It has updated spectators on lap times and leaders for decades but now the TT scoreboard is consigned to history.

No longer fit for purpose, the Department of Enterprise has, after public consultation, decided to replace the historic board with a modern system which its says will be a mix of ’old and new technologies in a permanent fixed solution’.

On Saturday, some of the island’s Scouts, who have helped update the scoreboard during the races, visited it for the last time before it is demolished.

The Scouts are involved in the plans for a replacement scoreboard, with the organisation keen t o rtain its unique place in the home of motorsport.

Not all of the scoreboard will be scrapped, sections of it are to be retained by Manx National Heritage as part of its planned TT exhibition at the Manx Museum.

A MNH spokesman said that ’the sections to be salvaged incorporate some of the earliest parts, possibly from as early as the 1920s’ and that it will join the exhibit which is due to open in 2022.

Matthew Richardson, curator of social history, said:

’We have been aware of plans to refurbish the scoreboard for a number of years, and liaised closely with colleagues at the Department for Enterprise to ensure that when the time eventually came, MNH was on hand to ensure the more historic pieces could be preserved.

’The traditional scoreboard, with its clocks and hand painted numbers has long been an iconic part of the TT, and we are pleased to think that even though the event moves with the times and modernises its presentation, we can ensure that these aspects of its past are not lost or forgotten.’

The proposed replacement for a new board at, present, is a fully integrated design that incorporates the necessary safety features to allow for existing operations to continue without the need for the existing separate safety fence at the front of the structure.

Consideration will be given to all of the existing operations that occur when the structure is in use, the safety of those operating the scoreboards and those persons in the timekeeper’s huts.