Ride outs
Beara Peninsula
On Sunday 30th of August we went for a ride out with the bikes, as they had forecasted no rain and there was no road race on the calendar. The idea was to go to Beara Peninsula, the one just before the famous and very touristic “Ring of Kerry”.
The peninsula ends with an island, “Dursey Island”: we had been there with the car on the first August week-end (and the truth is that those roads are much more enjoyable with the bikes!).
From Dursey Island
Dursey Island
View over Kerry Peninsula “Ring of Kerry”
The first part of the road is a large and good national road, and then it’s a secondary road but also quite good.
On the first part, still not very far from Cork, there is a very good section, recently paved, with beautiful views over “Iniscarra Reservoir”. That morning the lake was completely still, with amazing reflections. We stopped to take pictures of course!
Close to Kenmare we found a very nice place to eat our sandwiches. There also the water was still and with beautiful reflections.
After the sandwiches we went on entering to the peninsula from the North, going along the coast and with views to Kerry peninsula (where are the highest Irish mountains, over 1000 metres high, right next to the ocean).
We took the first road on the left, the R574 that goes through “Healy Pass”. This road is amazing, with almost no traffic, beautiful views to “Glanmore Lake”, over the Ring of Kerry, and of the mountains around us.
We stopped several times to take pictures and enjoy the silence, the views and the PEACE it radiates. At the first stop we were parked close to the entrance of a garden with a man mowing his lawn. He looked happy that we were taking pictures of the views from his house 🙂 .
After getting to the south part of the road and as we were tired, we decided to go back home instead of following to Dursey Island.
I think that when the good season is back we will have to plan a full week-end with a stay overnight in B&B, because there is so much to see and the roads are very nice.
So we went back through Glengarrif and then we took the R584 which goes to Gougane Barra (see post about “Colourful ride out”), with many corners, and some bumpy sections.
Anyway in general I think that most secondary roads in Ireland are not for speeding… but more like to enjoy the scenery…
We got back home a little tired but happy.
Beara Peninsula, we will have to come back…
V’s
Road Races
2016 Road Racing Calendar
The 2016 calendar is confirmed for Northern Ireland road races and for Isle of Man and England.
The dates for the races in the Republic of Ireland have not been officially confirmed yet by the Clubs, they are the proposals.
Update 02/12/2015: The calendar for IRRC is now confirmed.
I will update the list when confirmed.
IRELAND (NORTH and REPUBLIC) & ISLE OF MAN (chronological)
*1-2 April 2016: Mid-Antrim 150 (Clough – Ballymena – Co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
*22-23 April 2016: Tandragee 100 (Tandragee- co. Armagh- Northern Ireland)
*29-30 April 2016: Cookstown 100 (Cookstown- co. Tyrone- Northern Ireland)
*10-15 May 2016: Northwest 200 (Coleraine-Portrush-Porststewart- co. Antrim- Northern Irleand)
*28 May to 10 June 2016: Isle of Man TT (Isle of Man)
*18-19 June 2016: Kells Road Race (Crossakiel- co. Meath- Republic of Ireland)
*1-2 July 2016: Skerries 100 (Loughshinny- co. Dublin – Republic of Ireland):
http://www.loughshinnymotorcycleclub.com/
*9-10 July 2016: Walderstown “Race of the South” (co. Westmeath – Republic of Ireland)
*11-14 July 2016: Southern 100 – (Isle of Man)
*23-24 July 2016: Faugheen 50 Road Race (co. Tipperary – Republic of Ireland)
*29-30 July 2016: Armoy Road Races (Armoy – co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
*10-13 August 2016: International Ulster GP, Dundrod (co. Antrim – Northern Ireland)
http://www.ulstergrandprix.net/
*10-11 September 2016: Killalane (Loughshinny- co. Dublin – Republic of Ireland)
http://www.loughshinnymotorcycleclub.com/
ENGLAND
SCARBOROUGH- OLIVER’S MOUNT CIRCUIT (North Yorkshire – England)
*Spring Cup: 16-17 April 2016
*Barry Sheene Race & Rally Festival: 23-24 April 2016
*Cock O’ the North: 18-19 June 2016
*International Gold Cup Road Races: 24-25 September 2016
http://oliversmountracing.com/
IRRC 2016
30 April- 1 May: Varsselring, Hengelo
15-16 May: Oss
20/21 June: Oostende
22-24 July: Chimay
6-7 August: Hořice
20-21 August: Imatra (Finland- new race on the calendar)
24-25 September: Frohbur
V’s
Ride outs
A touristic ride-out
On Friday Juan told me that there was a ride out planned for Saturday at noon, with the group we go for a ride out from time to time. It seemed to us that it was a little late to go out, knowing that at 5pm it’s getting dark, but anyway, it’s better late than never, and also it’s not too bad to be able to have a little more sleep on a Saturday morning 😉 .
