Ballaugh Bridge and the North

The north west of the TT course is farmland, villages and short straights, and it contains one of the most photographed moments in road racing. Between Ballacraine and Ramsey the road crosses glens, passes through Kirk Michael, throws machines over the humpback bridge at Ballaugh, and runs the long Sulby straight. This guide follows that section and explains what makes it a rhythm section rather than a series of separate corners.

From Ballacraine to Glen Helen

After the turn at Ballacraine the course leaves the fast A1 road and joins the A3, the old Castletown to Ramsey road. The character changes at once. Instead of long sight lines the rider meets a sequence of bends through countryside, with the river valley at Glen Helen opening beside the road. Ballaspur and Ballakillingan come before it, each a short, sharp piece of road that must be linked to the next.

This is where a lap stops being about individual corners and starts being about flow. A rider who brakes too hard for one bend arrives slow for the next, and the loss compounds. The section rewards a line that carries speed rather than a line that stops and starts.

Kirk Michael and the west coast villages

The course continues through Kirk Michael, a village on the west coast road where houses stand close to the tarmac and spectators line the pavements. The road here is quick, and the bends are shallow enough that a rider can hold a high gear. After Kirk Michael the course runs on through farmland toward Ballaugh, with walls and hedges on both sides and few places to escape a mistake.

The villages of the west give spectators a different experience from the mountain. Instead of standing on open moorland, a visitor stands in a street, often within a few metres of the racing line, with a pub or a shop behind them. That closeness is one of the attractions of the section, and it is also why marshals work hard to keep spectators behind the barriers.

Ballaugh Bridge

Ballaugh Bridge is the moment most associated with this part of the course. The road crosses a river on a stone humpback bridge and rises over the hump, so a machine can leave the ground and land on the far side while still travelling at racing speed. The bridge sits in the middle of the village, framed by cottages, and the crowd is dense on both approaches.

Riders treat the bridge as a test of control rather than a place to gain time. Landing badly costs more than the tenth of a second the jump might save, and the road immediately after the bridge continues into the village rather than opening out. The best riders make the jump look almost calm, which is exactly the point.

The Sulby straight

After Ballaugh the course runs to Sulby and onto the Sulby straight, one of the longest full-throttle sections on the circuit. Machines reach their highest speeds here, and the road is wide enough and straight enough that the racing becomes a test of engine, gearing and nerve. Sulby Bridge and Sulby Crossroads sit at the end of the straight, where the course must slow again for the approach to Ramsey.

For a spectator, the straight is a place to appreciate speed in a way that is difficult anywhere else. There is little to see in the way of cornering, but the sound of a machine arriving at full throttle and then braking hard for the next bend is its own spectacle.

Approaching Ramsey

From Sulby the course runs through Lezayre and on toward Ramsey, passing Cruickshanks and a series of bends that tighten as the town approaches. The road narrows, buildings appear, and the rider must prepare for Parliament Square and the hairpin that follows. The transition from the fastest part of the course to the slowest is compressed into a few miles, and it is one of the most demanding sequences on the lap.

The approach to Ramsey also marks the end of the lowland section. Beyond the town the course climbs onto the mountain, which is covered in the guide to Ramsey Hairpin and the mountain climb.

One more feature of this section deserves a mention for anyone following the racing closely. The north west is where a rider's consistency shows most clearly, because the same sequence of bends is repeated on every lap and the time gained or lost accumulates. A rider who is a tenth of a second quicker through a village will be a tenth quicker every lap, and over six laps of a Senior TT that becomes a second and a half. The section rarely produces a dramatic moment, but it quietly decides a great many results.

What to watch for in the north west

Three features define this section for a visitor. Ballaugh Bridge offers the most distinctive single image on the course. The Sulby straight offers raw speed. The villages of Kirk Michael and Ballaugh offer the closest views of the racing, with spectators standing in streets rather than on verges.

A spectator planning a day here can find access notes in the guide to where to watch the TT. A reader who wants the full order of the course can use the index of named corners of the Mountain Course, and a reader who wants the circuit explained from the start can begin with the guide to the Snaefell Mountain Course. The geography of the A3 and the villages it passes is documented at Wikipedia.

The north west is often described as the section that decides a race quietly. Nothing dramatic happens there, but the time gained or lost through Kirk Michael, Ballaugh and Sulby is carried all the way to the finish.