Pre-TT Classic Road Races, 2025

This weekend I competed in the Pre-TT Classic Races on the 4.25 Billown Course in the south of the Isle of Man

This event has been a staple in my calendar for 10 years. And now, in fact, it's pretty much the only racing I do. But it's always a well run, and really friendly and enjoyable event. But there's an elephant, not in the room, but in my head, asking "for how much longer are you going to do this?"

Last year the ZXR stopped in the race with fuel starvation. The fuel system has been the achilles heel of this bike since I built it, always playing up and giving issues that a very difficult to diagnose. So I gave the carbs to local guy (Andy Martin, who works with Slick Bass) who knows such things well with instructions to "sort them out". He went through them, cleaning and fettling, replacing seals, etc. I fitted them, and fuel immediately came out the overflows i.e. the float valves weren't shutting. Andy told me to replace the needle valves and seats. I found some new-old-stock in Germany - set of 4 for less than €20. Once fitted, the fuel overflow stopped, and the bike was run on the dyno, making the same as it ever did ~133bhp.

Checking the regs, there were a few changes. Tyres now must not be more than 3 years old, as measured by the stamp in the sidewall of the tyre - usually wwyy, where ww is the week number and yy the year. My tyres, which I probably only bought in 2023, declared themselves as 4 years old. So that was £400 to spend on new Metzeler Racetecs.

Much too late (the weekend before, in fact), I re-read the regs and realised that I now need an FIM certified crash helmet [1], not just ACU gold star. Managed to get an Arai in the TT paddock for £700. Still, it is an Arai. Was very annoyed with myself for being so poorly prepared - I used to be much betted organised that this. I guess getting married a few weeks ago might have distracted me.

Anyway, we loaded the van up and headed to the deep south (Castletown). The weather on the Island has been unbroken sunshine for about 5 weeks, and we set up in glorious weather, but knowing the forecast was for a change. Signing on was Thursday evening, and first practice Friday evening.

Friday dawned sunny, with rain forecast for later. And so it turned out - rain arrived and settled in during the afternoon. Never mind, this is not my first rodeo, so we fitted the wets, went through scruting, and were ready for our practice session (Event 8, Post-Classic Superbikes: basically 750s up to the mid-90s) ... at 8:45pm! The skies were so dark with clouds that even tho it was still an hour til sunset, I was worried I might need headlights!

Cometh the hour, and out we went. I *love* riding on race wets - it feels like you're defying the laws of physics! And there is *no* feeling like riding as fast as you dare along closed public roads. Especially doing it with some like-minded idiots. I felt good, my (really quite old) wets worked perfectly, but I was only 15th fastest (out of 24; the entry was well over 30, but around a dozen decided not to go out in the very wet conditions). I used to aim for the top 10, but those days are long gone (tho, see below...). While I haven't actually got slower, the field has got faster, and I've slipped down the order.

The second practice session was Saturday afternoon. The overnight rain had mostly dried out by the time were on track, with just a few damp patches dotted around the course. We rolled out of the holding area and I immediately found myself in a group of 6 bikes, all running at a similar pace. Part of me worried that i might be being held up, but just as likely was that I was being pulled along by the group. With the whole field (34) out in the session, I was a bit disappointed to qualify 20th, but accepted that that is just probably the level I'm at now.

Race Day was Sunday 25th. The weather was dry but blustery, and after the bke being faultless in yesterday's practice (lack of pace being down to the rider, not the machine), there was nothing to do but check oil and water, do a nut & bolt check, and put fuel in the tank. An hour before the race the bike was sat with the rest of the field in Parc Ferme, on stands with tyre warmers fitted and gennie rumbling away, and I was ready....

...until about 20 mins before the start time the rain started - and turned into a pretty intense shower. The roads were soaked, and so, (along with the rest of the field, we set about frantically changing wheels. All done with a few mins to spare, but somewhat out of breath and feeling a bit frazzled, the gate opened and we rolled out for the warm-up lap. The track was already more dry than wet, but some corners were still properly soaked, so wets had to be the right choice. A few of the top riders had declined to take the start - these were people with big TT campaigns ahead of them who didn't want to risk everything in decidedly mixed conditions for what is basically a fun race (compared to the TT).

The buzz off a mass start on a road circuit is like nothing else, with 30 bikes heading flat out into Ballakeighan. I made a good start, as I usually do, making up a few places before the first corner, and then getting good drive out of Ballakeighan to make up a couple more before Iron Gates. The tyres were working perfectly, with no movement at all on the wet patches, and there were plenty of bikes around me to race with. And a couple of incidents too - coming into Stadium Corner there were yellow flags, then vigourously waved double yellows at Castletown Corner, and as I went round it I had to avoid a still spinning ZXR750 and the rider picking himself up. I gained a couple of places, then lost one, and so on, for the next few laps, until it was just me and another chap, on a GSX-R75, together in the spread-out field. He got me, I got him back, and I finally thought I had put him in his place...until he came past me down the start finish as we started the last lap! Curses! I got my head down, and got myself right on to his tail in the technical Ballabeg to Cross Fourways section. It's difficult to overtake here, but I hoped to out-brake him into the 1st gear corner at Cross Fourways. But surprisingly, he was cautious through Ballawhetstone and I was able to just ride past him. Now I had to be inch perfect and not give anything away. And so I managed it, all the way to the line.

I had no idea what position I'd finished in....but when I got back to the paddock, the guys told me I was 10th! 20th on the grid to 10th - I'll take that! And, in this class, there's prize money for the top 10, so I'm actually £50 better off. Of course, I'm ignoring the cost of new tyres & a crash helmet referenced up there somewhere :-)

The elephant in my head is still there, but a good weekend like this makes it easier to say "maybe just one more year)

[1] Plenty of cynicism in the paddock about this. Claims that the manufacturers produce exactly the same helmet, get them FIM tested, then differentiate them from the more mainstream product by giving them a new name, graphic and obviously a higher price