No-one wants to take away the thrill of the TT but some extra restrictions are still needed because some areas remain a danger for spectators.

This was the view of Hilary Musson, an ex-TT racer who was seriously injured when a bike left the course while she was marshalling at the 26th Milestone during the centenary event in 2007.

‘I can’t understand how anyone was allowed to put up a seating area there. I certainly would never have sat there. They are supposed to be carrying out risk assessments all the time,’ she said.

‘I was thankful my daughter was not marshalling down there. It could have been so much worse too. It’s hard to explain to people that if a bike goes out of control they think they will be able to jump out of the way but sometimes it’s just not possible.

‘For years it’s been an accident waiting to happen, that area at the bottom of Bray Hill.’

Mrs Musson, who was a competitor from 1978 to 1985, added she was anxious the incident would not be dismissed as ‘just a freak accident.’

‘The point is, there’s no such thing as a freak accident: an accident is an accident. People called my accident a freak accident - it was unusual but the word ‘‘freak’’ is not appropriate.’

Six years after the 26th Milestone accident in which rider Marc Ramsbotham lost his life along with two spectators, Mrs Musson still needs crutches to walk and lives with the consequences on a daily basis.

A wholesale reassessment of the TT course resulted in extra prohibited areas being introduced - despite protests from many fans - but Mrs Musson says measures brought in after 2007 were long overdue.

‘They did a lot to change things and it was much better. A lot of progress was made but it was all down to that accident. The fact is that bikes are so much more powerful now and if anything happens they are going to go a long way.’

But she added it was a fine balancing act between making it safer for spectators – and competitors – and creating a completely sanitised event.

‘It’s a great challenge for competitors and it’s something different for spectators too. They want to see competitors wrestling with the bikes and that element of danger for some of us is what we enjoy. I don’t want to completely lose that.

‘There is absolutely no way I would condemn the TT but there are still some places that I think are too exposed. There are areas in Kirk Michael and on May Hill in Ramsey for example.

‘I don’t want people to think I’m only saying this because of what happened to me, I just think we need to think about it sensibly. I’m in no way saying it should be stopped: none of us wants that.’


John Turner
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This year was the first time in, I think fifty years that I was not at the TT, I was taking notice of what my wife and doctor had said to me !. However I will be at the Manx.

To be quite honest I do not know what to make of the modern TT, I did listen to the race commentary and,...well found it just about adequate, certainly the commentators found it hard to keep up with the live timing, however, that is another story.

I suppose really that I have been spoiled and I was bought up watching the traditional TT. ( today's TT is, in my opinion no more than a overgrown BSB event.) when we had a variety of proper racing motor cycles making making unique sounds, If you stand on the pit wall today and close your eyes and listen to the machines pass the grandstand they all, apart from one or two sound the same, if you walk around the parc ferme and all the machines were painted the same color they would almost all look the same. I suppose that to a certain extent the organizers have been pressurized by the manufacturers into putting on the races that they want, what is the real point of two super stock races and two super sport races ?, ....... bring back some imagination and thought and have a classic TT. I applaud the decision of a couple of years ago to include a twins class, but how long will it be before the pressure grows for two twins races ? The super bike, super stock, super sport and twins races yes,( not forgetting of course the sidecars who are a important part of the TT ), but please lets have some original lateral thinking from the TT development people.

I know that over the course of the last few years there have been some really nasty accidents that have taken the lives of people and have resulted in life changing injury's, in all these changes and restrictions that have been put in place is it sanitizing the TT ?, is it taking the thrill and excitement away from what is the greatest motor cycle racing event in the world, is it, will it push the organizers to have even more fan bases, it is a pity that the race organizing committees do not have any members that remember a proper TT.

May I suggest that the TT organizing committee co-opt on to their various body's some new members that can think differently than how to make as much money as they possibly can. Perhaps team owners/managers, maybe a rider, perhaps some off island business people and /or well informed experienced fans.

I have heard that the TT does not pay for itself and that all the money that the TT brings in does not even cover the cost of the TT, even when the normal costs of maintaining the TT circuit (as a normal everyday road ) and the infrastructure are factored out.

Perhaps I am way out, am I the only person that is thinking this way, is it possible for a sensible and serious consensus on the TT and it's future to be held on this forum, that the TT organizing and development committees will listen to, and perhaps take some of the remarks on board. I would hate to see the TT or Manx disappear, I realize that it must pay for itself, does the TT income help subsidize in any way the general economy of the IOM.

The only people that will gain I am afraid from the TT, if not properly controlled will be the lawyers and barristers !