“I was there; I witnessed John McGuinness break the 130mph barrier, I joined the crowd at the 1907 Re-enactment at St Johns, I saw Surtees, Read, Grant, Fogarty in the Parade of Champions…..I was part of the Isle of Man TT Centenary celebrations”. Many stories to relive in the future - memories will stay, although the detail may well fade. Well, the detail is preserved for you in The Official TT Review 2007, edited by Gary Pinchin and officially licensed by the IoM Department of Tourism and Leisure.

Retailing at £19.99 it covers everything, absolutely everything that happened during the Centenary TT Festival. Over 200 pages with fantastic glossy colour photographs, in the main by Stephen Davison and Double Red and supplemented by those of Mac McDiarmid, Jon Stroud, Ian Allen, John Waterson and David Purves, bring back those euphoric times of last summer. Action shots bring out the sheer speed of our heroes as they circulate the world’s most demanding course, portraits reveal the emotion, the delight, even the despair of the competitors at the culmination of their respective events, the beauty of the Island as it basked in glorious sunlight is viewed in panorama and then there are the unscripted shots of the fans enjoying themselves during the evening entertainment on Douglas prom.

This book caters for all – the statisticians will be in their element. Lap by lap analysis of each race leads up to a complete results sheet with detail coverage of times, speeds, retirements and quotes emphasising the highs and lows of various competitors. Practice sessions are reviewed in written form and everyone’s fastest class time is given.

How did the races, themselves progress? Well, each one’s development from the moment the rider sporting race number one receives the ‘tap on the shoulder’ to the waving of what is probably the largest chequered flag in the motorsport world is traced in detailed, with so many action shots helping to relive the atmosphere. John McGuinness features highly, and quite rightly so – his description of ‘that lap’ with accompanying graphics, giving speeds and gear changes – 205mph on the approach to what is now an 85mph Brandish – makes fascinating reading in its own right. McGuinness was undoubtedly the ‘man of the meeting’, but much coverage is given to the other top solo competitors with a breakdown of their results across the four races, as is of those newcomers – Plater, Amor, Johnson, Moore – who rode so exquisitely on their debuts. Some of the action shots showing the sidecar crews plying their trade around the Manx roads are breathtaking – who can forget Crowe 116mph or Molyneux’s marvellous return after his escapades of 2006 at Rhencullen?

The Re-enactment, both the post and pre-TT meetings at Billown, the Parade of Champions, the Lap of Honour and ‘the street entertainment’ receive thorough coverage, both in writing and pictorial form.

Gary Pinchin built an experienced team of writers around him – Dave Fern, Steve Burns, along with Macdiarmid and Watterson – to produce what really amounts to an encyclopaedia in nature – a truly brilliant coverage of one of the greatest events of sporting history – the Centenary of the Isle of Man TT Races.

‘The Official TT Review 2007’ is published by Haynes Publishing, Sparkford, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 7JJ  01963 442030  sales@haynes.co.uk  

Graham Bean