The Southern 100 is a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racing event held on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

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.

History

In 1955, the inaugural Southern 100 held events for each of the two traditional classes, the 250 cc and the 350 cc, over six laps with a race distance of . A 500 cc race was also included as the feature race with 24 laps, totalling in excess of . The meeting that year had 73 entrants, with the first race held, the 350 cc event, won by Manxman Derek Ennett.Southern 100 Results for 1955
Southern 100 Motorcycle Racing. Retrieved 29 January 2018 In 1958, the event was granted "National Status" and eleven years later 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 FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

-sanctioned International meetings in the British Isles.

Sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...

racing was introduced in 1962 and currently constitutes two of the twelve scheduled races.

Ian Lougher Ian Lougher (born 10 July 1963) is a Welsh people, Welsh Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer, noted for 8 victories in the North West 200, 10 wins at the Isle of Man TT Races and 32 wins at the Southern 100 Races in his career. Racing career Born ...

has achieved the most solo-machine victories, with 32 wins, followed closely by

Joey Dunlop William Joseph Dunlop (25 February 1952 – 2 July 2000) was a Northern Irish roadracing motorcyclist from Ballymoney, County Antrim. In 2015, he was voted Northern Ireland's greatest-ever sports star. Dunlop lies second on the list of all-ti ...

with 31.

Dave Molyneux Dave Molyneux (born 21 November 1963 in Douglas, Isle of Man) is a Manx chassis engineer who has built Sidecar motorcycles after having finished an accomplished career as a rider in the class. He is the most successful Sidecar competitor ...

leads the Sidecar victories, with 15. The Billown Circuit has been lapped with an average speed over 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 a competitor identified as Irish Alan Connor and marshal were killed. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39kkynzp98o

Sources

External links

{{Southern 100 Race Results Motorsport in the Isle of Man Summer in the Isle of Man