Accuweather had planned a shower at 9.00am and then sun and cloudy. At last the 9.00am shower started at 10.00am, and then there was another one just before 11.30am. But then at 11.35 the sun showed up 🙂 so it was just in time, everything was planned perfectly! 😉
So at about 11.40 we went out with the bikes to meet with the rest of the group. It was so sunny that the sun reflected on the still wet tarmac and we could hardly see.
We met with the rest of the group, Finbarr, Jim and Brendan. And this time there was not a single GS! 😉 And after filling in the tanks, we left…
Finbarr had planned an itinerary that resulted very touristic, and the stops very interesting with many historical explanations about Ireland.
We first went through a road with large corners, that must be beautiful with autumn colours (that are already gone), and then a more narrow road but not less beautiful. We enjoyed it a lot.
The first stop was in Timoleague, where are the ruins of a Priory.
In Ireland there used to be many abbeys, churches and castles but unfortunately many suffered from the passing of time and the successive wars against the English, and are now ruins. He told us that the monasteries used to have small windows except for one room where the monks would meet to write/copy the sacred texts books, lives of saints or other books. In this priory was written “The Book of Lismore” (in 1480). The abbey was founded by Franciscans in 1240 and destroyed by fire by Cromwell’s troops in 1642.
The ruins have been converted into a cemetery, with many graves (most ancient ones) around, but also inside of what was once a chapel and the rest of the abbey.
The place is very nice, and with the sun that was shining that day, even more.
After a good while in the ruins, we went back to the bikes and didn’t go too far, to Courtmacsherry, where there is a beautiful beach and also a very welcoming hotel with pub/restaurant. There we had some lunch to recharge the batteries before going on.
We went back to Timoleague and took the R600. This road goes along the coast and is beautiful. We stopped close to a pub called “The Pink Elephant” with amazing views over the bay,
and then we stopped a few kilometres ahead with nice views at the ocean,
and we went to Kinsale where we stopped for a cup of tea.
There we were chatting with a motorcyclists couple who had coincided with Jim on the ferry back from his last trip to the continent. After tea we went to Charles Fort on Kinsale heights. Finbarr also told us some historical information about that fort.
Kinsale was the place of the famous “Battle of Kinsale” in 1601, were Spanish troupes leaded by Don Juan de Aguila, came to support the Irish troupes of Red Hugh O’Donnell and Hugh O’Neill against the English troupes of Lords Mountjoy and Carew. Unfortunately the battle was lost by the Spanish-Irish coalition.
It was getting late and darker, so the visit to the fort was left for another day.
We took the way back home, through the R600; a few kilometres after/before Kinsale is were ends/starts the “Wild Atlantic Way”, more than 2000km of scenic roads along the Atlantic coast, from North to South through the West coast.
The road from Kinsale to Cork is quite good, even if it is usually quite busy (well, for what we usually have around, everything is relative!).
It was a brilliant idea to plan the ride-out on Saturday, as on Sunday it was pissing rain until 2pm…
November the 7th : a very touristic ride-out!
V’s
Ride outs
Colourful ride out
Last Sunday, thanks to the time change and that Monday was Bank Holiday and we could have some more sleep 🙂 , we got up early to watch MotoGP. The truth is that lately we are watching very few MotoGP races as they are mostly boring. We watch some afterwards when there have been some positive comments on the race (that is to say: 5 or 6 passing in the last 3 laps…)… We prefer to keep with road racing (unfortunately very few can be followed live).
But that day there was Pedrosa pole position and as it’s almost the end of the season we decided to watch it. The race had its lot of excitement and controversy. As the controversy bores me, I’ll keep with Pedrosa’s strong race and victory, at last he got back to his best level. Fingers crossed for next season.
That said, the race and its result ended up waking us up completely, and as it was still early and the day did not look too bad, we decided to go for a ride-out.
We had to delay a few minutes the departure as a cloud decided to pour rain at that moment. But it was only a few minutes.
The idea of the day was to make the most of the ride out taking pictures of Autumn colours. I always loved them, and it is a complicated task as they “arrive” overnight and they are gone in one week or even less if there is a lot of wind or rain (both being quite usual in Cork…). So if you miss one weekend, the next there are no more leaves and no more colours…
As we don’t know yet many places here and that in Ireland there are few forests, we decided to go to a place where we went in June (report here), in Gougane Barra, about 70km and 1 hour ride from home.
The road to get there is very pleasant, the first part quite quick and then it’s a more narrow road and a little bumpy but nicely twisty. In Autumn it’s beautiful, the hedges had their autumn wear on and as it had been raining a scent of wet leaves and wood filled the air. I opened the visor to enjoy it better.
