I thought this article about the TT and the people that make it so special was a great read.
http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2011/11/isle-of-mankind-the-people-who-make-the-tt-special/And just a taste to wet your appetitie:
Coming in they’re doing about 120-140. Two blocks before the intersection they dynamite the brakes and bang downshifts like an automatic pistol. Many lift and skip the rear from side to side. Some even get a little wild with a leg coming off the pegs. Then they throw into the 90-degree right turn and drag knees, just inches from hitting the curb. In fact, there’s a storm-drain in the gutter, right along the elbow of the sidewalk curb. Some make a fraction of a second sound —GGCCLLAAACK!!!— as their right knee-slider zips across the grate of the storm-drain. Despite disbelief, I know it must be real because I’m standing about five feet back from the storm-drain, could extend my arm, lean forward slightly, and touch their helmets.
Many grasp for an explanation of the TT, or wonder why anyone would race in it. No justification is flawless, but in Belfast I’d seen a peace mural with a quote from Pearl S. Buck. “The young do not know enough to be prudent and therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it . . . generation after generation.”
