Meetings 1907 - 1930

TT 1912

Not all the Isle of Man residents enjoyed the influx of TT riders and their followers to their peaceful haven in the Irish Sea.

While they were voicing their disapproval of the disruption of their lives, many of the manufacturers had agreed to boycott the 1912 races. The difficulty of the Mountain Course combined with worries about safety was responsible for the decision, but, as always, the TT continued despite a reduced entry list.

Twins and singles were brought into line with a capacity limit of 350cc for the Junior and 500cc for the Senior.

There were only 25 entries for the junior, which was run in the rain. This suited the new Douglas team, as their chain-driven transmission did not suffer the same problems as the belt-driven machines, which could get no drive in the wet.

The result was a Douglas one-two, with Harry Bashall beating teammate Eric Kickham.

Forty-nine riders lined up for the five-lap Senior, and it was Applebee's howling two-stroke Scott, which led the way.

The factory had made their debut in the 1909 races with E Myres despite the reluctance of the ACU, which felt two-strokes had an unfair advantage over their four-stroke counterparts. The machine ridden to victory by Applebee in the 1912 event was technically far ahead of its time, and Frank Philipp was second on another Scott until he suffered a burst tyre at Ballaugh on the last lap.