Exactly 110 years ago, on 30 June 1911, the very first motorcycle race was run over the Isle of Man TT’s Mountain Course. The winner of that first-ever Junior TT race was Percy J. Evans, who covered the 149.60-mile (240.7km) race distance on his 2¾hp Humber V-twin at an average speed of 41.45mph (66.7km/h), despite having to refuel three times in the four-lap race thanks to his one-gallon fuel tank.
He won by no less than 9m13s over second-place getter Harry Collier on his Matchless single, with third-place finisher H.J. Cox a further nine minutes behind. Humber riders dominated proceedings, occupying first, fourth, eighth, ninth, 14th and 18th places out of the 21 finishers, to record a 100 percent finishing record for the marque’s brand-new 50° V-twin model, which made…
