DCL I take your point about the difficulties for some to be able to do the Manx before the TT, and the undoubted competence of some short circuit guys despite their lack of experience on the roads. It was an issue I considered before posting my suggestion however. The problem we face is that today it is becoming ever harder to accept fatalities in motorsport. Those of us who have been around the TT/MGP for some time know that sh*t happens and we all know the score (I raced the Manx many times over a period of 20 years). However the mainstream press, health & safety, ambulance chasing lawyers and the Financial Sector who would love to see us consigned to history all have an ever louder voice. Thus I believe we need to take some major steps forward before someone grabs us and forces us to take even more, unpalatable ones. Rather than restricting the races themselves I'd rather restrict the entry criteria. Put that in the place of the utterly pointless Course Licence perhaps. I'm not sure it would affect too many people though, aren't most TT riders regulars? The main thing is, it is worrying that we have a unique, and uniquely challenging course, that we allow people to race on in top class competition with large prize money available, with no prior experience of such a course. At the Manx there is a Newcomers race for that exact reason. Could fatal crashes of TT Newcomers like Marc Ramsbotham and Joakim Karlsson have been avoided by this? Further, it worries me that we seem to be allowing it to happen so that the 'stars' will ride at the TT to increase its spectator appeal. Could the cost of that ultimately be too high if it allows newcomers to enter and make fatal mistakes while trying to keep up with the more experienced riders?

Maybe the one to put forward a viewpoint on the validity of that would be Shaun Harris who after all has done exactly that - jumped in the TT at the deep end (and swam rather well!).

As for sending in my suggestions to the organisers, Paul reads these boards I believe, so if any of my ideas are of use feel free, I don't want to get personally involved in what could be a very emotive issue with many vested interests.