The view around the road was amazing, the mountains that in summer look like green velvet were now coloured in reddish, yellowish or orange brown, the trees along the fields became yellow and the gardens coloured in red, yellow, orange or clear green, a trees rainbow.
We stopped for a first time along the road to take a picture and went on.
With so narrow and twisty roads I can’t stop as much as I’d want to take pictures because there is no room for it (and Juan is quite happy about that 😀 ).
At last we arrived to Gougane Barra. Some trees had already lost their leaves but the colours had nothing to do with when we were there in June. The sky was mainly overcast (it actually rained a little when we stopped) and as it happens sometimes, the light was difficult for taking pictures. But I took them anyway 😉 .
After a while arrived a dozen of Porshe 911 of almost all ages and parked along the lake. It was a nice image 😉 .
When we arrived there Juan was quite hungry (it was after 10am and we had had breakfast at 7am…), and we thought we would have some Irish Breakfast on the way. But the hotel and the bar in front of the lake were both closed. So we had to wait…
After the pics session we went back (the road ends on a paying car park which is also the starting path for hiking around the park). At the next crossroad we decided to turn right to Bantry, indicated at 22km, and to stop as soon as we found some place to have breakfast. That part of the road is also very nice. We were about to stop in a pub indicating “parking at rear” but we missed the entrance and were not in a good place to turn, so we went on.
We went to Bantry, got lost in its streets. The village was crowded with cars: it seems that there was a car rally going on and it was a chaos to go around. And you won’t believe me but we couldn’t find any pub open!
Of course my bike decided that it was the best moment to give problems… My bike has one and only recurrent problem, every time it rains a lot (quite often here 😉 ), as the front mudguard is too short, some water enters in the front sparkplug hole and it stops working and the bike ends up on one cylinder only. So at low speed as when you are stuck in traffic jams, it just stops every two minutes.
As we couldn’t find a place to eat we decided to go back. We got lost again, turned back again. I had seen a pub after the last cross coming from the nice road to the main road so we tried there, but the restaurant was closed until 5.30pm. So we decided to go back to the pub we had first seen on the road going to Gougane Barra. This time we found the parking at rear and the pub was opened and served food! With all those turns and back it was already noon. We both took a lamb dish with fresh vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was quite good. Juan finished his meal with an ice-cream as usual 😉 and we went.
Now that we were not hungry anymore we could take our time again to stop to take pictures 😀 .
We stopped 2 more times. The truth is that the colours were incredible in spite of the difficult light.
We literally escaped from the second stop as there were very dark clouds rushing towards us.
At last we got back home at about 3.30pm, we just had some rain for a few minutes back on the main road, but when we arrived we were dry.
25th of October: a colourful ride out. 😉
Ride outs
Solo ride out- October 2015
On Saturday it was solo ride out day. It doesn’t happen too often because I’m lucky enough to share most ride outs with Juan and from time to time we do some group ride outs. But that Saturday he had to work exceptionally. As we had had 2 weeks without rain and it doesn’t happen too often I thought that I should take advantage while it lasted, we are in Ireland and at the beginning of October, Indian summer will not last forever.
So I left home at about 10am with the bike.
I had planned to “visit” the small peninsula East of Cork, where we had been with the car in one occasion and that had beautiful views.
The first stop was in Rostellan Lake with nice views over the village.
The next stop was to take a picture of something I love in Ireland: the hedges along the road that get together above and form a green tunnel over the road.
The first idea was to go to “Roche’s Point”, where we had been for a sunset in July:
But I missed the junction, there was no clear indications and the indications I saw did not correspond to my map.
Apart from this cape I had no fix point where to go, just the idea to take as much as possible the road along the coast. I got lost several times, I turned around several times, once because I just crossed a small junction with a handwritten sign with some plastic protection indicating “CLIFF WALK” so I went there. The road ended up in an unpaved car park (not the best for me to move the bike around), I had to get down of the bike to turn back and park her. There was only one car parked and a tractor ploughing the field next, followed by dozens of seagulls. I went down to a sand and rocks beach with a lot of seaweed and a lot of surfer seagulls 😉 . There was also a lone fisherman in the distance.
I just stayed there for a while, enjoying the sound of the waves (and of the seagulls) and watching the seagulls play with the waves. Those places radiate Peace.
After a while I went on. The roads were not the best for my bike and after getting lost several times I finally arrived to Ballycotton. The sky had been overcast all morning with a very difficult light to take pics.
I parked the bike in the harbour where there were many fishermen. And I stayed for a while taking pics.
While I was taking pics the sun appeared and the light got much better. Though I started to have problems with one of my lenses which would not focus anymore…
I tried to get something to eat in one of the pubs but they only served sandwiches and I didn’t feel like having a sandwich so I went on with the ride.
