Greg Lambert & Julie Canipa

She and her partner, experienced driver Greg Lambert, lapped at 108.884mph in the second sidecar race of the meeting.

Her ambition going into the meeting was to lap in excess of 100mph and hopefully gain a bronze replica.

Julie gained the first of those goals on the pair’s first complete lap of the course together with a speed in excess of 104mph. Higher speeds came in both races, when they finished comfortably inside the list of replica winners with eighth and 14th places.

Lambert first rode the TT back in 1991 with Ian Gaunt of Knaresborough and has contested most years since with best results of third in 1999 with Lee Aubrey and again in 2003 with Manxman Dan Sayle.

He still looks back on 1997 with disappointment as he and Tony Darby had a 22-second lead on the final lap when the crank on their machine broke at Barregarrow.

Julie first passengered in 2011 at Jurby with Marc Fagan, and she and Greg met at the same year’s Southern 100 when Julie was assisting Debbie Barron’s team.

’Greg and I ended up in a water fight,’ Julie laughs. ’I think I won that contest.’

She made her TT debut in 2015 with Doug Chandler in what was the latter’s first crack at the TT as a driver (he was previously a passenger).

They got a finish in their opening race but the motor stopped at Kate’s on the final lap of race two.

The pair returned in 2015 when, following a spill in the Friday night practice at Sarah’s Cottage, they were forced to miss race one the following day.

They retired at Glen Darragh in race two with a failed crank sensor, but not before they had lapped at 98.6mph.

To that point this was Julie’s fastest lap of the course, so this year she effectively added 10mph to that speed.

They first competed together at Scarborough later in 2016, after which Greg was confident that Julie had what it takes to be his full-time passenger for this season.

’I knew she was good, so we concentrated on the Hyundai Sidecar Series that is attached to the BSB as well as the Auto 66 Championships, and it could hardly have gone better.’

They got two third-place finishes in the opening round of the Hyundai series at Brands Hatch, plus a second and a fourth at Oliver’s Mount in the Auto 66 Championship.

The top-six theme continued with a fifth and a sixth at Oulton Park in the BSB contest and a win at Croft in the Auto 66 series on their 600 Honda-powered GLR outfit, built by Greg in his Leemin Bar workshop near Northallerton.

Meantime he had also put together another outfit to house a Hillman Imp engine for a crack at the Pre-TT Classic at Billown.

’I only got it finished a couple of weeks before the event, so first we had to give Julie chance to adjust the different characteristics of the outfit. We qualified fourth and were lying second in the race when I clipped a kerb, dropping a few places. We were eventually fifth, despite the clutch beginning to slip.’

Qualifying for the TT was beset by weather and mechanical issues, so the Lambert/Canipa combo only managed to complete their first full lap together on the Wednesday evening. But this was already 104mph and Julie felt comfortable.

There were further issues later in the week and the scheduled first race day was devoted to further qualifying.

They ultimately qualified 14th fastest (from a seeding of 20) with a lap in excess of 107mph.

The opening race, on the Monday, saw them finish in that 14th position at an average speed of 106.787mph despite a number of damp patches.

They finished six places higher in eighth spot in the second race on championship Friday, averaging 108.374mph for the distance with a best of 108.884mph on the final lap.

Overall they were both delighted with their individual results in the TT.

Greg was back in the top-10 after a period of recovery following a major crash at Oliver’s Mount in 2014.

Julie was delighted to come away with two bronze medals and laps well in excess of her original goal of 100mph.

’We were over the moon,’ said Greg. ’We were happy for ourselves, our team, our sponsors and Julie’s family. We also received plenty of exposure, including TV coverage.’

The 108mph lap made Julie the third quickest female passenger in Sidecar TT history.

Top of the list is Fiona Baker-Holden at 110.672mph from 2016; next best is Melanie Farnier (with Estelle Leblond) at 109.394mph from lap two of the second race this year.

Fourth best is Chrissie Clancy who did 108.785mph with Mick Alton on lap two of race two this year - indeed they were on the road together with Lambert and Canipa for part of the race.

The fastest local prior to Julie was Cat Turner (Jenkins) at around 100mph from the early 1990s with Richard Crossley.

Debbie Barron’s best is 99.705mph as a driver, set this year on lap two of race one.

The fastest local female outright on the course is Carolynn Sells at 111.863mph, set in the 2009 Lightweight MGP.

The Southern 100 did not go quite to plan. After qualifying seventh quickest the motor dropped a valve on the warm-up lap for the first race. They did manage seventh in race two, but the bike was decidedly off-tune.

Returning to the short circuits they only managed to contest half of the BSB rounds, but did manage to finish runners-up in the Auto 66 championship.

Out of the blue came the offer of a chance to race the New Zealand Tri-Series with support from Carl Cox Motorsport.

’We had a chat with team manager Gavin Sokolich at Knockhill shortly after the TT and he has arranged all the transport for the outfit, which left the country several weeks ago (they managed to borrow an outfit from Dean Nicholls to contest the final BSB rounds).

The Tri-Series begins with a meeting at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park, Lake Taupon on December 10, followed by round two at Manfield Park a week later and the well-known street-based Cemetary circuit at Wanganui on Boxing Day.

’We are paying our own fares out to New Zealand, with a bit of support from a few helpers, but we would welcome any further help,’ said Julie. She can be contacted on 430174 or via email at juliecanipa@manx.net

Carl Cox is also sponsoring former world champions Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes, along with veteran campaigner Tony Baker and Shelly Smithies for the trip.

l Julie and Greg have a number of local sponsors to thank for supporting them throughout the season: namely Kirby Garden Centre, Andrews All-Round Maintenance, Devereau’s Manx kippers, Edwin Dennis Signs, Barbie and John Blanchard, Marine Hotel Peel, Rosemount Hotel Douglas, Southern 100 Motor Cycle Racing Club and the Copy Shop of Buck’s Road.

Julie also wishes to personally thank Lisa Duckworth, chief executive of Isle of Man Post, for allowing her to take time off work at a busy period to travel to New Zealand.