Centenary celebrations at Festival of Speed
The celebration of the Centenary of the Isle of Man TT continues this weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
A huge array of exotic machinery is on display at the three-day festival, which started today, including the Norton which won the twin cylinder race at the very first TT in 1907.
Honda has shipped in a priceless selection of historic bikes from the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi, Japan, to be ridden by TT legends Jim Redman, Tommy Robb, Ralph Bryans and Stuart Graham.
In addition, Bob McMillan – ex-Honda boss and great friend of Isle of Man legend, 26-time TT winner Joey Dunlop – will ride the Ulsterman’s 2001 Honda SP-1 over the weekend.
There will also be a fantastic selection of important TT machines from the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum. Long-standing Festival sponsor BMW will be showing some of its classic TT winning machines, and will also bring to Goodwood current world motorcycle stunt riding champion Chris Pfeiffer who will entertain the crowds with seemingly impossible tricks. He proved a favourite when he appeared at TT on the Prom during the Centenary TT, wowing the audience with his incredible skills.
The 20th anniversary of the World Superbike Championship is also being celebrated at Goodwood.
Fresh from his appearance on the Parade of Champions during the Centenary celebrations in the Isle of Man, TT winner and four-time WSB champion Carl Fogarty, riding an MV Agusta F4R, makes a welcome return to Goodwood, joined by 2003 WSB Champion Neil Hodgson, an Isle of Man resident, on his championship-winning Ducati 999R, as well as the first British rider to win a WSB race, Terry Rymer, who will ride a Yamaha OWO1 up the hill.
Past British wild-card world superbike podium man Michael Rutter – who made a long-awaited return to the TT this year – will ride on his 2007 MSS Discovery Kawasaki ZX10 over the weekend – the same bike he is campaigning in this year’s British Superbike Championship. Several stars from the WSB Championship that appeared at the 2006 Festival are also expected to be in action, in many cases with new bikes and new sponsors. Reigning world champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) will be in action, as will another former double world champion, Troy Corser, who has switched from Factory Suzuki to Yamaha this year.
Alstare Corona Suzuki is keen to repeat the success of its first visit to the Festival last year by fielding the hugely popular Yukio Kagayama who will be piloting his Suzuki GSX-R1000 up the challenging Goodwood Hill. One of the biggest draws on two wheels this year is expected to be Jeremy McWilliams, who will ride the Ilmor X1 MotoGP bike – the machine and team that sadly withdrew for the 2007 championship after just one round.
Also from the Grand Prix world, fans will get a chance to see the ex-Kevin Schwantz Lucky Strike Suzuki RG500 run for the first time in the UK, ridden by current BSB rider Sean Emmett who acted as a stand-in for two rounds of the 1992 GP championship.
An exciting new addition to the Festival of Speed this year is a special display of highly interesting and little seen limited-production muscle bikes, which will also be in action on the hillclimb. Confederate will be shipping its awesome Wraith B120 over from the USA, having suffered a last-minute hitch that prevented their promised attendance last year.
Continuing with the American theme, Buell founder Erik Buell has pledged his attendance and Harley Davidson will be showing an awesome XR-1200 prototype machine based on the machines that raced on the American ovals. It will be ridden by American legend and multi-time champion Scott Parker. Also promised is the extraordinary 1.6-litre Wakan from France.