North West 200
Motorcycle road race in Northern Ireland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The International North West 200 is a motorcycle road race first held in 1929 on a 8.970 mi (14.436 km) street circuit known as "the Triangle" between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast and Glens. It is the largest annual sporting event in Northern Ireland, with the race weekend attracting over 150,000 visitors from all over the world.[1] The course is one of the fastest in the world, with average speeds of 120 mph (190 km/h) and top speeds in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h).[2]
| |
| Venue | The Triangle |
|---|---|
| Location | Northern Ireland |
| First race | 1929 |
| Most wins (rider) | Alastair Seeley (29) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | Honda (96) |
Originally intended to be held somewhere in the north west of Ireland and organised by the City of Derry & District Motor Club,[3] the initial meeting was moved to the north coast but the name was never changed. Since 1964 the event has been organised by the Coleraine and District Motor Club. In 2010, the meeting featured daytime practice on the Thursday for the first time.[4]
During the 2011 on Saturday 21 May there were significant delays due to a hoax bomb alert. An extensive oil spill on the track then caused racing to be cancelled after the completion of only one race.[5]
In 2022 the event returned as the fonaCab & Nicholl Oils North West 200 after having been cancelled for the two previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 9 February 2023, an announcement was made by the Motorcycle Union of Ireland about the 2023 event. This followed a significant increase in the insurance premium required to cover the event and consequently placed the race schedule under threat of being cancelled.[6]
However, on 15 March 2023, the event organisers issued a statement that, following a sizeable donation by a prominent businessman and a revised insurance premium quote, the event would take place.[7][8]
Race format
The North West 200 was originally run over two hundred miles as a handicap race, before changing to its current format of several separate races, each running 4–6 laps during Saturday afternoon. Practice is held on the Tuesday and Thursday evenings before the race. Both the practice and races are held on closed roads, but unlike the Isle of Man TT races which are run in a time-trial format, riders race each other as in normal circuit racing.
Over the years the number and the classes of races has varied according to the latest regulations. From 1990 until 2010, there was always a 125 cc race and since 1992 the North West 200 race has been for Superbikes.
From 2012, all practice sessions will take place during the day, and the racing programme has been extended to include two races on the Thursday evening. All races will be held over six laps, except for the newly introduced Supertwin event.[9]
The course
The street circuit is made up almost entirely of public roads (A2, B185 & A29) but does include three speed-reducing chicanes. The route, running anti-clockwise enters the outskirts of the towns passing many private houses. To help improve track safety street signs are removed at parts of the track and bales of hay are used to wrap the base of lampposts and telegraph poles.
The circuit is 8.970 mi (14.436 km) long, with a distance of 8.834 mi (14.217 km) being covered on the first lap of every race. The original start/finish line was located near Magherabouy but moved to the Portmore Road in Portstewart in 1930. The elevation ranges from 6 to 75 metres (20 to 245 ft) above sea level.
1973 saw the first major changes to the course, which include the exclusion of the Promenade at Portstewart from the route and the moving of the start/finish line to its current location between Juniper Hill and Millbank Avenue. These changes meant the route used Station Road (B185) for the first time and saw the introduction of York Corner. Shell Hill Bridge, an iconic part of the original course was used for the last time in 1979. In 1980, a new link road, from University Corner to Ballysally Roundabout, was introduced. A chicane was introduced just before the approach to the Juniper Hill corner in 1983 and in 1988 improvements were made to Mather's Cross and the start/finish chicane was introduced to reduce the speeds around Primrose Hill as well as allowing safer access to the pitlane.
At the end of 2009 Mather's Cross was widened in order improve safety at the corner.[10] For 2010 additional modifications were made to the circuit to improve safety. A new purpose-built chicane at Mather's Cross was introduced to reduce speeds at the corner and safety improvements made to the area at Station corner.[11]
Jack Brett recorded the first 100 mph (160 km/h) lap of the course on a Manx Norton 500 cc in 1957. The fastest recorded lap at 127.63 mph (205.40 km/h) was set by Tom Herron during the 1978 North West 200 race.
Peter Hickman holds the outright lap record for the circuit configuration with four chicanes, set during the 2022 Superbike event, at 124.799 mph (200.845 km/h).[12]
In 2004, Michael Rutter became the first rider to record a top speed in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h) on the course. During Tuesday's practice at the 2012 event Martin Jessopp set a new fastest speed trap time, reaching 208 mph (335 km/h) on the approach to University Corner.[13]
Controversies
In 2022, Richard Cooper won two Supertwin races but was disqualified after scrutineers found a fairing bracket to be non-standard and deemed it to be a breach of regulations. The team's appeal was successful and in November 2023 Cooper was re-instated as winner of both legs, with prize monies awarded retrospectively. Prior to the announcement, Cooper had won both legs at the same event in May, tallying his wins to four.[14]
In 2023, Faye Ho's FHO team riders Peter Hickman and Josh Brookes were disqualified immediately before the start of the Superstock class for using standard wheels on the road-bike based M1000 RRs. Regulations stated the standard carbon fibre road wheels were not allowed, even though the team had raced with them in previous years and successfully completed 2023 scrutineering and practice. As non-standard wheels are not allowed, the team could not use race-specification metal wheels as fitted to the Superbike class machines, so Ho withdrew the team as a protest, with no more classes entered.[15][16]
