Bottom Straight/Jefferies Jump to Finish (Before Introduction of Farm Bends)

There was no Farm Bends when Barry Sheene competed at Oliver’s Mount and the following is his description of how he would have completed the lap from Jefferies Jump down to the finish line :

 

Barry Sheene :

After that, the road drops away a bit more and it’s more or less straight to Mere Hairpin. I’ll get fifth gear on a flying lap, but there’s another jump (see Foggy picture below) before the start line which is actually very nice, because you’re really in control when you take it and you can bring the bike across the line standing on its back wheel, which is really fun; it’s also a good place for the spectators to watch. I might sometimes get sixth gear going down to the line, but whatever happened, I’d always pull back one gear before I got there. That would steady the bike up a bit, so you could really accelerate hard through the start and finish area, where it’s pretty bumpy. In fact, that whole part is a very gentle S-Bend, so it’s best to come up really close to the fencing on the right, drop it down a gear, then accelerate hard and let the bike drift out to the left. That way, you can let it leap and jump about when it starts to get a bit lively, without worrying about running out of road, because you’ve given yourself more road to use. Then immediately you’re through there, you have to get hard on the brakes and come down the gearbox to bottom again for Mere Hairpin.