Mr Earnshaw, a TT marshal and long-time enthusiast who was Tourism Minister during the centenary TT two years ago, said it had been a valuable experience.

'I passed my first motorcycle test aged 16 and that was 43 years ago,' he said.

'The tester was Norman Radcliffe and I was riding a little Triumph Tiger Cub. It was mid-morning one Saturday in 1966 and Norman used to stand by the phone kiosk at the bottom of Bray Hill.

'Partway through, he made me pull over and said, "I want to see how you cope with traffic, so let's wait for a car!"

'We had to wait for about a minute or so and finally an Austin A40 came round the corner and he said, "off you go".

'It was very quiet that morning and circumstances were completely different then.'

Mr Earnshaw thanked Chris Roughly of the IAM for his help and guidance preparing for the test.

'Despite many years of riding, you are never too old to learn and it is very helpful. Chris is a super example and I have learned a lot from it,' he said.

Mr Earnshaw also thanked Duncan Livingstone who tested him.

'He said I should just ignore him, but that is easier said than done.
'I've learned a lot of valuable hints about improving observation – and the location of a lot of cafes around the Island where we stopped for a debrief on our practice runs,' he said.

Mr Earnshaw currently has four bikes and used his Suzuki GSX1400 to take the test.

The advanced motorcyclists meet for social runs out on their bikes most weekends and on Wednesday evenings during the summer. Details of times and meeting points are included in the club section of the What's On guide in Friday's Manx Independent.

Chris, whose day job is with Tower Insurance, can be contacted on 431450 and is always willing to chat about the group and provide more information.

Alternatively the group website can be found at www.iomam.org