Thank you Will. That was exactly the point I was trying to make and I fully agree with you if you change the way replicas are awarded you devalue the replica itself.

I can see the point you’re trying to make sticky but how do you make it any fairer?
Take your example of the rider who missed out due to the quick men being so quick. Last year there were 36 finishers 14 of whom won replicas, that’s 40% of the finishers.
The extreme rate of attrition in the classics could easily mean that if you had a year when very few of the top runners retired over 50% of the field could be in replica time and your man could be out of the top 50% but have been inside the old replica time. Oppositely if a lot of the top runner retired your man would be in the top 50% could have been inside the old time, might also find that the last couple of replica winners could be as much as a minute a lap slower than him takes some of the shine off when someone that much slower who would never have won a replica before is standing there next to you with one!
I believe the only fair way of doing it is a percentage of the winner’s time as it reflects the speed and ability of both rider and machine compared to the winner i.e. the best overall package that day. Rather than just your ability to finish.

I would also have to totally disagree with the safety aspect. With anything like this be it TT riders having to do the MGP first people chasing replicas/qualifying times by changing the required standard you don’t remove the pressure or change the fact that there are people who will be on the borders of achieving what they are chasing you simply move it to a different part of the field.
I think you could make things worse. With the percentage as it is now there are a relatively limited number of riders who could be borderline on winning a replica. If it was a percentage of finishers and again in the classics due to the high attrition rate the number of riders who might get a replica if the retirees happened to come in the right places could be much higher. You could have a lot more people trying that bit too hard.
Ultimately the throttle goes both ways and the rider is the only one responsible for his decisions and actions.

You have to ask yourself why you’re doing it. If it’s because you want to race your bike against the best riders on the best bikes on the best course in the world then I don’t see where the problem is. If all you want is to win a replica then so long as you’re not too old I would suggest getting a 400. The speeds are not that much greater and if you’re borderline for replica pace in the classics you should be able to get one in the ultralightweight.

As Will and I have both already said the pace in the classics hasn’t gone up for nearly 10 years think how quick Bob Heath would have gone on one of these current bikes they are giving nearly 10 brake more than his, from the same engines.

Will if you’re over for the Manx I’ll see you then. Cheers Doug Snow