The Isle Of Man TT has just taken place off the west coast of England and we had the honour of attending the racing spectacle as WMB Pride sponsored Dan Cooper and a sidecar outfit manned by Wayne Lockey and Kenny Cole.

Paul Lusty, one of our directors here at WMB, went along to the event and has shared his experience, while noticing that there were a few things that WMB Logistics could do to make the whole experience run a bit more smoothly for those travelling over with their bikes…

“I’ve had the good fortune of attending the TT in previous years as a spectator, but it was a fantastic insight into the whole from the viewpoint of the competitors, seeing the hard work that goes into preparing and racing for the TT, as well as seeing everything that goes on behind the scenes that no one else sees.

“The TT was an amazing experience for me, to be involved from the paddock. I met some great people and many of the riders; people often say that these guys must be mad, but I can assure you they are not! They spend an incredible amount of time learning the course, riding it over and over again so they know all turns, bumps and straights. And even though its an incredibly competitive sport, all riders take time out of their hectic schedules to help other riders learn the courses in order to race here in the future. There’s so much respect and it’s definitely a close-knit community.

“Unfortunately, it was a disappointing TT for our sponsored riders. Among many issues, Dan got knocked off his CBR600 whilst doing more than 150 mph on the Friday by another rider. Thankfully he was OK, he slid a short while and his RST leathers saved him for worse damage, but the bike and leathers weren’t in a good state, leaving the bike needing a fully rebuild. This led to Dan missing out on the first Supersport race on the Monday, but he was back on the bike by Wednesday where he came in 15^th (a respectful place after all that had happened), averaging 121.535 mph!

“It didn’t go as planned for Wayne either, with the Gloucestershire-based sidecar team blowing three of their Honda 600cc engines during practice/qualifying. After much time working to get everything in working order, the framework under the back of the sidecar snapped during Friday’s race.

“All in all, it was a disappointing TT for our sponsored riders, but it was a truly incredible experience for me to be there, involved from within the paddock, seeing the event from a different perspective.”

But the big issue that Paul noticed was that many of the people enjoying the TT event either struggled to find a way to get their bikes across to the island or could not get them across at all! “I spoke to so many people at this year’s event that couldn’t get a ferry across with their bike due to the crossings being full.”

So, in preparation for the TT event in 2019, WMB Logistics will be offering a motorbike transport service to and from the event. This service will work as follows:

We’ll take customers’ bikes across to the event in one of our own trucks that’s booked onto the ferry, a week before the TT commences, storing them securely in a warehouse. We plan to do this so that those who attend the event can then fly out to the Isle of Mann stress free, and their bikes will be at the island ready for them as soon as they arrive. Not only does this take away the hassle of taking your bike down yourself, but it removes the stress of worrying about whether there are enough ferry spaces for your bike to even get it to the event.

This will give you the freedom to enjoy your weekend at the TT while also being able to explore the island the best way possible, on your own bike! Once the weekend’s events end, we will then load them back up and take them back across while you sit back and relax after a busy weekend. We’ll go one step further than just bringing them back too, we’ll even deliver your bike to your local dealership for you to collect at your convenience.

Now that sounds a lot easier to us!

Click to read more about our Bike Transport and Storage solutions.

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