Yes, it's great news about Richard and Ian and Honda's return, but...................at what cost?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same manufacturer that allegedly put all the pressure on the organisers to get rid of the 125 and 250 classes from the TT, otherwise they certainly were not coming out to play again?

Isn't this the manufacturer that wanted every race at the TT to be a shop window for only the most expensive (ie mega profitable) bikes in their range, and spat the dummy out of the pram until they got their own way?

Discuss....................

Yes I agree with you personally on this particular issue John, and feel that commercialism has had a very negative effect on the "true" spirit of the TT.

OK, it's a test of endurance for manufacturers products and that is fine. The TT once held world wide acclaim as being the ultimate test for man and machine with manufacturers using the TT as the "foremost" event in the world for the promotion of their products, and stating that they had come up with the highest technical achievement possible in mechanical innovation for those products. "We won the TT"

Sadly, that is not so much the case these days as we are now to see "street legal" (albeit modified)machines in every race.

How can a 1000cc 4 stroke be compared to a fully tuned 500cc stroker when the latter is on full chat - never. The innovations that have developed the 2 stroke over the years have proved that they are beyond any doubt, the machines to race and are ultimately the more challenging machines to ride.

Sadly money speaks, and if Honda and all the others want to sell their "street cred" machines off the back of having won at the TT, (and they are the ones with the financial clout of course who can make or break the event), and the TT wants to survive, then the DOT&L have no alternative but to comply with the wishes of the "big boys".

Sadly the TT is no longer the event that it once was and it never will be again. It is becoming more and more like a clubmans outing and I for one am so sad to see that happen.

I am a "stroker" supporter, always have been and always will be be and the demise of the 125 and 250 classes, spell the death knell for me as far as the TT is concerned.

By the way, this is a personal posting from myself and not a posting stating the viewpoint of the site.

I must agree with the above postings.
The TT should be the ultimate test of the ultinate man and machine. The new rules specficly exclude any and all machine which are currently raced at Grand Prix/MotoGP level this I believe is very wrong.
Much as Hondas support for this new team is welcome have they done it a the cost of having a real TT race for real racing motorcycles???????

I totally agree, the T.T is being to biased towards the bike manufacturers. What about the other 300 or so entrants, the show would be nothing without them. I enter a bike in the manx, which i feel will become the one to go see if you want to see real racing bikes and not just the same boring road bikes going around all week. If the manx brought in a forgotten era race then the variety would be vast.

Since 1954 Honda has provided racing motorcycles of the highest standard for competition at the Isle of Man.
Some of the greatest performances by Hailwood and Dunlop have been aboard their machines.
Still to this day they still support the TT by supplying sponsorship and machines.
I think it is a little premature or unfair to criticise them because the world is changing.
Honda are still developing the 125 and 250 two stroke engine in other areas of the sport and, broken hearted as
I am to witness the demise of these classes that I have followed since the 60s, I also realise that life involves
change and the older we get the less we are amenable to it.
Wasn't it wonderful when Honda was able to pull some machine out of the hat for Joey, and didn't we all love it
when he won, even though it was not a grand prix machine?
Also we must not forget that Honda enabled us to witness the ultimate development of the four stroke 125 on this very course.
It stands to reason that an engine that fires on every stroke will produce more horsepower, isn't that why they had to
double the capacity of Moto GP four strokes to enable them to compete.
Sorry but I have too many great Honda memories to indulge in Honda bashing.
Zannen awanai