Bray Hill
Bray Hill (Lowland Scots: Brae a slope) was formerly a country lane known as the Great Hill during the time of the ownership of the Duke of Atholl.[1] and previously known as Siberia, a former triangle-shaped parcel of land in the Murray Estate.[2] Bray Hill is a downhill portion of the TT course situated between the TT Grandstand and the 1st Milestone road-side marker on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the primary the A2 Douglas to Ramsey road in the town of Douglas in the Isle of Man.[3]
The Bray Hill road runs from the combined road junction of the A2 Quarterbridge Road with Tromode Road, Stoney Road, Thorny Road and Cronkbourne Road up to the road junction at St Ninian's Crossroads with the A22 Ballanard Road, Ballaquayle Road and the A2 Glencrutchery Road in Douglas.
Bray Hill was part of the Highland Course and Four Inch Course used for the Gordon Bennett Trial and Tourist Trophy automobile car races held in the Isle of Man between 1904 and 1922. For the 1934 and 1935 automobile car races held in the Isle of Man, the whole length of Bray Hill from its junction with Stoney Road was part of the Mannin Moar Course. The startline and refuelling area for the Isle of Man TT Races was situated at the top of Bray Hill for the 1914 Isle of Man TT Races and then moving in 1920 to the Nobles Park area of the A2 Glencrutchery Road. The Bray Hill road is part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and the Manx Grand Prix since 1923.
The A2 Bray Hill and A2 Quarterbridge Road was subjected to major road repairs and re-profiling during the winter of 1978/79 by the Isle of Man Highway Board. This followed a series of fatal accidents during the start of the 1978 Sidecar TT Race 'A' to the sidecar crew of Mac Hobson/Kenny Birch on Bray Hill and the Swiss sidecar competitor Ernst Trachsel on the nearby Quarterbridge Road.[4]
In 2013, a rider lost control on the first lap of the Senior TT and his machine impacted with spectators near to the bottom of the hill, close to the junction, injuring eleven.[5]
Gallery
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An early photographic image of Great Hill.
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A Car Descends Bray Hill during the Gordon Bennett Trial.
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Stanley Woods onboard a Moto Guzzi, passes the Bray Hill/Port-e-Chee Avenue junction, as he descends the hill during the 1935 TT Races.
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Cars turn the corner from Stoney Road into Bray Hill during the Mannin Moar Car Race.
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Bray Hill at Night. The racing line is tight into the kerb, hence the scraping of the road surface created by the foot rests of the motorcycles as their suspension compresses.
Sources
- ↑ Streets of Douglas Old and New by Stuart Slack page 26 (1996)(1st Edition) The Manx Experience ISDN 1873120-237
- ↑ Streets of Douglas Old and New by Stuart Slack page 141 (1996)(1st Edition) The Manx Experience ISDN 1873120-237
- ↑ TT Pioneers - Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man pp 22 Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996)(1st Edition) The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN 1-873120-61-3
- ↑ TT Century - One Hundred Years of the Tourist Trophy by Stuart Barker pp62 (2007) (1st Edition) The Random House Group Ltd ISBN 978-1-84605-235-4 EMAP Automotive Ltd
- ↑ "Eleven spectators injured after motorbike crash during first lap of Isle of Man TT race". Daily Mail. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bray Hill. |
- The Isle Of Man (IOMTT): Corner Guide (slow) and Scenery, Youtube video (Bray's Hill at 2:01)
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