Born IoM a few hours after the 67 Ago v Hailwood Senior, mum n dad were told off by the local Bobby who they knew for watching at Hillberry as I was overdue and an ambulance would be slow getting to Hillberry if required....i've done the scoreboards / control tower in Cubs n Scouts, spanners and raced at MGP / TT, given my time again i'd have another go at The Manx, only missed the TT once in that time 1991 and have seen all the changes in that time, people say the island isn't as busy but there's a huge amount of people spread all over the island now in campsites, homestay, AirBnB etc and speaking to the Marshals I meet when driving the response car many of them don't come into Douglas at night, one thing I would say is that there seems to be more European bikes making the journey these days. The simple fact is that the TT/MGP events have these days to make a profit otherwise it will be stopped very quickly, the history and nostalgia won't be taken into account by the govt bean counters, from what i've seen / heard with govt overspending, the fairly recent UK VAT debacle which the bean counters knew about but kept quiet and the drawing down on NI funds to pay pensions has the IoM in not the best financial state which is one of the reasons we don't have a new scoreboard yet. You could argue that the media / tv / marketing thing has extended the attraction and life of TT / MGP racing as without putting out there worldwide the ultimate risk v reward selling point of the event to an ever increasing nanny HnS state world i'm not sure we'd have the same footfalls each year. For me as you guys mention The Manx is a more relaxed atmosphere but equally it doesn't have that hardcore TT buzz about it - both events have their plus and minus points - maybe as you also mention that's the much younger devil that still lives with me. The IoM and the racing events have had to evolve with all the increased insurance, HnS and liability involved these modern days - we can't do anything about those things. The cost of the boat I would say is getting very very expensive compared to other means, destinations and methods of travel not just at TT though - any fare which includes school holiday travel is bonkers money, my son was looking at bring his car over for Xmas and it was £500 for 2 and car.