I arrived to another village, went back, ended up in a cul de sac (not indicated) having to turn in a garden entrance and back again to the “main” road. After a while I ended up in another car park on a very nice sand beach with dunes, had to do some motocross to turn the bike, and stopped to take a few pics. It was very nice, a pity that I don’t have a clue how to get back there…
Later on I stopped in a village to fill the tank and buy some Tayto and Coke. An elderly man asked me about my bike and told me to respect her always, told me that he had an accident once when he had a bike back in the 70s and that the bushes saved his life. He told me about a good mechanics in Middleton and after a while chatting we said goodbye and I went on.
I ended up behind a tractor with a trailer full of potatoes, so full that from time to time with the (not few) potholes a potato flew away… I had to keep a safe distance until I could overtake…
At the next junction I stopped because I realised I was going the wrong way (again), so I went through a 3rd road indicating the village I had left a while ago. The road was actually quite nice, with beautiful views…
The sky was getting cloudy again and got a few raindrops. I finally arrived to a junction with a better road, which indicated Knockadoon to the right, on my map the last cape on the coast before getting back to the main road. It was not really a village but had a very small harbour and a nice cliff walk. There was nobody but me, and many noisy seagulls. I sat on a bench in front of the sea to eat my Tayto and drink my Coke. The light was bad again for pics, but still nice for the eyes. And again only the sound of the waves on the rocks, the sea was very quiet.
After a good while I went back to the bike and started the way back home. The road was much better now and I went directly to Youghal where I took the main road back home. I arrived at about 4pm, a little tired but quite happy.
I enjoyed a lot riding without a fixed goal, getting lost several times but it didn’t matter.
And I always like a lot when you meet elderly men who say that they also had a bike some day and they always happen to have had an accident. This one was lucky to be saved by the bushes but others would tell you a list of all the broken bones they had then. It happened often to us in Spain and it happens also in Ireland 😉 .
I’m not riding solo very often and I missed sharing the “adventures”, but I had a great time.
I hope the bad weather will take some time to arrive and that we will have time to go for a few more ride-outs before winter.
Road Races
Road Racing circuits guide
Here is a non exhaustive list of the road racing circuits.
Update 02/01/2019: list of circuits where there have been Road Races over the past few years. Some are not held every year but may come back.
For the 2019 CALENDAR it’s here
List is by geographical area, and in each area, in alphabetical order (except IRRC).
NORTHERN IRELAND
Armoy Road Races (Armoy – co. Antrim)
Bush Road Races (Dungannon – co. Tyrone)
Cookstown 100 (Cookstown- co. Tyrone)
Enniskillen Road Races (Enniskillen – Co. Fermanagh)
https://enniskillenroadraces.co.uk/
Mid-Antrim 150 (Clough – Ballymena – Co. Antrim)
http://www.midantrim150.co.uk/
Northwest 200 (Coleraine-Portrush-Porststewart- co. Antrim)
Tandragee 100 (Tandragee- co. Armagh)
International Ulster GP, Dundrod (co. Antrim)
http://www.ulstergrandprix.net/
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Faugheen 50 Road Race (Faugheen- co. Tipperary)
Kells Road Race (Crossakiel- co. Meath)
Killalane – (Dublin)
Munster 100 (Glanmire, co. Cork)
Munster 100 Motorcycle Road Race
Skerries 100 (Dublin)
https://www.skerriesroadraces.com/
Walderstown “Race of the South” (co. Westmeath)
ISLE OF MAN
Isle of Man TT & Manx Grand Prix
https://www.manxgrandprix.org/
“Southern 100” – Billown circuit
UNITED KINGDOM
OLIVER’S MOUNT CIRCUIT – SCARBOROUGH (North Yorkshire – England)
Barry Sheene Classic
Gold Cup
WELSH ROAD RACE – Mynydd Eppynt Circuit – (Wales)
IRRC – International Road Racing Championship
The IRRC Championships also can have different circuits from one year to another. In 2016 was added Imatra Circuit in Finland. Other circuits may disappear. Please refer to the corresponding year calendar.
Varsselring, Hengelo, The Netherlands
Paalgraven, Oss, The Netherlands
Nordzee Omloop, Oostende, Belgium
http://www.ostendmotorsport.be/
Circuit de Chimay, Chimay, Belgium
Frohburger Dreieck, Frohburg, Germany
http://www.frohburger-dreieck.de/
Imatranajo – Imatra – Finland
https://www.imatranajo.fi/content/en/2/10005/Home.html
Circuit 300 curves of Gustav Havel, Horiçe, Czech Republic
http://www.amkhorice.cz/en/races/czech-tt/
Terlicko – Czech Republic
OTHER CZECH ROAD RACING CIRCUITS (no IRRC)
Thanks to Eva Koňáková from Eva-moto for all the information, and for allowing me to use her circuits maps.
