“It’s the sheer, visceral thrill of being that close to the speed, to the noise, to the breeze. Every sense is lit up when you’re at a road race, and until you experience that, you can’t really get it, can’t really understand it,” says photographer Stephen Davison.
The adrenalin trembles through his speech; in his mind’s eye, he is sitting in the hedge as the bikes approach, picturing the narrow country lanes, the sudden roar of the engines, and the smell of the petrol fumes.
“If you stick your nose through the hedge, these things are going past you at 160, 170 miles an hour, and you’re actually part of it … it’s a vortex of speed and noise and colour.”
Michael Dunlop won his 25th Isle of Man TT race at the 2023 event, leaving him just one shy of his uncle Joey’s all-time record of TT victories. Photograph: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker
Michael Dunlop working on his Superstock BMW S1000RR at the Isle of Man TT in 2016. Photograph: Stephen Davison
The heartland of motorcycle road racing — racing bikes on closed public roads — is north Antrim, home to both the North West 200, which attracts more than 100,000 spectators each May, and the Dunlop dynasty, the most successful road racing family ever.
At its head towers the late Joey Dunlop, winner of 26 Isle of Man TT races, the gold standard; his nephew Michael won his 25th this year.
Joey Dunlop after a hard day’s racing at the 1993 Carrowdore 100 races in Northern Ireland. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Thousands of motorcycle racing fans paid tribute to Joey Dunlop after his death in Estonia in July 2000 during a special parade lap at the Manx Grand Prix later that summer. Photograph: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker
Road racing made Davison a photographer, his creativity drawn in by both the people and the place, by the thrill of speed and the drama of the spectacle. “Whilst it was dangerous, there was a beauty in it.”
His pictures are beautiful. Rural meets modern as a bike snakes its way past a country phonebox; there is triumph on the podium, and tragedy as bikers wait for the remains of Joey Dunlop to be brought home after his death in a crash in Estonia in 2000.
It is the road that makes this type of racing so dangerous. Everything we pass without thought when driving, from trees and telegraph poles to kerbs and lamp-posts, becomes a potentially lethal hazard, guarded by little more than a bale of hay — “no protection, really, if you come into contact with it at speed”.
In the South, there was “not a wheel turned” in road racing this year because they could not get public liability insurance; the North and the Isle of Man are among the few places it persists. “The future is uncertain. It hangs in the balance.”
William Dunlop during a quiet moment before the action begins at the Tandragee in Co Armagh, 2012. Photograph: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker
William Dunlop in action at Walderstown road races in Co Westmeath during 2012. Photograph: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker
In many ways, says Davison, road racing is “a throwback … it’s out of time. The oldest races in Ireland are 100 years old, and some of those courses were still being used.
“A lot of things have been done to improve safety but the risk is still huge, obviously, as no one knows better than the Dunlop family, who have lost Joey, [his brother] Robert … and Robert’s son William”, as well as countless other friends and relatives.
“When people are killed or there are injuries, it’s something you do question.”
The front cover of The Dunlop Dynasty. Photograph: Stephen Davison
The racers know the risks better than anyone; why, then, do they keep racing? Davison has only known the buzz, the adrenalin rush, as a spectator. “If that’s what it’s like when you’re standing watching it, what is it not like to be on the bike, to be out there doing it?”
The play, The Safety Catch, which premiered in the Glens Arts Centre in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, last year, explored the dilemma faced by Michael Dunlop as he decided whether to return to racing following his brother William’s death.
It casts his choice as the great classical dilemma, that of the hero Achilles, who knows that tragedy is often the price the gods exact for glory.
Davison’s own comparison is with mountaineering, with those who climb Everest and take on the most extreme challenges. “To me, that’s the same space that road racing occupies at its highest level. It’s the saying, why do you climb a mountain? Because it’s there.”
The Dunlop Dynasty: The World’s Greatest Road Racing Family by Stephen Davison is available now from Merrion Press.
Having already won five world championships and fifteen Isle of Man TT races by the time this photograph was taken in the 1994 Tandragee 100 paddock, Joey Dunlop could have enjoyed the services of a full team of mechanics. Instead, as a skilled mechanic who had learned his craft by working on his own race bikes, Joey still preferred to prepare his own machinery. Photograph: Stephen Davison
The Dunlop racing family in 2011.
Out front is Jim, the only surviving member of the Armoy Armada and the brother of Joey and Robert. Behind are his nephews Michael and William Dunlop with Paul Robinson and his own son, Sam. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Ryan Farquhar is caught in a Dunlop sandwich as William leads the Dungannon man and his brother Michael at the Cookstown 100 today.
Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop takes a break from his boxing training routine in his garage as he prepares for the 2012 season. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Robert Dunlop rides out on one of the horses trained by his wife, Louise, at their Ballymoney home in 2001. Photograph: Stephen Davison
With a cigarette on his lips, Joey Dunlop leaps from his van at the 1994 Skerries 100 races in Co. Dublin. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop enjoys a bowl of soup with his canine companions. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Sam Dunlop trudges through the muddy paddock at the 2016 Mid Antrim 150 as his father, Jim, helps carry his son’s race bike to the start line. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop narrowly avoids the wall on his BMW during the 2016 Southern 100 races on the Isle of Man. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Despite the rain and his suffering from a recently amputated finger, Joey Dunlop raced to victory on his 250cc Honda in the 1998 Lightweight TT on the Isle of Man. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop wheelies his Tyco BMW past the spectators at Sulby Bridge during the 2018 Isle of Man TT. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Robert Dunlop photographed with his son Michael in 1994 as he recovered from his Isle of Man TT crash injuries. Michael has gone on to become one of the world’s leading road racers. Photograph: Stephen Davison
William (6) and Michael Dunlop (9) lead the Superbike pack off the start line during the 2013 Ulster Grand Prix. Photograph: Stephen Davison
William Dunlop skims the armco barriers during the 2011 Macau Grand Prix in China. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Arise Sir Joey! Joey Dunlop’s victory in the 250cc Lightweight TT racein 2000 marked his 25th TT win, a feat that was honoured with the presentation of the Isle of Man’s Sword of State by the Minister for Sport, David Cretney during the prize giving ceremony as Joey’s family and Honda teammate, John McGuinness, looked on. Photograph: Stephen Davison
A spectator watches William Dunlop (Tyco Suzuki) on his way to victory in the Supersport race at Walderstown road races in Co Westmeath. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Cousins Gary Dunlop and Paul Robinson embrace after Paul won the Irish 125cc/Moto3 championship at Killalane road races, Co Dublin in 2018. Photograph: Stephen Davison
William Dunlop brushes the bank at the Mid Antrim in 2005. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop breaks down as he carried from his race bike after winning the 250cc race at the 2008 North West 200. Michael’s father, Robert, had been killed when he crashed as he practiced for the same race two days earlier. Photograph: Stephen Davison
Michael Dunlop shakes the privet hedge on nhis Yamaha at the Cookstown 100 in 2009. Photograph: Stephen Davison
