The zero emission electric bikes are preparing for today’s SES TT Zero at the 2016 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy and the Mugen outfit, winners of the SES TT Zero in 2014 and 2015 with John McGuinness, will again be the team to beat.

The Japanese based team and Morecambe rider John McGuinness shattered their own lap record with a time of 119.279 (18:58.743) and already speculation is turning to the first 120mph lap in the class. McGuinness’s closest challenger is expected to be teammate Bruce Anstey and the New Zealander will be looking to improve on his own runner up spot in last year’s race.

However the Mugen pair can expect close competition from a number of teams in this year’s SES TT Zero Race including Victory Racing. William Dunlop will be representing the American based team who will campaign their all-new Victory RR machine and the team managed to clock an impressive 115mph in qualifying.

Belgian outfit Sarolea returns with a two-man outfit with Bradford’s Dean Harrison joining Northern Ireland rider Lee Johnston, who finished on the podium in last year’s race, for their third year of competing in the race. The team finished an agonising 0.4 seconds off the podium in their debut year in 2014 and broke the 100mph barrier in 2015 with a lap of 106.510mph. This year’s effort will see them run their new SP7 machine, which has been under wraps so far in qualifying, in two different colours.

Timothee Monet completes the international flavour of the field with the French rider on the Lito for the TMR team.

The battle of the University teams is expected to be a race within a race with perennial challengers Nottingham University running two riders – Rob Barber, the 2009 TTxGP winner and Daley Mathison – on their UoN Electric 1 machines while Matthew Rees will ride for debut outfit University of Bath, whose engineering team are behind the Odin machine. Shaun Anderson is competing for the Custom Build team from Kingston University while South African Allan Venter is representing Brunel.

As a tribute to Michael Czysz, the electric motorcycle pioneer whose MotoCzysz outfit won four consecutive races between 2010 and 2013, all of the competing bikes will wear a MotoCzysz decal.

The SES TT Zero will get underway at 4.10pm (GMT). You can follow all the action via live timing on iomtt.com

I must admit I am really looking forward to this year's Farmyard Party - even though I will be working throughout the rally. Many of you have been coming to our events, especially Farmyard, for years in support of MAG UK.  This year it’s a little special - it's Farmyard's 30th anniversary (if you didn't already know!) - and our pre-book tickets have been going exceptionally well, with many people returning after a few years to celebrate this and catch up with mates they may not have seen for a while.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are starting the party early on Friday, with Scott Dangleberry playing in Crusties Bar from 2pm by special request. We will also have the return of the Eat Your Words (again by special request) for those wanting a late night 'dance'. Personally, I will be looking to visit the Blues Bar where there are some fantastic bands, including The Grimms and 24 Pesos amongst others. By the way, if you fancy having a go at entertaining us, we have an open mic session on Saturday afternoon in the Blues Bar - with prizes would you believe?

Of course, we will have a range of bands playing in the Back Street Heroes main stage and the Riders' Rights Party tent. It's going to be a tricky one deciding whether to see Limehouse Lizzy or Exhibit A on Saturday night. Mr Hulse's Smacked Arse Comedy Show - one of our most popular features of all our events - starts at 1pm on Saturday to put a smile on your face and help you through your hangover from Friday night. Martin Mor - the 'knife man' comedian seen in our recent promo video - is headlining, so be careful not to sit too near the front unless you have a death wish.

We are very proud that this year's Farmyard will host Round 1 of the BSH Custom Bike Building Championship. There will be 5 additional prizes with winners going through to the Custom Xtreme stand at the NEC in November.

We will have a range of world food outlets within the main arena and also in each of the camping fields - don't forget we have a central marquee where you can sit and chat with your mates whilst eating. It's better than dropping half of your food on the floor... Alternatively, you can enjoy a sit down meal - with proper plates and cutlery - at our world famous cafe. Johnsons of Leeds will be there as usual along with a wide range of stalls and traders.

Full details of bands, comedians and all other special features below and on our website here.

I look forward to seeing you all on the 17th for this special rally - or the Thursday the 16th if you're looking to get away early to enjoy the rally. Our cut off dates for pre-booked tickets is the 12th of June for telephone and web bookings. Tickets will be available on the gate priced at £40.

Pete Walker

...  on behalf of the Henry Surtees Foundation

Musician and composer Nick Mason, best known as the drummer of Pink Floyd, attended the Midlands Air Ambulance base at Strensham, near Worcester last Friday, to hand over a cheque for £18,275 on behalf of the Henry Surtees Foundation

As a keen supporter of the air ambulance and self-confessed petrol head, boasting a large collection of vintage and classic cars, Mr Mason was happy to support the cause.

The donation of £18,275 presented to Midlands Air Ambulance crews will be used to fund specialist equipment designed specifically for critical care transport, including a Zoll X Series Monitor, defibrillator and aircraft bracketry. The equipment developed for the military and air medical operations, enables the flight crew to continuously deliver the highest quality CPR and resuscitation capabilities, whilst patient data is automatically uploaded and streamed to remote displays in ambulances, hospitals and communication centres as the rescuer cares for the patient at the scene of incident and in transit.

Becky Steele, air operations manager for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity said: “As a pre-hospital emergency service that attends some of the most traumatic incidents in the region, it is vital Midlands Air Ambulance has the right equipment to give patients the best chance of survival and greater recovery outcomes. We are extremely grateful to the Henry Surtees Foundation for the grant for the monitors, which have become one of our greatest assets on board our three air ambulance helicopters and our rapid response vehicles.”

