A new special TT exhibition, celebrating the people who have made the TT, was opened at the Manx Museum on Friday evening by Geoff Duke OBE winner of six TT races and six times motorcycling World Champion.
In the first few days the museum has been packed with over 3000 local and international visitors thoroughly enjoying the new exhibition.
Michael Sproule, Head of Public Services at Manx National Heritage said, “Already our visitors book is full of praise, for example, J D Day from Cape Town wrote, “Simply the best”, Ian Dunne from Australia wrote, “Wonderful exhibition of the old and new”, Ian McBride from Ireland wrote, “Very, very impressive” and P Davis from Spain wrote, ”Magic, fantastic presentation”.
It is good to see so many international visitors here. The atmosphere is great, we could not have wished for a better start. We are so pleased to be able to make our contribution to the TT centenary celebrations with this exhibition”.
Matthew Richardson, curator of the exhibition said, “We have been overwhelmed by the favourable reaction from people who have said the exhibition has really captured the spirit of the TT centenary”.
Matthew went on to comment: “I would like to pay tribute to the many people who have so kindly loaned us fascinating artefacts for this exhibition. I really am grateful to them all for their generosity in allowing us to display these fantastic items in this most important of all TT festivals.
The ethos of the exhibition is a celebration of the different people who come together to make the TT happen, including riders, marshals, spectators, mechanics and entertainers. It features historic motorcycles, leathers, helmets and trophies displayed against a backdrop of archive footage supplied by Duke Video. Among the not-to-be missed exhibits are the silver flask presented to Rem Fowler in 1907, the Velocette motorcycle ridden by Stanley Woods in the 1939 TT, leathers worn by Mike Hailwood and Mick Grant, and the sidecar crashed in practice by Dave Molyneux in 2006”.
The exhibition also features the ‘TT Superbikes’ Playstation 2 game, and for a limited period over the TT fortnight the Manx Museum’s lecture theatre will offer public screenings of two TT films, ‘TT: A film Documentary’ and ‘100 Greatest TT moments. Admission to the films is free of charge, although donations are welcome and will be split between the Mike Hailwood Foundation, Joey Dunlop Foundation, TT Riders Association, as well as the Rob Vine Fund.
A souvenir limited edition TT exhibition catalogue is available from the Manx Museum at £5.00 each.
‘Staying the Course’, including the ‘TT Superbikes’ Playstation 2 game, is open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5pm, until 15th September 2007. Admission to this unique exhibition and the rest of the Manx Museum is free of charge,
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