9-700: The Billown Circuit is a motorcycle road-race course used for the Southern 100 , the Pre-TT Classic races and the National Road Races meetings near Castletown on the Isle of Man . Racing is held on public roads closed for racing by an Act of Tynwald , the parliament of the Isle of Man. The course is 4.25 miles (6.8 km) long and is in the parishes of Arbory and Malew . The course start-line
18-441: A public address system, enabled the first Southern 100 road race event to be scheduled for July 1955 as a club-level race meeting. The Billown Circuit became a regional registered circuit in 1956 and a National Racing circuit in 1957, with a maximum of 45 entries per class. In 1988 a new race meeting was introduced with the Pre-TT Classic races, followed by the National Road Races in 1990. The re-introduction of two-stroke racing at
27-534: Is a motorcycle road racing event held on the Isle of Man in July of each year. The event was first held in 1955, with three races for different classes of solo motorcycles; the 2015 calendar included twelve races for various classes. The participants compete on the Billown Circuit in the south of the island, starting and finishing at Castletown . In 1955, the inaugural Southern 100 held events for each of
36-608: Is on the outskirts of Castletown and the course includes parts of the primary A5 New Castletown Road, the A28 Castletown to Ballabeg road, the A7 Ballasalla to Port Erin road and the A3 Castletown to Ramsey road. Following the closure of the former RAF Station at Andreas to motorcycle racing in 1954, and to celebrate the success of George 'Sparrow' Costain and Derek Ennett at the 1954 Manx Grand Prix,
45-471: The 2008 Isle of Man TT , with a Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT race, used the Billown Circuit to host Isle of Man TT races as part of the 2008 National Road Race meeting. The lap record for the Billown Circuit is 2 minutes 12.735 seconds at an average speed of 115.267 mph (185.504 km/h) set by Michael Dunlop during the 2017 races. Southern 100 The Southern 100
54-457: The Sidecar victories, with 15. The Billown Circuit has been lapped with an average speed over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) on a number of occasions, but it was first achieved by Dave Leech in the 1989 Southern 100 Solo Championship Race riding a 1000 cc Yamaha at an average speed of 100.26 mph. The 2023 meeting was abandoned following a serious incident on 11th July 2023 where
63-726: The Southern Motor Cycle Club (SMCC) proposed that a motorcycle circuit be developed in the area around Castletown in the Isle of Man. The proposal for a "South TT" using roads around the new Castletown A5 by-pass and the Billown Mansion met with a lukewarm response, and an application for a grant of £500 for race expenditure was rejected by the Tynwald Race Committee in April 1955. A grant of £500 from local businesses, including T. H. Coleburn for
72-442: The two traditional classes, the 250 cc and the 350 cc, over six laps with a race distance of 25 miles (40 km). A 500 cc race was also included as the feature race with 24 laps, totalling in excess of 100 miles (160 km). The meeting that year had 73 entrants, with the first race held, the 350 cc event, won by Manxman Derek Ennett. In 1958, the event was granted "National Status" and eleven years later
81-660: Was included in the British Championships. The races were part of the Irish Regal Championships in 1992 and 1993, and is now one of five FIM -sanctioned International meetings in the British Isles. Sidecar racing was introduced in 1962 and currently constitutes two of the twelve scheduled races. Ian Lougher has achieved the most solo-machine victories, with 32 wins, followed closely by Joey Dunlop with 31. Dave Molyneux leads
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