Been reading a book about Stanley Woods...

On a mission for some bike related reading the other day, I happened across a discounted books shop and spotted this for a bargain basement £4. For a quid more than the MCN comic I took a punt.



I saw Stanley in the paddock at my first visit to the TT back in '89. He was surrounded by a few of his old bikes and as I had a thing for Velocettes I took a look. He was getting on a bit then and passed away a few years later just before his 90th birthday.

There's lots of info & details in this book & although I'm not sure it's written with stunning attention to detail, it is interesting enough with some ace pictures. Man those TT racers of old had it tough. According to the book, Stanley was the first racer to have a signalling system to let him know how he was doing in the race. With an arrangement with the Manx telephone exchange he was able to have the line between a house over the road from the start/finish and the phone box in Sulby left open so that someone could pass the timing on the info.

I recommend it if you can get hold of a copy - especially for four quid!

Even as a kid I've always had a thing with old photos. Particularly showing scenes from places that still exist. I like revisiting the place the original picture was taken and seeing how things have changed. Luckily living on the Isle of Man there's stacks of old bike related phots to appreciate, so I took a blast out in the rain this morning to test out my Belstaff.

Not great photo's as it was only my phone & I sat on the bike & took them so they're also not in exact position but here's the 'famous' phone box at Sulby then & now.

 

If you're over for the TT/FOM, the shop down the end of Strand street has loads of them for £3.99 (£16 up the other end of the street in Waterstones)