The Lightweight TT is a motorcycle road race that is a part of the Isle of Man TT festival - an annual motorcycle event traditionally held over the last week of May and first week of June.
The Lightweight class was first present at the 1920 TT races, as a category in the Junior TT. However it was not until 1922 that the first time the Lightweight TT took place, won by motorcycle journalist Geoff S. Davison riding a Levis, at an average speed of 49.89 mph (80.29 km/h) for 5 laps of the Snaefell Mountain Course. Between 1949 and 1976, the Lightweight race was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.
In the changes following the loss of FIM World Championship status after the 1976 event, the Lightweight TT event was dropped with the 250 cc machines running for the Junior TT in place of the now defunct 350 cc formula. The Lightweight TT returned in 1995 before being split into two distinct events from 1999, dropping from the schedule again after 2004.
The Lightweight TT and the Ultra-Lightweight TT were later reinstated to the 2008 & 2009 race schedules, but were held on the 4.25 mile Billown Circuit in the south of the Isle of Man.[1] For the 2010 races, the Lightweight TT was again dropped from the race schedule on cost grounds.
The event was re-introduced for the 2012 races on the Mountain course, with a change to water-cooled four-stroke twin cylinder engines not exceeding 650 cc and complying with the ACU Standing Regulations.[2]
The event was renamed Supertwin TT in 2022.[3]
There have been several different categories of motorcycle that can compete in this event. In the 1950s and 1960s, the principal TT solo events were the Senior (500 cc), Junior (350 cc), and Lightweight (250 cc, or sometimes 125 cc). The 125 cc class was occasionally called the "Ultra-Lightweight" class.
Currently the Lightweight class comprises road-based "Super-Twin" solo machines with liquid-cooled four-stroke engines of up to 650 cc engine capacity.
The lap record for the Lightweight TT is held by Michael Dunlop in a time of 18 minutes and 26.543 seconds, at an average speed of 122.750 mph (197.547 km/h) set during the 2018 race. The race record for the 4 lap (150.73 miles/242.58 km) Lightweight TT is a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 05.032 seconds, at an average race speed of 120.601 mph (194.088 km/h), also held by Dunlop during the 2018 race.[5][6]
| Rider | Wins |
|---|---|
| Joey Dunlop | 6 |
| Charlie Williams | 5 |
| Mike Hailwood, Jim Redman | 3 |
| Fergus Anderson, Manliff Barrington, Kel Carruthers, Michael Dunlop, Ivan Lintin, Ian Lougher, Phil Read, Tarquinio Provini, Eric Twemlow | 2 |
| Dario Ambrosini, Bruce Anstey, Maurice Cann, Syd Crabtree, Ryan Farquhar, Gary Hocking, Jimmie Guthrie, Wal Handley, Werner Haas, Dean Harrison, Tom Herron, James Hillier, Bill Ivy, Ewald Kluge, John McGuinness, Ted Mellors, Derek Minter, Jack A. Porter, Richard Quayle, Jimmie Simpson, Omobono Tenni, Carlo Ubbiali, Graham Walker, Stanley Woods | 1 |