Dymokurský okruh, Dymokury
Radvanice
SLOVAKIAN ROAD RACING CIRCUITS
Kopčanský motookruh, Kopčany
Velká cena Piešťan, letiště Piešťany
When European season is over, you can still go to:
Macau GP – Macau – China
https://www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo/en/
Cemetery Circuit – Wanganui – New Zealand
Invercargill Street Race – (Burt Munro Challenge) – New Zealand
If you know about any other road race, please feel free to contact me! Website or facebook links and maps would be very useful to complete the list!
This list doesn’t include circuits holding only Classic bikes races and modern 125cc races, this would make the task a little bit too complicated. Sorry.
Thanks!
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Faugheen 50
The weekend of the 15th of August we were going to the last race of our road racing season. There was another one in Killalane (north of Dublin) in September but we had a wedding in Asturias…
So on Friday we left at about 5.30pm to county Tipperary, at about 1h30 from home, the closest road race of the season. We stayed in a B&B at some 12km from the circuit. As I thought that Juan would go out of work late I had prepared sandwiches. But we arrived at 7.00pm, so after a tea/coffee in the B&B we went out to look for a place to eat our sandwiches.
We were at about 30km from Kilkenny, we thought of going there first, but we finally turned at some cross road before, stopped in a village to buy some drinks and went on. At the end of the village, three Asian people were hitchhiking. We stopped to ask where they were going to and they said “at 5 minutes” drive, so there we went. They were from South Korea, volunteering in the village (I think with elderly people but I’m not quite sure about it). After a while we left them at their accommodation. One of the girls told us that we could go to “Kells”, so when we saw the signs indicating Kells, we followed them and we arrived to a place with a carpark, some picnic tables and a view to a rampart and towers of what used to be a priory. We ate our sandwiches with the last sun rays and then we went for a walk around the ruins.
Then we went back to the B&B to rest.
In the morning we left after a good Irish Breakfast, we stopped in Carrick-on-Suir to buy some water and went to Faugheen village.
We parked in the first carpark we found and asked for the shortest way to walk to the paddock. The circuit is kind of a triangle and the paddock was right on the opposite side of where we parked, so about the same distance from one way or the other.
So we got to the paddock to see the bikes and the riders who had already arrived and we bought some essential stuffs for next year road races: a giant Suzuki umbrella and a hat each (Suzuki for me and Honda for Juan of course). I always wondered why we saw so many racers with hats (instead of baseball caps) on TV when they were interviewed. After a few races I understood, it’s just sooooo cold! So now we are prepared for next year 🙂 .
As we didn’t see any good place for photography on our way to the paddock, we went on around the circuit (2.2miles = 3.5km); and we stopped at the next corner “Creamery corner” and settled there. It was still early so that we had some rest in the sun.
At noon they closed the roads and started with the practice and qualifying sessions. They started with some laps for the “Newcomers”, the ones who never raced on that track so they can learn the track.
“Creamery corner” must be a difficult corner because many went straight (in all sessions). All practice sessions started with one or 2 laps leaded by a “Marshall” and with another Marshal and the doctor at the end of the group. Before every race the next day there were also 2 warm-up laps in the same conditions.
We spent all the practice sessions taking pictures…
Robert McCrum
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Derek Mc Gee
Paul O Rourke gives a lift to Derek McGee after his Kawa ER650 stopped after the first warmup lap during Supertwin practice
Seamus Elliott
Brian Coomey
Dario Cecconi
John O Donovan
Sean Leonard
Brian McCormack
John Walsh
Once the practice sessions finished they ran 2 races: Open 201-1010cc (non championship) and Support 401-750cc (non championship). The last one was stopped after an accident but the rider was back on track for racing the next day.
After a while without too much information they announced the classification, informed about the rider and opened the roads. We went back to the carpark and went to Carrick-on-Suir to have dinner and back to the B&B for resting.
The next morning we went back to Carrick-on-Suir to buy some things to prepare sandwiches as we had seen no fish&chips trucks around the circuits except in the paddock. The races had been about to be cancelled as 15 days before they had not enough racers registered to run the event. Fortunately after a call through social media and between riders they got more entries and some riders registered in more categories (for example William Dunlop brought his 125 with which he doesn’t usually race anymore. Though at last he couldn’t race with it for a mechanical problem).
We parked in the same carpark after going to the paddock to buy some tee-shirts for supporting the club.
And we went to the field on the left side of “Gubb Cross” corner, where they had settled 2 open trucks trailers to see the circuit over the hedges.
We got in one of the trailers where there was a good view to the circuit on the left and to the corner on the right, where we would witness many anthology braking, crazy overtaking and also some “too late” braking (with no dangerous consequences. Only one rider had the doctor stopping and he went back to the paddock as the doctor’s pillion lol).
