This gentlemanly ride through some upland British towns and villages takes place every year about 30 Maule minutes from my home strip:

http://youtu.be/iRWp9rhfS_0

and there's a move afoot to grace next year's event with the presence of the Glenswinton Air Force (and friends thereof).

Since the GAF currently has more aeroplanes than pilots (even using that term rather loosely), I wondered if any of you layabouts might be remotely interested in joining us?

PJ

HEALTH WARNING: The IoM countryside is green for a reason, so spectators are bound to get wet at some stage. Even so, watching a 200 mile road race can be a thirsty business...

I would love to go and watch the race live.
I remember seeing it on tv as a kid and thinking those guys were crazy.

Just WOW. What are the dates?

gbarrier wrote:Just WOW. What are the dates?

Racing starts June 6 and finishes on the 12th. The senior TT is the main bike race, but the sidecar racing is unmissable - 200 mph with the passenger's family jewels dangling three inches above the tarmac...

http://www.iomtt.com/TT-Info/Qualifying ... edule.aspx

The roads are used for practice/racing every other day, and for ordinary mortals in between. For aviators there are other islands to visit up the west coast. There are some quite big tides that week and nice beaches to play on.

Just watched the video, that is a wild race

Will they allow Maules to fly 10 feet off the tarmac for "Mad Sunday" ?

I have never understood how those guys ride. Seems like their balls would interfere with sitting on the seat! They might think the same thing about what we do off airport but I have raced motorcycles, both on and off road.What they do scares me!

DesertEagle260 wrote:Will they allow Maules to fly 10 feet off the tarmac for "Mad Sunday" ?

The IoM is a common law country, so everything which is not prohibited is permitted.

That said, I doubt that a Maule with 31" tires could keep up with the bikes, and I'd hate to cause a traffic jam.

I wont even attempt to keep up, scary thought that a bike outruns my maule by 80mph!!

Njacko wrote:

DesertEagle260 wrote:Will they allow Maules to fly 10 feet off the tarmac for "Mad Sunday" ?

The IoM is a common law country, so everything which is not prohibited is permitted.

That said, I doubt that a Maule with 31" tires could keep up with the bikes, and I'd hate to cause a traffic jam.

Just need a mounting point to hook on the JATO. I'm thinking the float fittings should handle it.

I'll be honest, even with 60 skydives, I don't think I'm gutsy enough to ride in Mad Sunday...but if I was there I'd probably still force myself to take a "slow lap" so I could wear the tshirt with integrity.

IOM is a bucket list item for me.

Just a quick update.

We seem to have about a dozen interested so far, but have had to scrape the barrel a bit so the flying machines may include a J3, a Husky and a Swiss Cessna. Also a CAP10, if it's back in the air by then.

The owner has kindly given permission to use Andreas airfield:
https://www.google.com/maps/@54.3698848 ... 198,15.39z
but the two remaining WW2 runways are barely 4000 feet long. Is that going to be enough for you guys?

I plan to do a recce for island accommodation between now and Xmas, but what do you think about camping on airfield for a few days? Not much expertise in that department, so may need some advice...

Incidentally, we're at latitude 55N, so it'll be daylight for >20 hours at that time of year.

ATB, Pete J

ONLY 4000 ft, that should be enough for a B737? Or 10 touch and goes in the Maule in single pass?

I could be up for this. I used to race sidecars so i get the best of both worlds

A light 757/767 can get into 4000 ft getting back out well that maybe a different story