Where's My Isle of Man TT Gone?

OK, I seldom if ever blog about sidecar and motorcycle racing but it is by far my biggest passion in life - and has been for almost sixty years - but I feel so strongly as to what just has become of the world famous TT Races in the name of 'progress'?  It is time that the whole format changed to provide diversity of classes rather than production racing by fancy names, to encourage individuality and engineering skills otherwise it surely cannot exist in the present form for many years.

I know that I may be boring some of you but this TT classs lark is getting on my mammary glands - have to be polite due to the presence of the fair sex

TT week - classes - Sidecars, Superbike, Superstock and Supersport and that is it - oh, sorry forgot the Duracell thingies Sidecars are instantly recognisable because they have three wheels and a passenger - fact. Apart from the glorified kiddies sit and ride electric whatsits the others are all instantly recognisable because they have two wheels and one person - fact. This latter category is apparently sub-divided into three classes and they are totally smothered in stickers, some which seem to bear a remarkable resemblance to matchbox labels, beer bottle labels, cheese triangle labels etc -fact.

Now for the difficult part - with all three classes looking and sounding so very similar how the hell is it possible to tell them apart, especially when whizzing past at a fantastic rate of knots? In all honesty to me it is a case of see one race and you've seen them all Should I wish to watch a load of standard and modified road bikes roaring around then I can go to High Beech, Box Hill or the Ace caff. Why bother walking around the paddock when it is easier to see very similar looking bikes (minus a number of the sticky labels) in any high street dealers and you may even get a free cup of coffee thrown in.

This is, we are led to believe, progress. I do not think so

Now for what I am about to pen I know that I am likely to be abused, shouted out or derided as a geriatric, grey haired, short sighted dinosaur - please feel free to add any other appelations or pejoratives that may seem appropriate but if this the way forward then I am a banana.

In the good/bad old days of yore when men rode sixteeninchers the TT was an utterly fabulous fortnight with no less than seven, yes that's right seven, different classes that were distinctively different and obvious to anyone remotely interested in racing. The need to pad out a programme with repeated races was totally unnecessary and the grids were full! Furthermore there was a wide variety of individual engine and exhaust noises making many bikes instantly recognisable to even someone with a mild sight defect rather than a stream of virtually identical noises and machines revving their little nuts off. Not forgetting the sidecars of course with a number of different engines used - the deliciously crisp sounding BMWs, Manxes, G45s and G50s, the inevitable British twins from Triumph, BSA, Norton and even the odd Royal Enfield, all instantly identifiable.

Then there is the matter of the sidecar class open only to F2 machines which are closely defined by rules which some see as restrictive and stifling. Agreed that some structure is necessary, even in the halcyon days of sidecar racing there were rules as to frames, engines etc but nothing as draconian as the present set.

So what has led to the current state of affairs? Was it the loss of World Championship status for the TT? Could the influence of commercial sports promoters/TV companies have had an effect due to showing classes that they perceived as profitable? How about the withdrawal of major manufacturers? Then there was the abdication/flogging off of championships national and iworld by national and iinternational controlling bodies to the highest bidder to run as they wished? Could it be that manufacturers carry much weight with organisers and promoters today?

Does it really matter the causes for this dreadful decline? What is more important is that it has happened and has sadly been allowed to happen. Forgive me dear reader should I be boring you but I am utterly peed off with the current format of solo TT classes and it is time for change, a change for the better and more variety.