Before the road closing we made friend with a man who arrived at the same time and with whom we chatted of many things while waiting. We used for the first time our umbrella with a short shower though we were quite well sheltered in the trailer. Then a couple arrived, who were friends of the man, and also very nice people and we spent a good day chatting and also laughing a lot because we never knew which race was on as the order was changed compared to the program and we were mistaken with the 2 races that had been ran the previous day, so it was a little confusing… Anyway, it was still very pleasant and exciting to spend the whole day watching the 11 races, with no incident and no rain.
There were two “breaks” with laps done by a rally car from the 70s spinning in each corner of the circuit.
The 600 race, the “Support 201-400cc Championship” and the final race were just heart-stopping, with crazy braking and overtaking at that corner (if you see the corner you won’t believe you can actually overtake there…).
Derek Sheils won the “Grand Final” (and one of the Superbike race) in spite of having missed the qualifying session on Saturday as he was racing at the Masters Series in Bishopcourt (Northern Ireland).
John Walsh
Once again we had a very nice day. On Sunday we took very few pics but we enjoyed the races at most.
After saying goodbye to our 3 new friends until next year, we went back home.
We saw fabulous racing, very well organised, there was no rain and no incident. But I used my hat for the first time and I didn’t take it out in all the day. One of our neighbours told me that he had been living in Ireland for 65 years and he was still not used to the weather… So I still have some margin to get used to it LOL.
We end up the 2015 Road Racing season on a very good note, long will be the wait until April 2016…
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing season: Armoy
At the end of July it was time for our “pilgrimage” to Armoy, the Road Race where we had been to during our honeymoon trip (report here). Armoy is in Northern Ireland, about 500km from where we live (on the opposite side of it. In Ireland if you do more tan 600km from South to North it’s because you ended up into the sea…lol).
We had taken some days off so that we could enjoy the event at its most.
We arrived on Thursday 23rd of July, in the afternoon. After a tea/coffee with scones with butter and jam shared with the B&B nice landlady and two other guests, we went to Armoy where we arrived just in time for the bike lap with classic bikes (and not so classic ones). We bought a good lot of merchandising (after 3 races this year we understood that it’s no use buying tee-shirts of the road races because YOU NEVER SEE THEM, it’s so cold that we always have one or two layers above them. So that I bought a hoodie… Next time I might buy a polar jacket ;D ), then we had some dinner and went to the paddock where there was the “Miss Armoy 2015” celebration. We wanted to see some people of the club organising who had been so friendly 2 years ago. And there they were. We had a good chat with them, they were happy to see us again (they thought we would never come back, they didn’t know us! Lol ).
Some riders were also attending the event, having a drink, as Michael Dunlop; while others were part of the election jury (Michal Dokoupil and Sam Dunlop). A nice and pleasant family atmosphere.
After the election we went back to the B&B and stayed a while chatting with 3 Scottish bikers, one race marshal (the woman who counts the laps and waves the chequered flag) and her daughter who were all staying there, and also the landlady.
Friday was Practice day. The organisers had advised us to go to “Lagge Jump” to take jumps pics. There you have to arrive early because there is few space for many photographers…
The bad thing is that there is no close place for eating and drinking, but as other times the Irish Breakfast lasted most of the day and we had some snacks and water. Next time we’ll come better prepared, we look like newcomers!
There we spent all day taking many pics of the jumps. The speed in that straight line (with jumps) is just amazing. I have no word to describe it. A guy, Mark, joined us, and we chatted for a good while. At one point he told me “I don’t know if you look scared or if you look Wow”, but I wouldn’t know either. I have no word. Those men (and a few women) are just impressive, to go at that speed on THOSE roads, which are so narrow, with bumps and whatever, and where any small mistake can have a high cost… Respect!
Traveling Marshal
Doctor Fred Mc Sorley
Michal Dokoupil & Conor Behan
Guy Martin, William Dunlop, Dean Harrison
Christian Elkin & Callum Laidlaw
Andy Farrell & Jeremy Mc Williams
Dean Harrison
Keith Amor
Guy Martin
Stephen Mc Knight & Andy Lawson
Ryan Farquhar
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop & Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Seamus Elliott
Derek Mc Gee
Davy Morgan
Stephen Casey & Brendan Merrigan
Michael Dunlop
The evening ended with the first race, Supersport (600). It was an amazing one. William Dunlop won it, followed buy Guy Martin and Dean Harrison.
After the race we went back to the paddock to have dinner, and the fact is that Mark is a friend and in the team of Andy Farrell #96. He invited us to come to their camp place after dinner. So there we went although we don’t like to be like “groupies” (we are too old now lol)… We spent quite a good time with Andy and his team, all very nice people. He showed us his bikes (he participates with 1 Supertwin and one 600 with which he runs several races, but he had one broken bearing gear on the 600 and had no spare part, so next day he could only race with the Supertwin).
