The 2012 Isle of Man TT came to a close and despite the Senior TT being cancelled for the first time in the event’s 105 year history, the TT was an unprecedented success for Honda, who took victory in three of the five solo motorcycle races contested and graced the podium 11 out of a possible 15 times.
Both the Superbike and the first Supersport race at the start of the week ended with a Honda 1-2-3; McGuinness taking victory in the first aboard his Honda TT Legends CBR1000RR Fireblade and in the latter, Padgetts Racing’s Bruce Anstey brought his Honda CBR600RR to the second closest TT victory in history, with a winning margin of just 0.77 seconds. McGuinness’ win in that followed in the Superstock class – also with Padgetts Racing – aboard the near stock Fireblade, taking the tally of Honda wins at the TT to 163.
John McGuinness, Honda at the IOM.
The decision to cancel the Senior TT at the end of the week because of the rain, deprived McGuinness of the chance to challenge for his 20th Isle of Man TT victory, currently sitting on 19 TT wins. There appears to be no sign of him stopping anytime soon as he closes in on the late, great Joey Dunlop’s tally of 26 wins at the TT.
The dominant performance of Honda machines across all contested classes proved once again that the Honda was the bike to be on to challenge the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT mountain course, one of the most demanding in all motorsport.
In the electric motorcycle TT Zero class Michael Rutter and Team Segway Racing MotoCzysz became the first team to record a 100 mph lap of the course in the SES TT Zero race in what is being hailed as one of the greatest achievements in the event’s one hundred and five year history.
John McGuinness (who rides anything) closely followed Rutter home on the Team Mugen Shinden machine with Michael Rutter’s MotoCzysz teammate Mark Miller taking the final podium position, with all three breaking the 100 mph mark (however, it should be remembered that the first 100 mph lap was recorded by Scotsman Bob McIntyre in 1957 on a conventional petrol-engined motorcycle).
In this year’s TT Zero, despite there being wet patches around the course, Michael Rutter quickly established a lead of over 30 seconds at the first checkpoint at Glen Helen from John McGuinness with Mark Miller a further 3 seconds back in third.
At the next checkpoint, Rutter continued to set the pace with an average speed of 118.730 mph and a lead of almost a minute from second placed John McGuinness.
The top speeds of the TT Zero electric motorcycles were also astounding. Miller was quickest through the speed trap at 132.6 mph with John McGuinness at 128.8 and Michael Rutter 126.6, down on the 152 mph he set in qualifying but Rutter continued to be on the pace for the 100 mph lap and reached Ramsey Hairpin in averaging 119.653 mph.
Rutter crossed the line in 21:45.33 for an average of 104.056 mph with both John McGuinness on the Team Mugen (102.215 mph) and Mark Miller (101.065 mph) all breaking the 100 mph barrier.
