This TT marks the launch of the Manx Museum’s first ever exhibition devoted to one TT rider.

Featuring an impressive array of bikes, trophies, photographs and other memorabilia the exhibition traces the 10-year TT career of Yorkshire-born racer Mick Grant.

And not only was the man himself there at the opening to chat to visitors, but he also scoured his attic and garage for exhibition items, loaded them into his van and drove many of them there personally.

Speaking at the opening, he described the past 30-odd years (since he last competed at the TT in 1985) as ’bizarre’.

’I used to feature quite a bit in Motor Cycle News then I moved into a lot of the classic bike magazines - but bloody hell now I find myself in a museum,’ he said.

When asked about the exhibition he initially thought he had very little to offer.

’I had a few bikes but the trophies were a mess. I was opening boxes that hadn’t been opened for 30 years and some of the replicas were green so I’m just gobsmacked by what Matthew Richardson (the museum’s social history curator) has put together. I feel privileged,’ he said.

He’s here at the races this year in his capacity as technical director for the Norton Team and he remains a passionate trials rider.

Edmund Southworth, of Manx National Heritage, opened the exhibition by quoting Sir Mortimer Wheeler.

’He famously said archaeology was simply the dry dust blowing past and it was the people that made it come to life, and I think the same could be said of bikes,’ he said.

’This is the third exhibition to which Mick Grant has contributed, and he has been unfailingly generous.

’In 1975 Mick Grant was British Superbike champion and a big name in racing and his decision to race here in the Isle of Man at the TT was one of the things that kept the event alive.’

The exhibition, at the Manx Museum in Douglas is open throughout the summer until the end of the Manx Grand Prix in September.