He showed us an onboard video of an Isle of Man lap (last year Manx GP), with the comments on each reference point for each corner and circuit element (Isle of Man circuit is 60km…). Amazing.
He also told us that he had no motorbike license because it was too dangerous to ride on open roads… 8O.
This reminded me of an interview of Mrs. Dunlop, widow of the late Robert and mother of 2 of the best racers now Michael and William, who was happy that they would “only” race on closed roads because it was too dangerous riding on open roads…
But they are riding at 300km/h on those narrow roads!!!
Well I suppose that these people can’t go slowly on a bike 😉 and that they don’t even know that we actually CAN go slowly on a bike, enjoying the views and those things that some weirdos are doing when we ride a bike LOL.
He told us that when he was riding his bike that fast is when he really felt alive.
This energy they feel I think that’s what they pass on to the public. Their adrenalin is transmittable like. We can see them happy, fully enjoying.
It’s a very dangerous sport but all are quite conscious of the risks and have them assumed.
Some spend some time with doubts about going on after an accident or the loss of a close friend, but most of them finally come back. After an accident most just want to recover as soon as possible to race again.
It looks like it’s stronger than reason, something deep inside, and addictive as a drug.
Well, the chat was very pleasant and interesting. Most of the racers (including the most famous) are quite accessible on those small races where they don’t have so much pressure from the teams and sponsors.
Andy Farrell is #5 in the Irish Championship in Supertwin, #12 in Supersport, #13 in Superbike.
The next day we woke up very (too) early to take our seat in Acheson’s Leap, as 2 years ago. We forgot that in Ireland people enjoy the Friday nights in the pubs and they don’t get up early. We could have saved hour and a half of waiting, with 2 showers…
When we arrived the catering trucks had not even arrived, we were the only ones with the organisers LOL.
At last the catering trucks arrived and Juan went for our breakfast…
There was no more rain in all the day, but we are not used to those temperatures. We were wearing a tee-shirt, a hoodie and a polar jacket, and when the sun was hiding behind a cloud we would lose 10 °C and we were freezing.
At last the roads closed and the day started with a very moving speech from Dr. Fred, who was working with Doc John who sadly passed away in July, followed by a minute of silence respected all around the circuit. A really moving moment.
Then the races started and didn’t stop until completing the 11 races of the day.
Amazing Derek Mc Gee
Andy Lawson, 24 year old and newcomer in Armoy and other road races this year, sadly passed away in an accident in Ulster GP on 8th of August. This sport can be so cruel sometimes. RIP.
William Dunlop
Dean Harrison
Ryan Farquhar
Michael Dunlop
Women Power 😉 : Veronika Hancocyova
Women Power 😉 : Yvonne Montgomery
Women Power 😉 : Sarah Boyes
Michal Dokoupil
Andy Farrell
Michael Dunlop, after winning the last race “Race of Legends”
My favourite races are the Supertwin ones, because the bikes are more even in preparation, there are usually many overtaking and they have such a beautiful sound 🙂 (and nothing to do with the fact that I own a SV650, mine doesn’t sound like that and is certainly not going that fast lol).
We saw many good races all day long. As usual Juan ended up chatting with our “wall neighbours”, which makes more pleasant the “time-outs”.
Unfortunately there were 2 incidents (and 6 red flags), with one helicopter evacuation. But both racers are back home one week later.
Once again we could enjoy a full day of great racing with a very good organisation.
At the end of the race we went to the paddock (already half empty) to say goodbye to the #96 team, and then we went to Ballycastle, a nice sea resort, to have some dinner as we had enough hamburgers for a while… at last we finally enjoyed the sunset in front of the sea, with 2 pizzas… LOL
We went back to the B&B and to bed after a short chat about the day with the 3 Scottish guys.
The next day we got up with no rush and left for home after a quiet breakfast and saying goodbye to our nice landlady.
Next race in 2 weeks… To be continued…
Road Races
Our 2015 Road Racing Season: Walderstown
On 12th of July we went to our second road race, also in Republic of Ireland. This was not quite planned and we could not go for Saturday practice. The race was in Walderstown, a small village close to Athlone and Mullingar, not too far from Kells race where we went in June.
As we arrived on the same day of the races, we had no time to go around the circuit and find the best place for pictures. In spite of waking up very early we arrived just before the roads closed, and very hungry, so we first went to the paddock…
This was the first race since Doctor John Hinds passed away. “Doc John” was a great doctor anaesthetist, who apart from his job, dedicated his free time to make road racing safer. Together with the medical team and another doctor in Ireland, he saved the lives of many riders.
He also shared his medical experience with other doctors around the world, to save more lives, not only in road racing.
Doc John sadly passed away in an accident while following a group of racers during practice in Skerries (close to Dublin) at the beginning of July.
