FOR two weeks every spring the normally quiet roads of the Isle of Man become a hell-raising near 40-mile racetrack. Motorcyclists from around the world flock to the Bee Gees’ birthplace to risk their lives tearing around the public roads and rugged mountain lanes at upwards of 200mph in the ultimate test of skill and sheer guts.

Riders navigate a course containing over 200 turns, many of them taken blind. While safety measures have increased, the 266 fatalities since it launched in 1907 – including six last year – mean most people outside the racing fraternity can not fathom how the race is still allowed, and why competitors still relish taking part.

One particular stretch is notorious. The infamous Mountain Mile featuring exceptionally tight corners and a steep climb is labelled the ‘most dangerous corner’ on the track due to its high-speed and nail-biting bends.

Last year’s tragic toll of six fatalities, which included people on motorcycles or in sidecars, prompted fresh calls for the world famous event to be banned.

So, when the stakes are so high what compels motorcyclists to risk life and limb?

“Everyone enters the races with the knowledge of this happening… it’s a risk that we all take,” said Michael Russell, a competitor who spends his working life with the Royal Air Force.

Despite the obvious dangers those who ride are prepared to defend the race to the hilt.

Mark Purslow tragically lost his life last year. Explaining his attitude towards the race and the inherent dangers, his sister Hana told The Times: “He always said that if he was going to go, that was the way he was going to go.

“They all know it’s a possibility — and they all know it’s one of the hardest courses in the world, if not the hardest road race in the world. They all know that when they put themselves out there.”

Peter Hickman, who won four of his six races last year, added: “The danger is what makes it exciting. Keeping yourself in a zone, being able to keep yourself safe and fast and win is difficult to achieve.

“Nothing really compares. The only word I can ever use to describe the TT is ‘unbelievable’. The pure adrenaline rush, the atmosphere, the feeling you get is different to every other circuit in the world.”

While there are constant calls to ban the race, none have publicly come from relatives of the deceased. Janet Cowden, whose husband Paul Shoesmith was killed at the 2016 event, told the BBC that it would be ‘disrespectful’ to do so.

One of the key turning points that inadvertently allowed the race to thrive was the death of Italian Gilberto Parlotti in 1972.

One of his friends Giacomo Agostini vowed never to race at the TT again. Soon more riders followed suit and the event was stripped of its world championship status.

This loss of status ultimately, and oddly, allowed the event to flourish. No longer was a rider forced to compete for their shot at the title, or for their contractual obligations, meaning from 1977 anyone who raced did so purely because they wanted to.

Competing meant fully accepting and embracing the risks.

“We want to be here and not one of us would want to see it stopped if we don’t make it home, should we not make it home. I get people don’t understand that, but that’s the way we are. If you’re here and you’re racing, you accept the risks before you start,” said Hickman told Autosport.

“[My] thoughts are with the families and friends of the people who are not making it home.”

Watch below to see why riders still want to compete in the most dangerous race in the world.