This year was the first time in, I think fifty years that I was not at the TT, I was taking notice of what my wife and doctor had said to me !. However I will be at the Manx.

To be quite honest I do not know what to make of the modern TT, I did listen to the race commentary and,...well found it just about adequate, certainly the commentators found it hard to keep up with the live timing, however, that is another story.

I suppose really that I have been spoiled and I was bought up watching the traditional TT. ( today's TT is, in my opinion no more than a overgrown BSB event.) when we had a variety of proper racing motor cycles making making unique sounds, If you stand on the pit wall today and close your eyes and listen to the machines pass the grandstand they all, apart from one or two sound the same, if you walk around the parc ferme and all the machines were painted the same color they would almost all look the same. I suppose that to a certain extent the organizers have been pressurized by the manufacturers into putting on the races that they want, what is the real point of two super stock races and two super sport races ?, ....... bring back some imagination and thought and have a classic TT. I applaud the decision of a couple of years ago to include a twins class, but how long will it be before the pressure grows for two twins races ? The super bike, super stock, super sport and twins races yes,( not forgetting of course the sidecars who are a important part of the TT ), but please lets have some original lateral thinking from the TT development people.

I know that over the course of the last few years there have been some really nasty accidents that have taken the lives of people and have resulted in life changing injury's, in all these changes and restrictions that have been put in place is it sanitizing the TT ?, is it taking the thrill and excitement away from what is the greatest motor cycle racing event in the world, is it, will it push the organizers to have even more fan bases, it is a pity that the race organizing committees do not have any members that remember a proper TT.

May I suggest that the TT organizing committee co-opt on to their various body's some new members that can think differently than how to make as much money as they possibly can. Perhaps team owners/managers, maybe a rider, perhaps some off island business people and /or well informed experienced fans.

I have heard that the TT does not pay for itself and that all the money that the TT brings in does not even cover the cost of the TT, even when the normal costs of maintaining the TT circuit (as a normal everyday road ) and the infrastructure are factored out.

Perhaps I am way out, am I the only person that is thinking this way, is it possible for a sensible and serious consensus on the TT and it's future to be held on this forum, that the TT organizing and development committees will listen to, and perhaps take some of the remarks on board. I would hate to see the TT or Manx disappear, I realize that it must pay for itself, does the TT income help subsidize in any way the general economy of the IOM.

The only people that will gain I am afraid from the TT, if not properly controlled will be the lawyers and barristers !