Annual motorcycle racing event
2008 Isle of Man TT Festival was held between Saturday 24 May and Saturday 7 June on the 37.733-mile Snaefell Mountain Course and was the 89th Isle of Man TT Race. After the 2007 Centenary TT Races, the 2008 event included a second 600cc Supersport Junior TT race and the re-introduction of two-stroke motor-cycle racing with a Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT race on the (4.25 mile) Billown Circuit in the Isle of Man.[1]
For the 2008 Isle of Man TT Races, following the deaths of a race competitor and two spectators at the 26th Milestone during the 2007 Senior TT a number of changes occurred in spectator safety and road widening occurred at Braddan Bridge and a new link road and mini-roundabout at Governor's Bridge. The race organisation changed with the Manx Motor Cycle Club (MMCC) replaced by ACU Events Ltd a subsidiary of the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU).[2] A contract for the official course vehicles was awarded to Audi in a 3-year deal to celebrate the win by the pre-war Audi satellite company DKW by Ewald Kluge in the 1938 Isle of Man TT Races.[3] A further contract was awarded to Yamaha UK to provide motor-cycles and support for the TT Travelling Marshalls.[4] The Isle of Man TT competitor Martin Finnegan was killed while racing at the Tandragee 100 Races on 3 May 2008[5] and this was followed by the former Isle of Man TT and Manx Grand Prix winner Robert Dunlop who died in an accident on 16 May 2008[6] at Mather's Cross during practice for the 2008 North West 200 Races.
- ^ Manx Independent pp44 dated 22 November 2007
- ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp1 dated 20 November 2007 – Isle of Man Newspapers Ltd ISSN 1358-4383
- ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp1 dated 8 April 2008
- ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp10 dated 13 May 2008
- ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp2 dated 6 May 2008
- ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp1&2 dated 20 May 2008