Wednesday 28 September 2011

"Yer Maun"

Most motorcycling folk will have heard of the road-racer Joey Dunlop who died in 2000.

While not a big race fan, when I was in Northern Ireland I nonetheless decided to make a detour to see the memorial garden constructed in his hometown of Ballymoney, Co. Antrim.




The North West 200 races had just finished and it looked like many of those who had attended had made their way to the garden as well if all the flowers were any indication. 



The bronze statue looked somewhat familiar and I dug out some old photos and found this one of the same statue outside Murray’s Motorcycle Museum near the top of Snaefell Mountain and  on the mountain circuit stretch of the TT racetrack on the Isle of Man at the Bungalow.



They decided to make two statues. One for his hometown and one for the Isle of Man where his reputation was made.

There's an informative page on Joey Dunlop on the TT Website should you be looking for any further information.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for ptting this up....from the looks of it, a nice memorial for one of the greats.

    If all goes well, this time next year I'll be over for a visit home and had been thinking of making a side trip to Warks to see Mike The Bike Hailwoods grave/memorial.

    Now after seeing this, I will make that a "must do".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helluva guy.

    There's only pts 1, 2 and 4, but still worth a look

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjzqTyfqh5k

    ng:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bodger, is this what you're talking about? http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12848911

    If you haven't seen it, try and get hold of 'V for Victory' featuring Joey doing a lap of the TT circuit with himself doing the voice-over. Very matter of fact about riding at speed between brick walls etc.

    From those I've talked to who met Joey he came across as a very down-to-earth bloke, so unlike the 'stars' we've become accustomed to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just found 'V for Victory' on YouTube in two parts if you're interested. Having ridden those roads myself it always looks like the racers are doing in on fast-forward.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cheers for the linky, will have a butchers in a bit.

    Took a spin on the TT course the 76 TT on a Honda 250K4......was never so scared in my life....mad buggers from the Continent going past me like I was standing still.

    Defo takes some skill and bravery to do it the speeds they're doing.

    ReplyDelete