Qualla: Snaefell Mountain Road

Snaefell Mountain Road: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

There is a corner called Guthrie's Memorial high on the Mountain Mile, named after the rider Jimmie Guthrie, who died at the German Grand Prix in 1937. There is a bend called Hailwood's Height. A junction called Brandish Corner. A spot called the 26th Milestone. The names along the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road read like a roll call - some marking corners, some marking riders. This is the upper third of the oldest motorcycle racing circuit still in use anywhere in the world, the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, and it is at once one of the most beautiful drives on Earth and one of the most unforgiving.

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Snaefell Mountain Road: A Road That Was a Path

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Mountain Road was not built so much as drawn together. In the mid-19th century a string of pre-existing tracks, cart-roads and bridle paths between Douglas and Ramsey were upgraded into a single A-road. Sheep gates were fitted - the East Mountain Gate, Keppel Gate, the Beinn-...

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Snaefell Mountain Road: The Course Above the Town

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The TT Course was first raced in 1911. The Manx Grand Prix joined in 1923. Both events run on public roads that are closed for racing by an Act of Tynwald, the Manx parliament - one of the very few examples in the world of a national legislature shutting down a national highway s...

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Snaefell Mountain Road: The Cost of the Course

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

It would be dishonest not to say what this road has cost. Riders have died on the TT Mountain Course in greater numbers than at any other purpose-built or makeshift motor racing circuit in modern history. Some of the names on the corners are tribute corners: Guthrie's Memorial co...

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Snaefell Mountain Road: Driving It on a Normal Day

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Most days of the year, of course, the Mountain Road is just a road. Lorries and farm Land Rovers grind up it; commuters take it from one side of the island to the other; tourists take their hire cars from Douglas to Ramsey or back. Cyclists are allowed except during TT fortnight ...

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