" It was a cold and cloudy morning when on the 28th May 1907, Frank Hulbert and Jack Marshall spluttered away on their Triumphs to start ten laps round the St Johns circuit. The rest of the riders set off after them in pairs at one minute intervals. The start was at Tynwald Green and the lap was 15 miles and 1439 yards long. The riders travelled east to Ballacraine and then turned left onto the road which is now part of the modern TT course right up to Kirk Michael where they turned left again onto the coast road with the Devils Elbow eventually arriving in Peel where they turned left once more to complete the lap at St Johns...
23 other riders followed them away but after ten laps (158 miles) only 12 finished, the rest falling by the wayside.
Thanks to the Manx Government of the time,the TT began as a result of this body allowing racing on closed roads, at speeds exceeding 20 mph, neither of which were allowed on the mainland..
An idea was developed on a train returning from the 1906 International Cup Races in Putzau, Austria. Two riders, Charlie and Harry Collier, Fred Straight the ACU secretary, and the Marquis de Mouzilly St Mars passed the long journey by discussing the possibilty of a race for touring road machines, with pedals, standard exhausts, "proper" saddles and mudguards, plus tool bags with a minimum weight of tools weighing not less than 5lbs...., to be held on the Isle of Man. The Marquis even offered a trophy, a god Mercury standing on a wheel... The event would be called the TT (Tourist Trophy) and would be held in May 1907. Fred Straight wanted only one "class" but he was out-voted by the rest and two classes (Singles which would have to achieve 90mpg and Twins 75mpg) were inaugurated. A separate award for the winner of the Twins was presented by Dr Hele-Shaw.
To overcome fatigue, the race would be in two halves with a ten minute rest interval when the machines would be refuelled from sealed cans.
Practice was on the day before the race and was held on a road from the Mill Bridge to the Poortown Road which incorporated an incline, using this to set up the machine for both uphill (throttle) and downhill (brakes) stretches.
18 singles and 7 twins were on the grid that day in 1907. The Colliers participated on Matchless-Japs, and a father son pair took part. The father (Pa) Applebee on a Rex single and son Frank on a Twin. H Rembrandt Fowler rode a Norton which had a Peugeot engine and it is interesting to note that two German NSUs were included one ridden by M.Geiger, thus becoming the first all-foreign entry.
At the start the machines were fuelled up with the official amount allowed and the tanks sealed. The riders carried spare parts and inner tubes on their person.
CHARLIE COLLIER
WHO WENT ON TO WIN THE 1910 TT,
THE LAST TT ON THE ST JOHNS COURSE
At the end of the gruelling race Charlie Collier won the Singles Class at average speed of 38.20mph, brother Harry putting in a fastest lap of 41.81mph. Charlie managed to average 94.50 mpg.
In the Twin Class, Rem Fowler won at an average speed of 36.20 mph but put the fastest lap of the day at 42.91mph. He also conserved his fuel to fit in with the regulations requirements registering 87mpg.
The riders reported that the road conditions varied from pools of water to very dusty. Someparts of the dusty road had however been sprayed with a water-acid combination hoping this would bind the dust....All it did was rot the riders clothing and attack the metal of the motorcycles !!
During the race, riders had to change spark plugs, mend punctures and listen to a mechanic tell his rider his position as he ran alongside the racing motorcycles as they were pedalled up the "hills"....
The local papers reported:
"......the race aroused little interest since the Manx people have grown blase in the matter of motor racing..." (Car racing on the Isle of Man had preceded this new event by a few years)
"...it made a very pleasant reason for a general holiday"
The first race day doesn't seem to have been an ideal race day....
" Bitterly Cold with dense clouds and a bitter east wind...
"Very few spectators turned out yet another, this time enthusiastic local paper reported "
Though the day was cold and dull, THOUSANDS of spectators assembled at the local vantage points"
The riders...??? They loved it !!
written in 2007 by Ian Huntly, TTFan for 60 years
(The facts for this page were taken from articles by H Rem Fowler and the Rv Canon E H Stenning MBE MA which appeared in the 1957 TT Golden Jubilee programme.)
FOR DETAILS AND RESULTS OF THE FIRST EVER TT RACE CLICK HERE
Pictures above show Rem Fowler at the Start --------- The St Johns course --------- and Rem Fowler at the Finish.
