specifically:

Ago/mh1967
Alfie Noakes
BenjiesDad
Captainsparkledotcom
Chrisp955
Dommyman
Hammerhead
Malcolm
Manxman78
Moderator2
Sam Pato
Splashdown
Sticky

And again a big thank you for all the positive comments and the shared memories. It was a pleasure to be able to post the pictures for an audience that appreciates them.

The pictures will remain available on imgbb for viewing, at least for as long as imgbb retains them. If anyone wants copies of the pics, just PM me. Likewise if there's any questions or comments, please feel free to PM me.

I guess I should really now be planning my next trip back to the island. Only this time I won't wait 36 years before posting the pictures.

Ciao

Koala27

Stick around Koala. I've been inspired to replace my scanner and re-do all my slides & negs (at least those that survived a flood one year...). I did a load for the ex-official website's database but they got lost when a hard drive went phut...I'll post them up when I finally get going with it - haven't got the scanner yet!