It's important to get good drive out of the Guthrie's complex as it's a steep incline and the sharp left hander is like a short circuit corner. Getting round there smartly is important because it dictates your speed over the bridge and on up the Mountain Mile. You need to be exactly on line over the bridge as it's a lot narrower than it looks – use the second wall on the right as your entry marker and run out all the way to the edge of the road on the exit. On the way into the bridge, you need to focus your attention carefully on the walls on the right hand side. This sets your entry line across the bridge and helps to stop you from running wide. It’s become more difficult to judge the line through some of these turns since the authorities had to put in stone cages to repair a landslip over the winter of ‘98/’99.

On virtually anything you'll be running close to your top speed up the Mountain Mile – a fast 600 or a good 750 will pull over 160mph up the hill which is amazing to think about. The road actually has bends in it at those speeds so you'll still have to pay careful attention. Even so, this is one of the few opportunities you'll get to check the coolant temperature or the fuel gauge. Tuck everything in, try to relax your upper body and get some air in your lungs – this one of very few opportunities for a momentary breather.

The last couple of bridges towards the top of the Mountain Mile are a bit sharper than they look and you need to line them up carefully as you're travelling very fast. As you come round the long sweeping right towards the end of the Mountain Mile, you need to get the bike over to the right hand side of the road for the entry to the East Mountain Box. Look for the windsock as this will tell you how much allowance to make for the prevailing conditions – if there's a crosswind it can seriously alter the line you need to take. (The race authorities put up a windsock at the East Mountain Box in ’98 so nowadays on practice or race days you can tell what the wind direction and strength is just by taking a look at the windsock as you approach the turn). Come back to 4th gear on approach and turn in. Then ignore the first apex and aim for the second apex. Drive the bike out towards the right hand verge and take the fourth apex. Treat the complex of 4 apexes as one long sweep and drive right to the edge of the road in calm conditions. Straightline the left-right kink on the exit of the bend and carry the speed through the next right kink. You'll be up to at least 5th gear, possibly even 6th, by now and approaching the marshals caravan. This last right hander before the Black Hut is pretty quick and you're carrying a lot of speed down to the left hander. You need to come back at least one gear to 5th for the left hander and look for the apex.  (There’s a tarmac patch right on the apex on the left hand side of the road). Don't 'threepenny bit' the corner, take it in one long arc.

This leads into the Verandah which is four bends taken in a single sweep. The Steve Hislop video from about 1991 gives a really good way to remember how to do this corner - "Left hand side of the road, left hand side of the white line, right hand side of the white line and right on the inside". By the time you pass the last apex, you'll be accelerating hard in 5th gear and drifting right out to the kerb on the left. There's a short straight and a right kink and you should be in 6th gear before you reach it. Get over to the right hand edge of the road to correctly line up for Bungalow Bridge (otherwise known as the Les Graham Memorial).

The corner at Bungalow Bridge is another of those turns that can suck you in too fast. Partly this is because it is a slightly adverse camber and also because the view through the bend is clear. However, it is really easy to drift too wide on the exit and there is nowhere to run. Because of the camber, you can’t touch the brakes, so the method here if you’re not sure is “in slow, out fast”. You should be doing the Verandah in 5th gear and hooking 6th on the short straight before the Les Graham Memorial/Bungalow Bridge. Come back two gears to 4th for the lefthander and drive the bike hard into the apex. Run all the way out to the kerb on the exit and then bring it back left for the run on towards The Bungalow.

There are three right handers on the way into the Bungalow and you need to apex the last of them.
As you come round the last of the right handers approaching the Bungalow, you’ll see the marshals box on the left hand side of the road (- there used to be the light blue McIntyre Box on the right). This is a good marker for getting on the brakes and downshifting from 5th to 3rd to set yourself up for the Bungalow. The bike generates a lot of lean angle as you turn into this bend and it’s quite possible that the bodywork will lightly scrape as you go round the left hander. You need to be upright and on the throttle in order to carry some speed across the tramlines and away up the hill. Shutting off isn’t an option as this will only force the bike to run wide and it’s very bumpy off the race line.

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