The Verandah, Isle of Man is a series of four bends which motorcyclists negotiate at high speed during

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

on the

Snaefell Mountain Course The Isle of Man TT Mountain Course or ''TT Course'' or ''Snaefell Mountain Course'' or ''Elmo’s Mountain Course'' is a street and Road racing, public rural road circuit located in the Isle of Man, used for motorcycle racing. The motorcycle ''T ...

on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. ''Motorcycle Mechanics'', June 1973, p.74 Around the TT ''TT Time'', item 22. "The Verandah is also best seen when roads are open, because in bad weather there is nowhere for the spectators to move to until roads open after racing. But it's great for the riders in the race". Accessed and added 2015-07-02ESPN May, 2011 Man vs. Isle
Retrieved 2015-07-02 Located on the primary A18 Snaefell Mountain Road which starts at Ramsey and traverses the

Snaefell Snaefell () – () is the highest mountain and the only summit above on the Isle of Man, at above sea level. The summit is crowned by a railway station, cafe, several communications masts and can be reached by narrow gauge railway. Views I ...

mountain at altitude before leading to

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

, the Verandah is built around the edge of a Snaefell mountainside slope with adjacent steep drops, between the 29th and 30th Milestone markers measured from the start line at the

TT Grandstand The TT Grandstand including the startline, pit lane, re-fuellers, merchandising, scoreboard and paddocks for the Isle of Man TT and Manx Grand Prix races is situated on the A2 Glencrutchery Road, in the town of Douglas, Isle of Man. Histor ...

. Falling within the parishes of

Lezayre Lezayre ( ; ), formally Kirk Christ Lezayre, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located in the north of the island (part of the traditional ''North Side'' division) in the sheading of Ayre. Administratively, par ...

and Lonan, it precedes

The Bungalow The Bungalow was an institution for Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal children established in 1914 in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. It existed at several locations in Alice Springs (then called Stuart), Jay Creek, North ...

, a major viewing point and visitor attraction on the TT course. The Verandah series of bends follows the land contours of Snaefell mountain as an embankment with a purpose-built graded road section and reflects nineteenth-century highway construction practices.

History

The Verandah area nearby Stonebreakers Hut was part of the

Highland Course Highroads Course was a road-racing circuit used for the Gordon Bennett British Eliminating Trial held in the Isle of Man for the 1904 and 1905 Tourist Trophy Race involving touring automobiles and cars. The events were held on public roads clos ...

and

Four Inch Course The Four Inch Course was a road racing, road-racing circuit first used for the 1908 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (automobiles), 1908 Tourist Trophy Race for cars, held on public roads closed for racing by an Act of Tynwald (the parliament of the I ...

used for the

Gordon Bennett Trial Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Gordon Heucke ...

and Tourist Trophy automobile car races held in the Isle of Man between 1904 and 1911. The Verandah is also part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

and from 1923 for the

Manx Grand Prix The Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races are held on the Isle of Man TT Course (or ' Mountain Circuit') annually, usually at the end of August and early September. Traditionally the event has been staged over a two week period but this was reduce ...

Races. During the first lap of the 1934 Isle of Man TT Lightweight Race, Syd Crabtree, the winner of the

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

Lightweight Race and Continental Grand Prix competitor with wins in the Swiss, French and German Grands Prix, crashed in heavy hill fog on the mountain section of the course at Stonebreakers Hut and was killed. For the 1935 Isle of Man TT races, two motorcycle-equipped Travelling Marshalls were employed to search for missing riders, particularly in poor weather conditions on the mountain section.

Safety

During the winter of 1970-71 the A18 Mountain Road was widened by the Highway Board at the Verandah series of bends by cutting into the hillside. This road-widening scheme also included the nearby Stonebreakers Hut or Black Hut, the 30th TT Milestone section, and the nearby

Bungalow Bridge The Graham Memorial (also the Bungalow Bridge or Shepherd's Hut) is a stone shelter situated between the 30th Milestone and the 31st Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the primary A18 Snaefell mountain road in the pa ...

. Despite the safety improvements to the Verandah section, while lying in first place on the second lap during the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

125cc

Ultra-Lightweight TT The Ultra-Lightweight TT was a motorcycle road race that took place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event at the end of May and beginning of June. Between 1951 and 1974 this race was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season at ...

Race held in heavy rain,

Gilberto Parlotti Gilberto Parlotti (17 September 1940 – 9 June 1972) was an Italian professional motorcycle racer competing in the FIM World Championship between 1969 and 1972. He competed for the Benelli, Derbi, Morbidelli and Tomos factories. Parlot ...

crashed his 125 cc Morbidelli solo motorcycle at the Verandah section and later died from his injuries. Parlotti's fatal accident helped to bring about the end of the

as a world championship event, as his close friend, fellow Italian motorcycle champion

Giacomo Agostini Giacomo Agostini (; born 16 June 1942) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1963 to 1977, most prominently as a member of ...

, announced that he would never again race on the TT course as he considered it was too dangerous to be included in the

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

World Championship. At the time, the TT was the most prestigious race on the world championship calendar. Other top riders joined his boycott of the event, and by 1976 the event was dropped from the FIM Grand Prix championship schedule. From 1973, any weather conditions that would not allow a rescue helicopter to take off or land would lead to any TT or Manx Grand Prix Race being delayed or cancelled. Manxman

Conor Cummins Conor Cummins (born 27 May 1986, in Douglas, Isle of Man) is a Manx motorcycle road racer who rides in British racing events, competing in the British Superstock Championship, as well as in specialist closed-road events at his home Isle of Man ...

crashed off the side of the Verandah at high speed during the 2010 Senior TT race, tumbling down the mountainside, breaking several

vertebrae Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

and an arm, and damaging a knee.Conor Cummns: Resurrection year
''Island Racer'' (Morton's Media). Retrieved 2015-07-03

Sources

External links

Map of course

Conor Cummins' 2010 crash at the Verandah
{{Mountain Course

Verandah A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...