(Fri 25 Apr 08)

For the first time in the 103-year history of the Isle of Man TT races, a vehicle bearing the same name as the event will act as its Official Car.

Well, sort of. The car in question is the Audi TTS, the 269bhp version of the TT sports car. The TT was actually named after the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, which started in 1905 with a motorcycle event in May and a four-wheeled equivalent in September. The Tourist Trophy for cars moved elsewhere, but the bike TT is of course still held on the island, where the lap record (on closed public roads) is currently held by John McGuinness at just over 130mph.

Some more TT trivia for you: the first TT car winner was John Napier, who drove a Scottish-build Arrol-Johnston, and the most recent - on April 20 this year - were Karl Wendlinger and Ryan Sharp in an Aston Martin DBR9. Bikes built by NSU (a company long since absorbed into Audi, and therefore now part of the Volkswagen Group) competed in TT races as early as 1911. The late Joey Dunlop achieved by far the greatest number of TT wins at 26. Stuart Graham remains the only person to have won TT titles as both a driver and a rider. This year's motorcycle TT runs from May 24 to June 6.

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