There's never going to be a simple answer to this one is there?

When I retired from the Manx the stupid course licence was one reason but another was the increasing difficulty of getting a Rep without spending a fortune on horsepower. The TT course is one that rewards bhp like no short circuit due to its long flat-out sections. Several times I have out-ridden people on twisty sections just to see them feck off on the next straight or hill. I accept the likes of Bob Heath would still have been up there bashing lap records out without the benefit of Paton/MV budgets but that is the exception, and the more horsepower monsters there are in the event the less chance for those of us to gain that elusive Rep. Even the new Manxes/G50s don't help, with big-budget teams who can burn up 5 engines in a week and just slot in a new one.

Steve Linsdell said a little while ago, in a very frank and open interview, that he regarded budget as just one tool for winning a race and the likes of buying a Paton was an option open to anyone with the money - if they didn't like it, well, tough, that was racing. My view is that may work in professional racing, BSB or TT and so forth, but the Manx isn't the place for it. This is the event where there is no prize money and riders foot all the bills themselves. It's an amateurs event and I believe rewarding the pros to the detriment of the true amateurs will result in more of them (us) abandoning the event, which is already short of entries.

So what's the answer? Smokey125 posted a very intelligent critique of some of the pros and cons. You can't simply put the multis in their own class, since the new Manxes aren't far short of their speed (or cost) and you'd simply scoop up the Weslakes, Nortons and Triumphs with the exotica. A British/foreign split wouldn't work because of the Ducatis and Aermacchis. An age or cost classification would be impossibe to achieve. So as much as I don't like people buying horsepower I don't see a realistic way of stopping it.

How about re-allocating the Replicas then? If the differential is the issue then you could nullify that by awarding, say, silver reps to the top 25% of the field and bronze reps to the next 25% of finishers. That to me would be fairer than the current situation where an exceptionally fast race by a TT star on a megabucks machine can deny Reps to others who would have won them in other years.

I would also want to deny Manx entries to people who have ridden the TT in the last 3 years. My view is if they are good enough to ride the TT that's where they should be, not pot-hunting in an amateur event. If they retire from the TT, fine, enter the Manx, but don't use it as a bit of extra practice for the TT and mess up the trophies for those who only do the Manx.

So, for anybody who wanted suggestions, there's 2.