Legacy of father and son TT champions celebrated

Michael Rutter and his father Tony Rutter clocked up 14 TT wins between them

The winning contribution of a father and son to the Isle of Man TT races has been recognised with part of the course being named after them.

A corner at Glen Helen is set to be renamed Rutters in honour of Michael and his late father Tony Rutter's seven victories apiece on the Mountain Course.

The 2024 event will also see a celebratory parade lap on 5 June, featuring bikes ridden by the pair, who collectively chalked up 38 podiums and 170 starts between them.

While Michael Rutter, marking his 30th year at the TT, will ride one of his father's original Ducati’s, Phillip McCallen, Ian Simpson and John McGuinness will be taking to the course riding bikes from his career.

McGuinness, the third most successful racer in TT history with 23 wins, will ride the Honda RC213V-S MotoGP-derived machine that Michael Rutter has ridden in recent years.

'Honour and tribute'

Tony Rutter first competed at the TT in 1965, winning seven races in a 26-year career that also saw him claim four Formula Two World Championship titles as well as wins at the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix.

Michael made his TT debut in 1994 as a team-mate of Robert Dunlop, achieving his first podium in 1996 and first win in the 1998 Junior race.

Returning to the TT after a seven-year hiatus in 2007, he claimed six more wins in the lightweight and TT Zero classes.

He said it was a "real shock" for his family to be honoured but it was "more of an honour and tribute to my dad as I see him having achieved more than me in his racing career".

"Sadly, we lost him during the pandemic and as a result he didn’t get the tribute or send-off he deserved," he said.

"Having this corner named Rutters’ goes a good way to compensating for that and I know he’ll be looking down smiling, especially as Glen Helen 1 is such a brilliant corner.

"Dad never said a lot, but I know he’d have loved it – he’ll be looking down smiling for sure.”

The Rutter Legacy Lap is due to take place following racing on 5 June.