Verandah, Isle of Man

Verandah, Isle of Man, (Portuguese varanda, IPA: [vɐˈɾɐ̃dɐ]) a roofed opened gallery or porch) is a series of four bends situated between the 29th Milestone and 30th Milestone on the primary A18 Snaefell Mountain Road in the parishes of Lonan and Lezayre in the Isle of Man. The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road is a purpose built road in the Isle of Man and it reflects typical nineteenth century highway and railway construction practices. The Verandah series of bends follows the land contours of Snaefell mountain as an embankment with a purpose built graded road section.

The Verandah series of bends including the nearby Stonebreakers Hut 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 1911. Also, the Verandah is part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix Races.

During the first lap of the 1934 Isle of Man TT Lightweight Race, Syd Crabtree, the winner of the 1929 Lightweight Race and Continental Grand Prix competitor with wins in the Swiss, French and German Grand Prix's crashed in heavy hill fog on the Mountain Section of the course at Stonebreakers Hut and was killed.^[1] For the 1935 Isle of Man TT Races two motor-cycle equipped Travelling Marshall's were employed to search for missing riders, particularly in poor weather conditions on the Mountain Section of the Course. ^[2]

During the winter of 1970/1971 road-widening occurred on the A18 Mountain Road at the Verandah series of bends by cutting into the hillside by the Isle of Man Highway Board. The major 1970/71 road-widening scheme also included the nearby Stonebreakers Hut or Black Hut, the 30th Milestone section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road and the nearby Bungalow Bridge. ^[3][4]

Despite the safety improvements to the Verandah section, while lying in first place on the second lap during the 1972 125cc Ultra-Lightweight TT Race held in heavy rain, Gilberto Parlotti crashed his 125cc Morbidelli motor-cycle at the Verandah section and later died from his injuries.^[5]

The fatal accident to Gilberto Parlotti helped bring about the end of the Isle of Man TT as a world championship event as his close friend, the FIM World Motor-Cycle Champion Giacomo Agostini announced that he would never again race at the Isle of Man TT Races as he considered it too dangerous to be part of the FIM World Motor-Cycle Championship.^[6][7] At the time, the Isle of Man TT was the most prestigious race on the world championship calendar.^[8] Other top riders joined his boycott of the event and by 1976, the event was dropped from the FIM Grand Prix championship schedule.^[9] From 1973, any weather conditions that would not allow a rescue helicopter to take-off or land would lead to the race start being delayed or cancelled at any Isle of Man TT or Manx Grand Prix Race.^[10]

Sources

External links

• Map of course