Last Update - 01 July 2015

Firstly a multitude of thanks to all those who sent in pics and added info

My grandfather was William Beattie of "Ards Studios" 21 William Street and he produced a considerable amount of postcards of the TT, if anyone comes across any i would be most grateful if you would let me know,. Derek

The races took place from 1928 to 1936 and regularly had an attendence of around 500,000 people,. yes Half a Million,.  an accident in Newtownards in 1936 when Jack Chambers lost control of his Riley after his steering linkage broke he left the circuit at the Strangford Arms Hotel and ploughed through the spectators killing 8 and injuring 40, 18 seriously put paid to this superb event. It was never held again.
Some of the famous makes that raced the circuit were Lea-Francis, Frazer Nash, Lagonda, Bugatti, Alfa-Romeo, Bentley, Mercedes Benz, Talbot, MG Midget, Maserati, Singer, and Delahaye
The 1928 Race was won by Kaye Don in the then latest Lea Francis, Tom Delaney (Then 17) was in charge of the Lea Francis spare parts.

The Tourist Trophy had been run at the Isle of Man before the First World War. In 1922 Harry Ferguson and Wallace McLeod managed to get the TT to the Ards track south-east of Belfast. The project was possible because of the fact that unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom the law in Ulster permitted roads to be closed off for motor racing.
      The circuit was circular shaped and went between the towns of Dundonald, Newtownards and Comber. The start was at the Newtownards Road 1 1/2 miles from Dundonald and 300m from the left hand Quarry Corner. The track continued towards Newtownards via Quarry Corner, then up Mill Hill and to Cree's Corner at the top of Bradshaw's Brae and then downhill, including seven bends within half a mile, leading to a railway bridge into Newtownards where it passed the Town Hall at the end of Regent Street and continued into Conway Square and from there to South Street. From there the track led, via its fastest sections, towards Comber, passing the aerodrome at Strangford Lough and going through a S-bend and over a level crossing into the town. There it made a 90 degree right hand turn around McWhinney's butcher shop and followed along the Ballystockart Road past the farm to Dundonald, where a hairpin led it back to the start section. Parts of the course were extremely narrow making passing almost impossible and visibility was also bad along several sections because of tall banks bordering the road. The track also crossed the railroad at a level crossing once and three times on bridges.
      The first Ulster TT was run in 1928 as a sports car handicap and was won by Kaye Don in a Lea Francis. Next year Rudi Caracciola dominated the event in rainy conditions in his big Mercedes-Benz SS and the year after that it was Nuvolari's turn for Alfa Romeo. By then the TT had proved highly popular with spectators counted in hundreds of thousands. Black won with a MG Midget in 1931, Whitcroft in a Riley the next year and Nuvolari was back to win in 1933. For 1934 the organizers decided to ban superchargers to move the cars from semi-GP types towards more normal street cars. Charles Dodson won that year with a works MG Magnette, a car rapidly produced to fit the new rules, and the next year Fred Dixon won with a Riley after the whole favourite Singer team had to retire with steering problems. In pair with Dodson, Dixon then repeated his victory the next year. However that year a serious accident happened that moved the TT from the Ards track forever.
Belfast driver Jack Chambers lost control of his Riley under a bridge and skidded on Church Street, Newtownards. The car struck a gas lamppost and hit a house before running broadside into a footpath crowded with spectators.

Killed on the spot was Samuel Wilson, a fourteen-year-old resident of Newtonards. Seven other spectators died or were declared dead at Newtownards District Hospital in the hours following the accident or early the next morning: Alexander Warden (36), James McKnight (60), Samuel McAuley (42), W. A. McGimpsey (15), all residents of Newtownards, Hans Wallace (62), a farmer of Drumawhay, County Down, Northern Ireland, William Thorne (47) of Worcester, England and Ernest Jacobs (26) of Hull, England. Ten others were detained in hospital mainly suffering with leg fractures. The race continued, with most of the spectators unware of what had happened, and it was won by F. W. Dixon and C. J. P. Dodson in a Riley. However, the tragedy of the 1936 Tourist Trophy did bring an end to racing at Ards - and the Tourist Trophy was transferred to Donington Park in England, a track that had been built in private land, and therefore not affected by the ban on racing on public roads.

E.Mail Sep.2014 - I found in your page my granfather's entrance with #2 Tracta car. This is a french f.w.d. car that he run in several european events. When he returned to Argentina, where he was born, he brought back one or maybe two Tractas ( one hard top cupe with Continental six cylinder engine, which I own, and very probable a second race Tracta of which I have no pictures or further information).
Do you have by any chance more information of this race car? Please don't hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Pedro Vasena

From Wikipedia
The cars were initially built in small numbers for competition use, but they were exhibited and offered for road use at the 1927 Paris Motor Show.^[3] They used a front-wheel-drive system featuring Grégoire's patented Tracta constant-velocity joint and sliding pillar independent front suspension and a live axle with quarter-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. 1100, 1200, 1500 and 1600 cc engines made by S.C.A.P. were available with optional Cozette supercharger. a 1500 cc car was claimed to reach 80 mph.
The first cars were made in a workshop in Versailles but Grégoire soon moved to a small factory in Asnières. After about 140 cars were made there came a change of engines with larger six-cylinder 2.7-litre units from Continental and 3- and 3.3-litre ones from Hotchkiss fitted in coupé and saloon-bodied road cars Click to view image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracta

Nuvolari before the start

Start of the 1928 race..

Further back on the start line - Click to ENLARGE

1928 TT.

H.R.S.Birkin and co-driver B.Rubin guide the Bentley through the right hander and into Conway Square

Malcolm Campbell signs autographs at the 1928 Ards TT.

1928 and Curzons Bugatti T43 runs out of fuel..

Entering Church Street from the Belfast Road

A great pic of the early TT racers crossing Conway Square. - Click to enlarge

No.12 leads No. 28 through Conway Square

Malcolm Campbells Bugatti T43 catches fire during the 1928 Race

The original 1928 winning Lea Francis

Humphrey Cook racing to 7th. place in his Bentley

Mr Beattie
I have just enjoyed your website, some superb photographs. My query? I  have a few TT cars but I am interested in the 1934 race at the moment. I
own race number 5, the Ford V8 entered by Stanley Wright. By any chance have you any photos of this car or the other two Fords, numbers 4 and 6?
Hoping you may be able to help. Regards,  SImon Thomas -  Comber - Can anyone out there help .... ?