I Have just read in this weeks Comic (MCN) that Mick Grant is to do the TTXGP for the Lotus Team with there Electric Bike. I wonder does he lealise thats he,s only got 14 days to get in six meetings for his mountain course licence. As the closing date for the TT Licence is the 14th of april. No disrespect to Mick it would be great to see him compete again i grew up watching him and mamy others race over the mountain course all the best ....Irish Ago...

Don't forget what the date is today Ago!

Thought you all might like to know we are numpties for asking questions now !!!

Alison wrote :-

In the real world we're all having polite, discussions about it.

veefour wrote:

Just a thought Alison, is there a reason why have you stopped having the above on the other TT website, i am sure they are all really missing you !!

Alison wrote :-

TTwebsite.com's forum simply filled up with you, V4, and Sticky, and the other numpties, all bitching simultaneously on here and on there??

I don't know where you guys find the time?!

With reference to a lack of noise, I have an idea which is not absolutely original but would make the TTXGP machines identifiable to the ear.

My friend attached a 15cm strip of thin Kevlar to the "swinging arm" on the rear of his mountain bike. This strip is so mounted as to make contact with the rear wheel spokes. As he rides the bike the spokes strike the kevlar producing a loud buzzing noise which rises up and down as he peddles fast or slow.

It is most effective and I think that if the whole TTXGP entry was made to do as he did, we could have some quite unusual sounds off....

Think what it would sound like as the TTXGP machines "plunged" down Bray Hill and also when they buzzed along Cronk-y-Voddee !!

The musical fans at the TT could calculate the speeds by the note of the buzzing ("A sharp" = 25mph !)

I'm all for progress but in this case I feel that this event should have been run on the Southern 100 course (or at Onchan Stadium as my wife suggests ---) with a few laps allowing us to see the machines constantly passing and easy to follow as to placing on the scoreboard.

I remember the 50cc races when there were such awful gaps. Are the TTXGPs setting off at minute intervals or en masse ??

http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/london/ttxgp.cfm

Odd, bikes with noooooo sound and from the things I have read a low race entry????.

Think its time to remind everyone how racing bikes or motorcycles should sound.

http://www.sportsbikefoto.com/page12.htm

http://engineering.kingston.ac.uk/motors...cobike.htm

See video Diary !!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/...993816.stm

Its been posted on another forum that businesses are very unhappy at the earlier road closing and that some members of the public may take some form of action over the closing times. One person has suggested that a go slow by traffic may take place in a bid to cause a bit of chaos. The local people on the Island will only take so much and to close the roads at what is the busiest time of the day is pure madness by those in charge of the TT. I can honestly see the police making changes to this idiotic decision.

I think they will also have problems with Marshals, Scrutineers and all other officials. I really think that the organisers are really taking the p**s out of the Manx people and the goodness of all the dedicated men and women who take time off to support the TT year in and year out. They will loose the goodwill of the very people who deserve support. I really do believe that this is the one thing that will stop the TT from running, and this one stupid decision may just be the final nail in the coffin of the TT. I have for many years believed that the TT would get through all of the problems it has had in the past, but now believe that that the death of the TT will be the organisers own making, and until they realise that they can not keep piling preasure on the devotion of the supporters of the event, they will make the TT something of the past and not of the future.

This TTXGP, when titled of something of the future, it may just be the hammer that hits the final nail in the death of the future itself. Rushing through the TTXGP as an additional event whilst not thinking through all of the implications has made the organisers look more like a second rate muppet show rather than the professional outfit it should be. SO the real question is, if it is a muppet show, who is pulling the strings? The organising committee or someone or something in the background with all the strings available to pull and someone or something that is not in the forefront, but hiding behind the real face of the organisers.

I should have added that we will not be marshalling this year, there is no way we could get off work and be up on the mountain for 4pm.

Please do not blame the TT organisers for this monumental cock-up.This is totally down to our local politicians and we all have the answer to this problem at the next general election. They have dug themselves into such a big black hole they have now no way of digging out of it.

So theres the answer then. The MHK's are pulling the strings.

Wouldn't suprise me if the MHK's were threatening to remove government support if the organising committee didn't comply with what they wanted.

Here was me thinking that MHK stood for Member of the House of Keys and not Muppet House of Kn**s.

DCLUCIE Wrote:So theres the answer then. The MHK's are pulling the strings.

Wouldn't suprise me if the MHK's were threatening to remove government support if the organising committee didn't comply with what they wanted. [
Here was me thinking that MHK stood for Member of the House of Keys and not Muppet House of Kn**s.

Oh so thats why no or very little start money for the riders this year

They stopped the 250/400 races at the TT and the reason given was it was not viable or in the spectators interest to have a race with only 40/50 bikes. Please can someone now tell me why its viable to have a race now with only 26 bikes

George Wrote:

DCLUCIE Wrote:So theres the answer then. The MHK's are pulling the strings.