Since 1991, Midlands Air Ambulance has responded to more than 43,000 missions, averaging 2,000 per year.

John Surtees CBE said, “I would like to thank Nick Mason for his enthusiastic support of the Foundation and being able to fit into his busy programme this visit to represent us. The Foundation is very pleased with the association it has been able to make in the assistance given to a number of Air Ambulance regions including that of the Midlands Air Ambulances and Great Western Air Ambulances. The service they provide is vital and something which is continuously developing with the introduction of new life-saving equipment”.

The Henry Surtees Foundation have also actively supported and provided funding for the following Air Ambulances:
Midlands Air Ambulance
Great Western Air Ambulance
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance
Great North Air Ambulance
Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance

Ian Hutchinson made it two wins in a day when he smashed the lap and race records in Monday afternoon’s RL360 Quantum Superstock TT race, the Tyco BMW rider leading from start to finish to take victory by 27 seconds. 

With an opening lap of 133.098mph, it was the Bingley rider’s 13th TT race win as Dean Harrison and James Hillier battled all the way for the runner up position, Harrison clinching it by just one second.

As he had done earlier in the morning, Hutchinson blazed a trail from the off and he was again leading at Glen Helen on the opening lap, his advantage over Michael Dunlop two seconds with Gary Johnson a similar distance behind in third. It was close behind the leading trio with Michael Rutter, Peter Hickman and Hillier separated by just three-quarters of a second.

It was clear Hutchinson was putting in a remarkable lap and so it proved as he flashed across the line at a speed of 133.098mph, faster than he’d done in Saturday’s RST Superbike race. The gap to Dunlop had grown to 15.9s but the Ulsterman was in trouble, pulling into the pits with a broken gear lever. Hillier had moved up to third with Harrison, Johnson and Lee Johnston now the top six.

Hutchinson was by now leading on the road and with Dunlop out, retiring in the pits, his advantage over Hillier shot up to 24s at Glen Helen and he continued to increase his lead throughout the lap. Indeed, with a second lap of 132.93mph, the gap to Hillier had grown to 32.7s with the Kawasaki rider enjoying a six second lead over Harrison.

Johnston was now fourth ahead of Rutter and Gary Johnson as Bruce Anstey and Peter Hickman also retired. Meanwhile, 12th placed Ivan Lintin picked up a pit-lane speeding penalty dropping him down the order.

With a commanding lead, Hutchinson could control the race from the front and that’s exactly what he did over the next two laps with his final lap being over 129mph.

However, the battle for second and third was raging between Hillier and Harrison with just over a second dividing them on the third lap while there was also a four-way battle going on for fourth between John McGuinness – who again gained time at the pit stop - Johnston, Johnson and Rutter.

Harrison had now overtaken Rutter on the road and the pair of them both lapped at over 131mph on their final laps which enabled Dean to take second and Rutter fourth, Hillier just missing out on second by 1.9s. Rutter got the better of Johnson for fourth by 3.2s and with Johnston retiring at Sulby Crossroads, McGuinness took sixth.

Conor Cummins, William Dunlop, Steve Mercer and David Johnson rounded out the top ten, having missed out in the morning’s race.

Hutchinson has now moved to the top of the race for the Joey Dunlop Championship with 70 points and with Dunlop retiring, Harrison movea up to second on 47 points with Dunlop remaining on 45 in third.

Meanwhile, Dan Hegarty was again the top privateer in an excellent 11th place. Horst Saiger was the second privateer home in 13th overall with Jamie Coward third and 14th overall.

Hegarty leads the overall privateers table on 50pts followed by Coward on 47 and Saiger 46.

This year the Isle of Man TT Races will become more accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people.

Available now, TT fans around the world will have access to a live text transcript of the race commentary via the TTLive service on the iomtt.com website.

The Manx Deaf society has arranged stenographers to provide subtitle text for the Vauxhall Radio TT commentary on all four race days which is accessible on any smart phone, tablet or PC with an internet connection.

Duke and RL360 have sponsored the ground-breaking new service.

Natalie Hall, RL360°’s Director of Marketing, said:

“RL360° is extremely proud to be linked to this pioneering project. The TT is a global event and, as such, should be as accessible as possible to all. As the longest running race sponsor at the event, RL360° is fully behind the work the Manx Deaf Society is doing.”

Adam Duke from Duke worked with the Palantypist team at www.mycleartext.com to develop the live subtitling system which is now integrated into the TTLive service.

Adam commented:

“Duke is delighted to partner with the Manx Deaf Society and create this transformative new service which will improve accessibility of this great event and benefit all followers of the TT. We can't wait for TT fans world-wide to enjoy the racing using the new system."

In addition to the new TT Live system, on Senior Race Day a British Sign Language interpreter will provide signed commentary of the racing action at the TT Grandstand. Members of the Isle of Man Deaf community will enjoy VIP Grandstand seating thanks to sponsorship by Process 42 Limited. David Ronan will also take the group on a tour of the tower.

Ian Buxton, Chair of Manx Deaf Society said:

"If you take away the scoring and the commentary at a football match any fan would lose interest very quickly. Now imagine watching the TT with no sound and no commentary to explain what is happening. It is pretty hard to follow with hearing, impossible without, until now. Like many things on the Isle of Man, D/deaf TT idea grew more legs than expected!

We don’t think that there has been a major motor racing event with simultaneous BSL and subtitle support before. This could be a world first for the Isle of Man.

A donation button has been added on the commentary box for fans of the TT to send Manx Deaf Society a donation to help with the costs of providing the expert BSL Interpreter and Palantypist support to make this happen for everyone."