News from the Colonies | Isle of Man |
a shattered Suzuki GSX, Bear Grylls style.
The lack of speed limits, outside the villages, is liberating; as
the speed builds, your focus is drawn to the ever tighter spot
you’re aiming at and you take in less around you. The scariest
thing is the proximity of walls, cottages and weather-beaten
lumps of rock, sometimes just inches off your wing mirrors;
if you think the runoff at the ‘ring is modest, then here it’s
miniscule and often decorated with a wilted bunch of flowers
and a soggy epitaph to someone who got it a bit wrong. In the
past 105 years 237 people have been killed during official Isle
of Man Tourist Trophy motorcycle races - sadly, Man trumps the
Nürburgring yet again.
When you really hustle the Roadster you quickly realise that
this is no ordinary MINI; throwing the car hard into corners you
notice that lower centre of gravity and its greater “sports car”
type handling. As a big fan of the “butched up” R56 JCW GP I
wasn’t sure that I was going to like the look of its soft topped
sibling. However, spec’d in White Silver, with black alloys and
red racing stripes, I thought it looked pretty good. But, for me,
it was the quality feel of the cockpit furniture that made the
JCW Roadster such a special place to be; trimmed in swathes
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