The opening few seconds of “Closer to the Edge” take you deep into what makes the TT both uniquely attractive – and suicidally dangerous. The onboard camera gives a rider’s eye view from the start on Glencrutchery Road, down Bray Hill at 160 mph and on to Quarter Bridge. Seen from this perspective – and the footage, genuinely, is not accelerated for effect – it is truly terrifying. And what’s this stretch of road like when it’s not a race track? Quite simply an imperfect, urban road threading its way past front gardens and round the entrance to a pub.
To understand the TT it is helpful to do a small piece of practical research. Blink once. In the time it took you to close and open your eyes, a TT rider would have covered slightly more than the length of a school bus.
Now, say: “One and two.” That’s the old school way of counting one second. In that single second, most TT racers will have ridden the length of a football field.
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