History
Following the closure of the former RAF Station at Andreas to motor-cycle racing in 1954 and to celebrate the success of George 'Sparrow' Costain and Derek Ennett at the 1954 Manx Grand Prix it was proposed at a meeting of the Southern Motor-Cycle Club (SMCC) that a motor-cycle circuit would be developed in area around Castletown in the Isle of Man. The proposal of a "South TT" using roads around the new Castletown A5 by-pass and the Billown Mansion was met with a luke-warm response and an application for a grant of £500 for race expenditure was rejected by the Tynwald Race Committee in April 1955. A grant of £500 from local business including T.H.Coleburn Ltd for a public address system enabled the first Southern 100 Road Race meeting to be scheduled for July 1955 as a club motor-cycle racing meeting.
The Billown Circuit became a regional registered circuit in 1956 and a National Racing circuit in 1957 with a maximum of 45 entries per class In 1988 a new race meeting was introduced with the Pre-TT Classic Races followed by the National Road Races in 1990. The re-introduction of two-stroke motor-cycle racing at the 2008 Isle of Man TT with a Lightweight TT and Ultra-Lightweight TT race, the first time the Billown Circuit hosted Isle of Man TT races as part of the 2008 National Road Race meeting.
Read more about this topic: Billown Circuit
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