Re BSA 499....."a week too short, and sadly lacking in entries".

I totally agree with you, but the person who agreed to these classes (in conjunction with the Manx Government, not the Manx Club) has (I understand) left the organisation. I cannot imagine procuring a large entry for a MGP 2stroke class......too expensive to run them without some start money........unavailable for the Manx.
I will have to wait to  speak to some hotel and guest house owners, but I completely fail to understand how they could be happy with this "shortened" Manx. In addition, I felt that the safety of the whole event was compromised by the reduction in practice times. And as far as shortened races, I cannot begin to think how I would have felt back in the day. It was a SIX lap Senior and Junior when I last rode those two events. 

Re Marshalling, and changing the road closure times, the Chief Marshal needs to find a way of ensuring Marshals are made aware of any updates. It's a long day on the Mountain if you're up there from 8.30am. But well done for volunteering, it's a lot more than I did sadly.