Qualla: North West 200 https://qualla.com/north-west-200 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: North West 200 https://qualla.com/north-west-200 North West 200: Introduction https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit PAUL, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the approach to University Corner in 2012, during practice for the North West 200, Martin Jessopp's speedometer hit 208 miles per hour. That is two hundred and eight miles per hour on a public road in Northern Ireland - a stretch of the A2 that motorists drive every day with their dogs in the back seat. For one week each May, the road network of Portstewart, Coleraine, and Portrush closes to ordinary traffic and becomes one of the fastest closed-roads racing circuits in the world. Hay bales wrap the bases of lampposts. Spectators stand in their front gardens watching superbikes flash past at impossible speeds. Over 150,000 people come from across the planet. It is the largest annual sporting event in Northern Ireland, and one of the most lethal.

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Image: PAUL | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full North West 200: The Triangle https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit Des Colhoun, CC BY-SA 2.0. The circuit is called the Triangle for the obvious reason - three towns at its corners, connected by 8.97 miles of mostly public road. The race runs anti-clockwise. Riders launch from the start line on the Portmore Road in Portstewart, blast along the A2 toward Coleraine, navigat...

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Image: Des Colhoun | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-the-triangle.mp3 0:06 2 full North West 200: What the Spectators See https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit Trevor1999 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Unlike the Isle of Man TT, which is run as a time trial with riders going one at a time, the North West 200 is wheel-to-wheel circuit racing. Three to four dozen riders launch together, and the chaos of overtaking happens at 180 mph between hedgerows and stone walls. Spectators w...

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Image: Trevor1999 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-what-the-spectators-see.mp3 0:06 3 full North West 200: Black Saturday and Other Losses https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit PAUL, CC BY-SA 2.0. The danger is not theoretical. The first recorded death at the event was Norman Wainwright in 1939. The darkest single day in the race's history came on what is still called Black Saturday in 1979, when crashes claimed Tom Herron, Brian Hamilton, and Frank Kennedy (who died month...

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Image: PAUL | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-black-saturday-and-other-losses.mp3 0:06 4 full North West 200: Records and Riders https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit Willie Duffin, CC BY-SA 2.0. Jack Brett recorded the first 100 mph lap on a 500cc Manx Norton in 1957. Tom Herron set the absolute lap record at 127.63 mph in 1978 - the year before he died. The outright lap record for the four-chicane configuration belongs to Glenn Irwin at 125.799 mph, set during the 2024 ...

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Image: Willie Duffin | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-records-and-riders.mp3 0:06 5 full North West 200: Why It Still Happens https://qualla.com/north-west-200/ Photo credit Notafly, CC BY-SA 3.0. Permanent circuits are safer. Riders make more money in MotoGP. Health and safety officials worry every May. And yet the North West 200 continues, year after year, because road racing in Northern Ireland is a culture with deep roots. It produced the Dunlop dynasty, the McGuinness...

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Image: Notafly | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/g/1/north-west-200-wp/gcg1-north-west-200-why-it-still-happens.mp3 0:06 6 full