(Editor’s note) Sigi Heider is an interesting character who, it seems, has been around for the same sort of length of time as me, has done quite a few of the same things I did and, in fact, still does. He’s also written about some of his adventures, and as we’re approaching That Time Of Year, this seems an appropriate one to share with you. The words and pictures are his, the translation (and any resultant mistakes) are mine. Talking of the pictures, they are scanned from the original slides, so the quality won't be as good as usual. Blame it on the lack of an available time machine.

My first trip to the UK took place in 1986. A motorcycle tour to the legendary Tourist Trophy (TT) on the Isle of Man. Two friends on their two Ducati 900 SS bevel drives. What could possibly go wrong?

The whole thing was a very long time ago and that's why the focus of this article is just on a few memorable stories that were particularly memorable and the pictures that I took back then. Totally retro, so to speak.

I was told back then that it felt like 90% of the island lived from the TT and the Manx Grand Prix in late summer. It seemed right to me. This impression was everywhere. Thousands of motorcyclists flocked, and still flock, to the island for the race weeks.

The races on the IoM began as early as 1907 because, due to the island's autonomous status, there was and is no speed limit outside of town, in contrast to the rest of the UK. The island even has its own money, the Manx Pound, and its own stamps. Neither, by the way, is legal tender in the UK. We took the ferry from Rotterdam to Hull and crossed the country to Heysham. From here one of the ferries to the Isle of Man goes to Douglas, the capital.

The Isle of Man's coat of arms is a triskele, similar to that of Sicily (see above). Here the coat of arms says "Quocunque Jeceris Stabit". Meaning: "Wherever you throw us, we will stand"...

It probably comes from the eventful history of the Isle of Man between Ireland and England.

When I wanted to drive the Ducati off the ferry in Douglas, I noticed that the rear wheel and everything from the Ducati's chain sprocket to the rear were covered in oil. Damn, the shaft seal on the transmission output shaft had probably leaked. Well I couldn’t do anything about it there and then, so I cleaned everything with a rag and rode on. The problem could be solved somehow.

The first week of our two-week presence was still a training week, so everyone in the very familiar feeling paddock still had a lot of time. I found a Ducati team there and asked if they could help me in any way. The team boss himself said: "No problem. I will have one sent by my shop." That alone would be enough as an anecdote, but it went further. The motorcycle was quite oily and so I asked if there was a high-pressure cleaner somewhere in Douglas. "Yes, back there, the bakery has one. But  no petrol stations with have a jetwash."

That led to me simply asking in the large bakery there and they answered very friendly, "Of course, in the back of our yard." Now all I had to do was push the Ducati through the entire bakery to get to the farm. The entire island was probably supplied with bread from here. Tire tracks on the floury floor in a bakery look funny. It's events like this that show that this island is full of motorcycles. It seemed completely normal...

I removed the hump seat to clean it so that everything was oil-free and discovered my 500 ml reserve oil bottle under the hump... without a lid. It had covered everything in oil when it leaked and I was probably lucky I didn't fall. On the other hand, it became clear that the shaft seal was not the cause of the oily rear end and I was able to cancel it. However, I now realized who I had actually ordered from! It was Steve Wynne from Sports Motor Cycles himself..!

In 1978 he prepared the famous Ducati for Mike Hailwood, on which he not only won the Senior TT after 11 years away from motorcycles, but also the motorcycle F1 of that year. The motorcycle insired the  “Hailwood replica” and was a huge sales success for Ducati. So I had to go to him and explain everything to him. We both had a good laugh about it and everything was settled...

You have to appreciate that the race track on The Island consists of approx. 61 km of normal country roads and even runs through towns. This is often extremely dangerous because you often pass wrought iron garden fences with spikes on top and quarry stone walls. Outside of racing and training times, school buses and milk floats are on the road here as normal.

Training takes place in the morning before normal traffic begins. The route marshals then cordon off everything and we set off at 6:00 a.m. Because then, as now, sleep was no longer an option, you had the bizarre sight of housewives in dressing gowns with curlers in their hair, leaning on the bedroom window sill and watching the motorbikes speed past not five meters away.

Of course I wanted to know whether I could be fast on this race track. This idea is crazy anyway, because if you're clueless you'll only be driving around your head and neck on the almost 61 km long course. So I still got up around 5:00 one morning and tried my luck before the traffic started. However, the whole thing quickly became too dangerous for me, because my top speed at a clear point was just about the average speed of the fast riders... and that was a pretty scary place to be.

If you want to be fast in races, you need the best preparation and a really good understanding of what’s actually involved. Anything else is suicidal. Many onboard videos on YouTube show how breakneck it really is to try to be fast here. Riding in the direction of the race soon seemed too dangerous to me anyway. But soon also against the direction of the race. So it's best to stay away from the racetrack to avoid encountering the kamikazes.

On so-called Mad Sunday, the Mountain Course section via the bungalow is freely accessible to visitors in a one-way direction. The name says it all, because most people feel encouraged to do the same as the racing drivers. It's better to stay away...

Given everything that's happening on the island, you might ask yourself why it hasn't been banned for a long time. But as has been written many times before: This is about passion and everyone here, both the racers and the visitors, are adults. Unfortunately, there are always crashes not only among the racers, but also among the spectators. Maybe that's why there are T-shirts with "I survived Mad Sunday" printed on them...

Sigi Heider