So the racing day started with a lap in his memory and honour, leaded by the medical staff and marshals. A very nice and moving homage just a few days after the funeral. All my respect for all the people who spend their free time to make this dangerous sport as safe as possible.
After the honour lap and a minute of silence fairly respected all around the circuit, the races started.
We first were on the straight line just before the paddock, with the view on the previous corner and a good point to see many wheelies.
William Dunlop
Derek Sheils
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
We then moved to the previous corner for the next race. There was a good viewpoint for pictures from the outside part of the corner.
The day and the races went on without any incident. There was a short shower during the Classics race (poor lads), but we were in the paddock and got shelter under a big tree.
Then we moved down the straight line of the paddock. The next corner was probably the best of the circuit and was packed with people and there was not a free space to watch (though we know where to go next year). So we went back to the straight line. There we can see the pilots arrive fairly quickly, not too good for us to take pictures, but quite good to watch the races and see some nice overtaking.
We finished the day there. It seemed short to us in spite of the 10 races!
V’s
Road Races
Our 2015 road racing season: Kells
Our 2015 season started later than planned. We wanted to go to the Northwest200 in May but at that time Juan was out for work, and I just wished I could have gone as I was stuck at home in rainy Ireland while Juan wished the same but from some Californian beach 😀 .
In June at last we could go to our first road race of the season.
It was in Kells, in Republic of Ireland and it was practical because the race was on Sunday (and practice on Saturday) while all of Northern Ireland are on Saturdays (with practice on Fridays). This gave us time to arrive on Saturday, get to know the area and find the best place to watch the races.
Kells road races are run on a road that goes out of Crossakiel village and makes like a triangle.
We left home on Saturday morning at about 9.00am and after we got lost for a while (the GPS had not charged correctly during the night), we arrived to the hotel where we stayed at about 1.00pm. We had some lunch in the pub restaurant and after leaving our cases in the bedroom, we finally went to the circuit, at about 15km through very narrow and bumpy roads. We found the circuit, parked the bike and went to the first corner from the village. The road was already closed so we couldn’t ride around the circuit anymore.
We stayed in that corner and took pictures of the practice for classics, Supersport, Superbike, 125, Supertwins, etc…
Paul Jordan
Michal Dokoupil
William Dunlop
Juan had a long chat with another fan who told us where to go the next day to take nice pictures, and who also advised us that we had to go to Skerries and Killalane road races (North of Dublin) in July and September respectively.
After the practice we went back to the hotel, had dinner, and the hotel owner advised us to go to a castle 1km away. So there we went. The garden was just amazing, and the castle very nice. That’s funny that it looked much like a Playmobil castle, I don’t know if they got their inspiration from Irish castles…
The night was not so funny though as they started with a concert in the pub below the room at 11pm, just when we decided to sleep, and the music was quite loud and not as we like either… and we couldn’t rest until it stopped at last at 1.30am…
After a short resting night, we left early to have breakfast in Crossakiel (a full Irish Breakfast so that we get to the end of the races without eating) and get to the sighting place early. We left the bike (no organised car park for the bikes) and went to “Dromad Hire” corner, on the other side of the circuit. The bad thing was that there was no food/drink selling point in that field, it was on the next corner, and there was few time between the races to move. So we just stayed there, with our just eaten Irish breakfast, a bottle of water and some cereals bars for Juan…
The races went by, very exciting. We were taking turn to take pictures 😉 . We were very close to the riders, so much that at the beginning I was a little scared. Though we were on the inside part of the corner, so after a while I enjoyed it very much.
William Dunlop
Sam Wilson
Derek Mc Gee
Andy Farrell
Paul Jordan
There was an incident in one of the races that required the doctors, ambulance and then helicopter intervention. The rider, Ian Morrell was swiftly attended and is now safe and recovering from his injuries.
After the break (everything was very well organised, Cheers to all the organisers, marshals and Medical Team who saved his life in the first minutes), the race started again, followed by the rest of them Supertwin, Junior Support (one won by the Czech woman Veronika Hancocyová), Superstock, and Superbike (the “Grand Final”)… It finished at about 4pm.
Traveling Marshal
Traveling Doctor John – RIP
Stephen Morrison
John Ella
Craig Gibson
Sean O’Neil
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee
Parade Lap
Barry Sheehan
Veronika Hancocyova
Paul Jordan
William Dunlop
Michal Dokoupil
Derek Mc Gee
Alan Bonner
Derek Mc Gee & Alan Bonner
After a full racing day, we went back to the village to have lunch/dinner, and then we went back to Cork, some 250km, this time through Dublin (with GPS functioning this time) and we got rain for about 150km… I think we broke a record of lasting rain (not of intensity though…).
At last we arrived home, wet, tired but happy, and with some 900 pics to sort out…
V’s