Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Lightweight TT

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Location
  
Douglas, Isle of Man

115.398 mph
  
115.554 mph

Lightweight TT

Date
  
Lightweight TT – 9 June 2012

Course
  
Road Course 37.733 mi (60.725 km)

The Lightweight TT is a motorcycle road race that is a part of the Isle of Man TT festival - an annual motorcycle event traditionally held over the last week of May and first week of June.

Contents

History

1922 was the first time the Lighweight TT race took place, won by Geoff S. Davison riding a Levis, at an average speed of 49.89 mph (80.29 km/h) for 7 laps of the Snaefell Mountain Course. Between 1949 and 1976, the Lightweight race was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.

The event was dropped from the 2005 race calendar due to lack of entries. The Lightweight TT and the Ultra-Lightweight TT were later reinstated to the 2008 & 2009 race schedules, but were held on the 4.25 mile Billown Circuit in the south of the Isle of Man. For the 2010 races, the Lightweight TT was again dropped from the race schedule on cost grounds.

The event was re-introduced for the 2012 races on the Mountain course, with a change to water-cooled four-stroke twin cylinder engines not exceeding 650 cc and complying with the ACU Standing Regulations.

The Lightweight category

There have been several different categories of motorcycle that can compete in this event. In the 1950s and 1960s, the principal TT solo events were the Senior (500 cc), Junior (350 cc), and Lightweight (250 cc, or sometimes 125 cc). The 125 cc class was occasionally called "Ultra-Lightweight".

Currently the Lightweight class comprises road-based "Super-Twin" solo machines with liquid-cooled four-stroke engines of up to 650 cc engine capacity.

Entrants

  • Entrants must be in possession of a valid National Entrants or FIM Sponsors Licence for Road Racing.

    • Machines

    The 2012 specification for entries into the Lightweight TT race are defined as;-

  • Any solo machine complying with the following specifications:
  • Machines must comply with general technical rules as per ACU Standing Regulations and 2012 IOM TT regulations.
  • Any four-stroke twin cylinder motor-cycle originally sold for road use with a water-cooled engine of up to 650cc.
  • Eligible machines must be from models homologated for road use 2005 or later.

    • Official Qualification Time

  • 115% of the time set by the third fastest qualifier in the class.

    • Speed and lap records

    The lap record for the Lightweight TT is held by James Hillier in a time of 18 minutes and 43.955 seconds, at an average speed of 120.848 mph (194.486 km/h) set during the 2015 race. The race record for the 4 lap Lightweight TT is a time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 26.681 seconds, at an average race speed of 118.454 mph (190.633 km/h) for 4 laps (150.73 miles/242.58 km) held by Ivan Lintin during the 2016 race.

    References

    Lightweight TT Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA