MFN in Manx TT!

As Hans already announed in the section "Heard, Seen, Read" (in Dutch: "Gehoord, Gezien, Gelezen") in the last newsletter, the MFN has been represented in this years TT on the Isle of Man! Our American club member Cully Granger (the man behind the North Georga Local Post) had through Ebay bought a sponsoring place on the motorcycle of Philip Harman, and let him put some MFN stickers there.
Philip Harmans motorcycle is a 2001 Aprillia Mille R. This model is already standard equipped with excellent Öhlins suspension. The engine is left standard, but in- and outlet and fuel injection system have been modified. Off course all superfluous stuff, like lighting, has been removed from the bike. The bike is supplied with Pirelli Supercorsa tires, street legal tires for (very) sporty use.

The motorcycle and van of Philip Harman. The MFN-stickers are indicated by the arrows.

Compared to the Japanes factory bikes this motorcycle is off course rather slow. The difference in top speed is not less than 65 to 80 km/hr (35 to 50 mph). However, to finish on Man speed is not the only requirement, but you also need reliability.

The team; Philip Harman is the man in the middle

Philip Harman is 43 years in age, and for a motorcycle racer quite large and sturdy built. He first rode the Manx TT in 2003. In the "Newcomers Senior" he finished not without merit as 20st of the 120 competitors. In the Senior race he ended as 72nd out of 120. His average speed in the races was about 167 km/hr (101.5 mph), and his fastest lap was almost 172 km/hr (104 mph). In the 2004 Senior Philip finished as 68th, again with an average speed of 167 km/hr. His fastest practice lap was around 171 km/hr (103.5 mph). Unfortunately the MFN sponsoring thus did not make him fly.

Philip Harman in action

Off course Cully has seized this opportunity to make another series of NGLP envelopes. This time with a personal stamp, naturally with a photo of Philip Harman on it.

In contradiction to the Netherlands, in the USA the personal image is put on the stamp itself, and not on a tab. This makes it a real personal stamp.

The MFN-stickers that were put on the lower part of the bikes fairing had almost disappeared. A hole in the exhaust pipe burned a large gap in the lower part of the fairing, just in front of the sticker on the right side. Probably this has already happened in the training, as there are also action photos where the bike is equipped with another exhaust system, and the MFN sticker is looking a little bit damaged. Possibly this contingency is one of the reasons that Philip did not obtain a better result.

On this picture the Akropovic exhaust on the left side is vanished

Thanks to the hole in the fairing the MFN sponsoring has come clear in the picture in the photo gallery on Philip Harmans website (www.philip-harman.co.uk).

One of the pictures on the site with the hole in the fairing

Click here for more pictures

Paul Essens

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