An outstanding post by David Taylor if I may say so, and very neatly encapsulates the big issues surronding the problematic future of the Manx.

The MMCC now have a year to plan for the future and I hope lessons will have been learned to avoid the farce that was 2007 ever happening again. As much as Roger and the team do a great job organising the marshals it's vital that a postponement must be catered for - it's hardly unknown for a race to be postponed due to weather!

And I don't think the breakdown rate should be a major issue. When I got a rep in the '88 Junior about half the field (on TZ350s) didn't finish the 6 laps. That didn't make the race any less exciting! What would spoil it is starting with only half a grid - which comes back to attracting the riders back, and the sparse Newcomers Race is an obvious candidate for change.

David also makes a valid point about the tragic events of 2005, which were indeed just a statistical blip. No FMEA was ever carried out (or if it was, it was never published) of how the Course Licence would change anything, just a few woolly platitudes. In fact any accident on the mountain course is a potential fatality so looking at one year with a high number of fatalities is a red herring. The supposed aims of the Course Licence could be achieved in other ways that are more relevant to the event and which wouldn't cost riders a small fortune to meet (these have been previously suggested, and ignored!). It amazes me that the MMCC accept entries for the TT from riders who have never raced on the IoM before, surely a bad move for safety though the commercial motives are obvious.

I think the MMCC need to address the issues of inadequate number of practice sessions, rising costs to competitors, professional TT pot-hunters using the MGP as easy pickings and a couple of extra licence signatures, and how the number of marshals can be boosted (Steam Packet vouchers anyone?)

I believe 2008 will be make or break. Fingers crossed.