(20-06-2016, 05:26 PM)Smidsy Wrote: I for one won't continue to travel and marshal if the two weekend plan is put in place, but then again this is from MCN and I stopped reading that rag years ago.
And so it starts - looks like Paul Philips isn't bailing out to Cloud 9 with the other jettisoned DED staff!, its noticeable that in the list of bodies to be consulted the paying fans appear to be awol. Now that the effect of the changes in the last few years has started to result in a drop in numbers to those who can be bothered to fight their way to the island against all the odds, I would have thought that the first priority would be to sort out the transport issues. The shortage of ferry places deters or prevents many visitors and those that do get across have endured something approaching a Japanese game show test; all for the privilege of been ripped off by the steam racket.
We all know that running the senior on a Saturday has been impossible for years because of lack of marshals, many of my manx mates will marshal on the bank holiday but won't do the Saturday and i doubt many of the comeovers will fork out to spend more time on the Island to allow Cloud9 to make a profit out of them. Given that you still need practice before the first race, in reality this means that you would have to be on the island for about three weeks or decide to miss something. it also means that the accommodation will become more complicated, most likely would be that they would split the TT into packages of x nights so they don't have voids.
The biggest risk of course is the weather and its just not going to fit into a schedule, I remember watching the senior a couple of years ago at Brandywell at about 7 or 8 oclock and I was at the airport when they re-started the senior after the bray hill incident. We all know how many times racing has been delayed because of housefires, pregnant ladies, cars left on the course/slip roads and, quite frequently, serious RTCs just before roads close, its only a year since we didn't get a senior at all. You would have to be a very brave broadcaster to try and fit that into a global schedule and imagine how much nonsense Witham could spout in a six hour delay.
On top of that what will definitely happen is there will be even more pressure to start races in less than ideal condiitions, at the moment pressure from the senior riders like JM130 means that they don't go if its raining anywhere but, once money is involved, pressure will be applied - i once had a big crash at Donnington and made the mistake of opening my eyes at which point they cancelled the helicopter and stuck me in an old st johns ambulance to the circuit medical centre - they told me that if the helicopter had taken me to nottingham they would have had to postpone the main BTCC race which was live on telly. After they counted my arms and legs i was released after 20 mins only to find out some months later that I had broken two vertibrae in my neck and a good nod could have been serious, by then I'd completed the season!
I doubt they would have two weekends with no races in between, I suspect that they would move the classic festival to fill in and the manx will be killed off its what they have wanted for some time because they can't make money from it.
