Tourist Trophy

Tourist trophy racing started in 1907 on the Isle of Man as an event in which folks could use their street bikes.   The TT format evolved into many different racing styles.   The result?   Anything called a TT motorcycle was understood to be a machine focused on performance.   That was especially true when I was a youngster.

Fast forward from 1907 to the 1960s.

Back then, Triumph ruled the streets and the flat tracks.   The 650cc Bonneville was the ultimate ultimate…the big dog of the day.  Oh, I know that there were Beezers and Nortons, and even the XLCH.  But Triumph was the ultimate expression of cool.  You can bring up all the other marques you want, but folks, I was there and I know.  Yes, I know Bart Markel was National No. 1 and he raced a Harley, but that wasn’t a bike you could put on the street.   Gary Nixon was National No. 9, and his bike used an engine based on the Bonneville motor.   Markel’s Harley was a 750 Harley flathead…way different than the 883cc Sportster engine.

The Triumph TT Special.   When I was a teenager, that was a name that riveted your attention.   Like I said, Triumph was the big dog of the day…every motorcycle they built had a little decal on the gas tank that said “World’s Fastest Motorcycle,” and they were. Triumph held the motorcycle land speed record.   Nothing was faster, and nothing was cooler.

Triumph introduced the TT Special in 1964 and built them through 1967.   That photo you see above is a ’66.   The TT Specials had no lights, no battery, no mufflers, and no horn.  (None of the bikes had turn signals in those days.)   They were sold as bikes you could race, but most of them ended up on the street.   The TT Special had swept-in straight pipes that sounded as if the Almighty were speaking directly to you.   Guys bought these, ran Bates lights off the magneto, and put a kid’s bicycle bulb horn on the handlebars to be street legal.  Trust me on this:  Nothing was cooler in the mid-1960s.  Nothing.

When I saw the TT logos on the Zongs you see above, I got excited.   It was as if someone was reaching out to me from 1966.

More to follow, folks…I’m going riding tomorrow on the CSC TT Special.   Maybe I’ll grab some photos…