CLASSIC TT: BACK TO 1996 REWIND PARADE LAP
Visitors to this years’ Classic TT Races in August are set for a trip down memory lane with the Back to 1996 Rewind Parade Lap, featuring many of the iconic riders and machines who starred at the Isle of Man TT Races exactly thirty years ago.
The 1996 edition of the TT was one for the history books as Phillip McCallen became the first rider to win four TT races in a week and the Northern Irishman will feature heavily in the parade on the same Honda Britain 750cc RC45 Honda he took to victory in the Formula One and Senior races three decades ago.
Phillip McCallen became the first rider to win four TT races in a week.
One of his team-mates that year was Nick Jefferies, who finished second to McCallen in the ’96 Formula One race and third in the Senior, and he’ll bring his identical Honda Britain machine to the line.
Nick Jefferies finished second in the ’96 Formula One race and third in the Senior.
Ian Duffus will line up with V&M Honda CBR600 machinery, returning to the colours he famously carried during the mid-1990s. A frontrunner throughout that era, Duffus was a proven force in the fiercely competitive 600cc class. The Scottish ace’s experience of the Mountain Course and ability to maintain a relentless pace made him a constant threat, and he remains closely associated with the V&M team and its success during that period.
His V&M Racing team-mate in 1996 was fellow Scot Ian Simpson and he’s another former TT winner to feature in the parade on the matching CRB600 Honda that took him to third, and his second TT podium, in the 1996 Junior race. He used the same Honda on his way to tenth place in the Senior.
Two RS250 Honda’s will form part of the parade in the hands of 23-time TT winner John McGuiness and Denis McCullough, the Northern Irishman being a regular leaderboard contender in the quarter-litre class.
Riding the Paul Bird Motorsport Honda, McGuinness made his TT debut in the 1996 Lightweight race, finishing 15th, and he’ll ride the machine he now owns in the parade. McCullough, meanwhile, had one of his best 250cc rides in the same race and finished sixth on the AW Racing Honda, the same bike which he’ll ride in August’s Rewind Parade Lap.
Denis McCullough a regular leaderboard contender in the quarter-litre class.
Another rider to feature in the parade will be Michael Rutter. 1996 was his third year at the TT, after making his debut in 1994, and second on the black and yellow 916 McCullouch Ducati, and he made it count as he claimed his first TT podium with third place behind McCallen and Jefferies in the F1 race. Rutter will be reunited with the McCullouch Ducati for the lap in August.
Six-time TT podium finisher Steve Linsdell will also feature on the Flitwick Motorcycles Yamaha GTS 1000. Fitted with a 750cc engine, the GTS featured hub-centre steering and first used by Linsdell in 1994, was one of a kind at the TT in 1996.
Eighth on debut in 1994, Linsdell improved to sixth a year later when he was only beaten by four Castrol Honda RC45 Honda’s, in the hands of McCallen, Joey Dunlop, Jefferies and Steve Ward and the 926 Peachurst Ducati of Simon Beck. Tenth place was the outcome in 1996 when more 116mph+ laps were recorded.
