Isle of Man Post Office launches set of 10 ‘greatest TT Mountain course races’ stamps
Wednesday 24 November 2010
TT
The Isle of Man Post Office assembled a distinguished panel of experts to determine the Ten Greatest TT Races around the Mountain Course, as part of the Centenary celebrations in 2011, with their selection converted into a prestigious collection of stamps.
The panel included current TT riders John McGuinness, Ian Hutchinson, Michael Dunlop and Dave Molyneux, commentators – and former riders – Charlie Williams and Steve Parrish, journalists John Watterson (Isle of Man Newspapers) and Gary Pinchin (MCN) and TT archivist Bill Snelling from Fottofinders.
The panel spent hours deliberating over what they believe are the most exciting races in TT history and they finally agreed on a shortlist that featured races from many of the Mountain Course centenary’s decades.
Gary Pinchin, News Editor, Motorcycle News commented:
“In the event’s rich history there have been some epic races decided by split seconds – even after six laps and over 200 miles of flat-out racing. Picking ten top races out of hundreds of thrilling encounters was no easy task.”
Five pre-1980 races were selected with the Blue Riband Senior TT prominent; the 1935 Senior TT where Stanley Woods beat Jimmy Guthrie by four seconds, the 1967 Senior TT between Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood and the 1976 Senior TT between Tom Herron and John Williams. The remaining two pre1980 races chosen by the panel were the 1977 Sidecar Race duel between O’Dell/Arthur and Greasley/Skeels and the 1979 Classic TT between Alex George and Mike Hailwood.
The recent resurgence of the TT races was reflected in the panel’s decision to chose two races from this year’s TT with the Superstock race between Ian Hutchinson and Ryan Farquhar and Klaus Klaffenbock’s second sidecar triumph both making the panel’s shortlist. John McGuinnesses epic battle with Cameron Donald in the 2008 Senior TT also made the final list with the remaining two places going to 1992 Senior TT between Carl Fogarty and Steve Hislop and the Formula 1 TT race in 2000 between Joey Dunlop and David Jefferies.
Members of the public will now be able to vote for the ‘Greatest Race of All Time’via an on-line poll on official TT website iomtt.com. The poll will also be available on iompost.com and motorcyclenews.com and voting will close on January 31, 2011. The winning race as voted for by members of the public will be revealed at the MCN London Bike show from February 3 and it will be featured on a separate stamp sheet, which will be launched for TT fortnight 2011.
The full set of ten stamps, which have been designed by Ramsey based graphic designer Pete Jones, will also be available to buy, from April 2011, in a collectors presentation pack with first day covers and an introduction written by MCN’s Gary Pinchin.
To see which races made the shortlist and record your vote, visit the voting page.