YOUR LETTERS
It was lovely to see this year’s Manx GP feature so heavily in your magazine (CB October), and to read Austin Smith’s exhuberance at going to the races again.
I suspect if I had not been for 20 years, I too would have been pleased to be back in the IoM, however as a regular visitor to the Island (six times in the last 10 years) I’m afraid that all is not well with the Manx and its supporters.
Reduced, as it is, to a long weekend with some practice beforehand makes this a tricky thing to attend. Unless you fully comit to attend the whole two weeks, most people are faced with either a week where there is only practice (the Friday race was cancelled this year due to weather), or a second week where the racing stops on Monday!
I know there will be those who booked ferries and accomodation for a long weekend, but that is not the norm – most hoteliers want you there for a week, and I want a week off to enjoy the spectacle, but neither now seems to work.
Additionally there was a huge lack of parallel activities; the Manx GP website sugested that there would be ‘a lot going on’ – but apart from the bike day in Peel, it was almost as if people were trying to keep any events secret. This could be a huge festival of motorcycling, but appears now to be squeezed into weekend.
And finally there is the cost. It has never been cheap to go to the IoM at race time, but this year our accomodation and ferries for a rider and a motorcycle cost well over £1100 each. Add in food and other costs and we are looking at over £1500. Now take into account the fact that our week was cut to four days because of a cancelled ferry on the Saturday, and we are looking at a visit which cost £400 per day.
Despite the fact that the Isle of Man is very special, I’m not sure I’ll be returning.
Just to clarify the report on the Manx GP Senior Classic Race, Mike Browne’s third place Norton in this year’s Senior Classic Manx GP was an ohv Norton ES2, and not an ohc Manx. If memory serves, he briefly led the race on lap one at Ramsey Hairpin, but his ES2 had developed a misfire by the time that he passed us at the Gooseneck. Hanging on to a podium spot on a misfiring pushrod ES2 was quite an achievement, especially as he only sees and rides that bike once a year, when it arrives on the Island from New Zealand.
SEND YOUR LETTERS TO letters@ classicbike.co.uk
The story behind the development of the ES2 in NZ might be worth following up on, for publication.
Mike is now the fastest rider from the Republic of Ireland around the TT course and his story might also interest your readers. Finally, he’s from Cork, as am I!
I hadn’t been to
