Two Ramsey Manxmen celebrated for their skills in two very different disciplines – motorcycle racing and art – took centre stage at Ramsey town hall on Friday August 19 when TT competitor Connor Cummins, currently the fast Manx rider around the TT course, opened Racing Through Time, an exhibition of paintings by artist Michael Starkey. The exhibition comes after Michael Starkey’s year-long artist’s residency funded by the Isle of Man Arts Council and commemorates the centenary of the TT mountain course in a series of 20 paintings depicting various points on the circuit throughout the decades. Opening the exhibition Connor Cummins said how the paintings provided very different perspectives of the course from those he saw when competing, while Michael Starkey spoke of the hours of research needed to ensure historical accuracy which, in his painting of a scene of Ramsey’s Parliament Square during the 1957 TT, included showing the town hall clock reading 11.40am, the moment when rider Bob McKintyre was due to arrive on his second lap of the Senior race on the first ever 100mph lap. Now part of the Isle of Man Arts Council’s contemporary art loan collection, Racing Through Time will remain on display in Ramsey town hall until September 16. ENDS