Yes, what I tried to say it's that it's true that the riders who killed themselves on the Mountain Circuit had voluntarily put themselves at risk. But at the same time it's true that the organizers - generically: "we" - have organized the context-event in which that deaths have been possible.

The modern mentality, in front of which the TT races appear as a "bloody anachronism", refers just to the second aspect in order to destroy the classic argument pro-TT as this classic argument makes reference *only* to the first aspect of the problem. For Don: yes, the experience is much important, but the modern mentality follows a fix grammar. In my opinion behind the nanny-mentality there is non other than the technical mentality: in our days the circuit of a motorsport event is not considered as a fixed and immutable reality, but is considered as a thing that can be changed in order to increase the "quality of life of the individual" (in our case: in order to reduce the risk). The TT races is just the negation of this modern axiom. And this is why I consider them the greatest motorsport event of the past, of the present, of the future;-).

I'm not entirely sure the use of the line "riders who killed themselves on the TT course" is appropriate. Since this suggests that they commited suicide, i.e. chose to take there own life.

To choose to compete in a dangerous event of your own free will is not the same as choosing to kill your self.

With respect i read it as a language difference, which could have perhaps been phrased a bit differently ? ie marco coming from italy.

Perhaps the phrase "who lost their lives racing" expresses it better?

Wil before i post i would like to add my personal condolensces to you & your family at this very difficult time for you . Your father was one of the most respected & talented riders in world classic racing & a tremendous loss to the sport .
However i still stand by my thoughts on reducing the age limit for racing here or reducing the race distance . this year there have unfortunately been nine rider fatalities on the mountain circuit & six of these have involved riders in there fifties ( this includes Les Harah sidecar driver who lost his life at Parliament in the TT ) . This is an unacceptable amount no matter which way looked at .
In the present climate surrounding the TT & MGP races we cannot bury our head in the sand & just put it down as a bad year & hopefully next year will be ok .
We can not afford to take these chances there are many pressures getting exerted on our races from all angles , believe me i hear it every day . To many accidents , road closed again , too much noise etc etc , it is easy to shrug your shoulders when you are not here all the time but it is here .
If this had been the TT the media coverage would have been worldwide & would have again brought negative publicity here .
We have to be seen to be doing something positive about the safety side to minimise any potential for disaster here .
Making the circuit safer can only be done in certain areas , air bags etc . We can not create run out areas or take down walls this is not really feasible .
I still think an age cap is necessary as well as a reduction in race length . Four laps is a long race for anyone , three laps would be sufficient for the classic races it is still in excess of an hours hard riding . This would still be a fantastic spectacle for all & should be adequate for the riders .
I still think 50 is an accepatable age for racing however that is purely a personal thought . I know some of the riders racing classic machines are exceptionally fit but not all .
If i remember correctly the MGP did used to have an age cap of 40 years for its races . When the Classic races where introduced the majority of riders where over 40 . But i thought that they stayed in the classic & not on the modern machinery , but this does not appear to be the case anymore .
I want to see our races both TT & MGP continue as do we all but changes have to be made .

well i have waited to see what is being said and facts dont realy show what some of you claim
1. age the most common age to be killed is 26, 28,22
2. of all deaths 126 have been in TT
96 in MGP
3. of these 120 have been in races
102 in practice
4. sidecars are 26 9 drivers and 17 pasengers
12 in race 14 in practise
5. and the worst number to ride is No 17
so all your ageisim dont work
long races dont add up as practise is as bad
6. most riders only do 2 maybe 3 laps a night in practise
7 no one area is any better than another only 14 riders above 50 have died so dont try to limit age as i belive due to the new law on agisim is as bad as sexisim is not allowed
its been a bad year and hope we dont have another like it but not lets have a knee jerk reaction

"Perhaps the phrase "who lost their lives racing" expresses it better?"

Yes, it's exactly what I wanted to mean. I come from Italy:-). Excuse me for my errors in speaking the Shakespeare's language.

"its been a bad year and hope we dont have another like it but not lets have a knee jerk reaction"

It has been the WORST year in Mountain Circuit history - worse than 1989 when 8 riders in all were killed in TT and MGP. Also, the WORST year in MGP history - worse than 1952 when 4 riders were killed in the MGP. And, finally, the WORST year for a single event (TT or MGP) - worse than 1989 TT whith 5 riders killed.
Three time WORST.

A very interesting post Eric, something I'd been wondering about, especially as Marco points out, this is the worst ever year for fatalities. If you consider that most of the riders who died this year were older, more experienced guys, that it was predominantly not towards the end of races, age and tiredness is unlikely to be a factor. While we rarely hear all the circumstances it seems to me the events this year were for largely random reasons, making it hard to suggest any realistic way to prevent the crashes. However I do believe increased use of air fencing could have at least mitigated the effects in most of them.

Marco, sorry for the comments about your english.

Also good to see some sensible statistics from somebody that can clearly sit down and look at this in a mathematical fashion. Not just react to wot has happened recently but to look at the issue as a whole.

If you remove the deaths from this year very few people who were killed have been over 50, so that argument is discredited completely. Also the argument about race length is removed as nearly as many people died in practice.