It’s North West time again (no we’re not talking about Kim and Kanye’s impossibly fashionable spawn) so for those of you with your fingers crossed for the rain to hold off and for everyone to stay safe on their bikes this weekend, here’s all you need to know about this year’s North West 200:

RACING

Thursday 14th 5:15pm – 9:00pm
Saturday 16th 9:30am – 7:00pm

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR 2015 ROAD CLOSING

North West 200 Race Map

In exceptional circumstances the following changes may take place in line with road closing legislation from 2014. The organisers of the NW200 may in these exceptional circumstances, move a practice or race day, either one day forward or one day back, giving 24 hours notice to the Department of Regional Development, (DRD). This gives the organisers of the event, Coleraine & District Motor Club Ltd, flexibility to allow for extreme weather conditions which may affect racing or practice sessions.

Should extreme weather be forecasted then the contingency days for the 2015 will be either be Wednesday 13th May or Friday 15th May.

THE OFFICIAL SCHEDULE OF ROAD CLOSING FOR THE 2015 NW200 IS AS FOLLOWS.

Tuesday 12th Practice 9:15am – 2:45pm
Thursday 14th Practice 9:15am – 2:45pm
Thursday 14th Racing 5.15pm – 9.00pm
Saturday 16th May Racing 9.30am – 7.00pm

No change to this schedule will take place unless extreme weather is forecasted to affect any of the days.

Rather than use a full contingency day, organisers may also extend the road closing times on Tuesday 12th and Saturday 16th May as follows.

EXISTING ROAD CLOSING

CONTINGENCY
Tuesday 9.15am – 2.45pm 5.15pm – 9.00pm
Saturday 9.30am – 7.00pm 7.00pm – 9.00pm

Again these extensions to road closing times will only be used if the forecasted weather is extreme and is likely to severely disrupt practice sessions or racing.

Any amendment or change to the race week schedule will be advised to the public via the Vauxhall International North West 200 website www.vauxhallnorthwest200.co.uk on BBC NI TV & Radio and on the NW200 Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The organisers of the NW200 have in place extensive plans to manage any changes that may be necessary to the existing race week schedule, which includes ensuring that all essential personnel required to run the practice sessions and racing are available. Details of the above contingencies have been posted out to all residents on the course and will be communicated to the wider population of Northern Ireland and all those attending the event.

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Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.