What difference does a century’s worth of engineering technology make when racing at the Isle of Man TT? Consider the following: Just over 100 years ago, on June 30th, 1911, the first motorcycle race was held on the IoM’s now-infamous Mountain Course. Rider Percy J. Evans won that event aboard a 339cc Humber V-twin. Evans set the first Junior TT lap record on his second of four laps, dispatching the 37.5-mile distance in 53 minutes and 34 seconds at an average speed of 42 mph. Compare that to the current Junior TT lap record of 17:42 at 127.836 mph, set by Michael Dunlop on his Honda CBR600RR in 2010, on essentially the same race course. In this case, almost 36 minutes and nearly 86 mph is what 100 years of development is worth!