Wouldn't suprise me if the MHK's were threatening to remove government support if the organising committee didn't comply with what they wanted. [
Here was me thinking that MHK stood for Member of the House of Keys and not Muppet House of Kn**s.

Oh so thats why no or very little start money for the riders this year

There wasnt much money being handed out last year, but this year they have found £100,000-£150,000 of tax payers money, my money i along with everyone else have to fund an event i dont want run with TT. It undermines everything about TT in my opinion,

I've not contributed much to this thread other than declaring a preference for alcohol fuels and castor based lubes (both renewable sources)

I am generally in favour of electric powered vehicles and did some research in the early '90s for heavy truck systems.

I do feel that they are cashing in on the hype, prestige and euphoria of the TT, for the wrong reasons.

With hind sight, maybe it would have been far better to have arranged for races (could have been several rounds) to be squeezed in and held at one or more of the major short circuits where there would be no road closures, big crowds, normal TV coverage and, best of all, "several" laps could be achieved per race, to really sort out the competition. If the On-board Power Systems allowed it, there could be endurance races with pit stops to see who could change over to fresh battery packs the quickest.

However, since we have inherited a new TT event, I sincerely hope that it does not fail to the embarassment of the manufacturers, organisers and , above all, our riders who have to carry it all through.

To the many "TT Traditionalists" out there, and I include myself in this band, there are a number of points from the regulations in the earliest races that we should remember. We must avoid burying our collective heads in the sands of the experience our generations. The TT is not just about the great sounds and sights since the fifties although we find it too easy to ignore that fact.

Quoted from Wikipedia: "During the 1906 International Cup for Motor-Cycles held in Austria, the event was plagued by accusations of cheating and sharp practices. A conversation on the train journey home between the Secretary of the Auto-Cycle Club, Freddie Straight, Charlie Collier and Harry Collier brothers of the Matchless Motor-Cycles and the Marquis de Mouzilly St. Mars led to a suggestion for a race the following year for road touring motor-cycles based on the automobile races held in the Isle of Man on closed public roads. The new race was proposed by the Editor of "The Motor-Cycle" Magazine at the annual dinner of the Auto-Cycle Club held in London on 17 January 1907.[14] It was proposed that the races would run in two classes with single-cylinder machines to average 90 mpg and twin-cylinder machines to average 75 mpg fuel consumption. To emphasise the road touring nature of the motor-cycles there were regulations for saddles, pedals, mudguards and exhaust silencers.
For the 1908 race the fuel consumption was raised to 100 mpg for single-cylinder machines and 80 mpg for twin-cylinder machines and the use of pedals was banned. The race was won by Jack Marshall on a Triumph motor-cycle at an average speed of 40.49 mph. Due to the concern over increasing lap-speed, the 1910 event saw the capacity of the twin-cylinder machines reduced to 670 cc."

TTxGP is unlikely to provide many exciting sights or sounds immediately (although I'll be surprised if one or two amplified nostalgic sounds of the past are not emitted from some of the bikes). However, in the true spirit of the earliest TT pioneers' regulations, we will see a further reduction in petrol consumption and cylinder capacity, and a testing ground for future touring bikes.

Chris Maybury Wrote:I've not contributed much to this thread other than declaring a preference for alcohol fuels and castor based lubes (both renewable sources)

I am generally in favour of electric powered vehicles and did some research in the early '90s for heavy truck systems.

I do feel that they are cashing in on the hype, prestige and euphoria of the TT, for the wrong reasons.

With hind sight, maybe it would have been far better to have arranged for races (could have been several rounds) to be squeezed in and held at one or more of the major short circuits where there would be no road closures, big crowds, normal TV coverage and, best of all, "several" laps could be achieved per race, to really sort out the competition. If the On-board Power Systems allowed it, there could be endurance races with pit stops to see who could change over to fresh battery packs the quickest.

However, since we have inherited a new TT event, I sincerely hope that it does not fail to the embarassment of the manufacturers, organisers and , above all, our riders who have to carry it all through.

I dont disagree with new energy sources being tried, i dont disagree with the race, i dont understand what difference a year would make to ttxgp. I do feel that we have cash strapped racers, a downturn in the economy and i would have prefered to have had the money set aside for ttxgp available to help those that need it. who have made the TT.
And if this leccy race is going to be so good why do we need it to be part of TT

I think there are alot more issues arising now for the public with the introduction of the new practice times. The roads closing at 4pm, just before the so called rush hour. This would mean that the Mountain shuts at 4 on the dot and the marshals and all the other hard working individuals being there for around 3.30pm. How many employers will see this as a major problem when the marshals ask for more time off work in addition to that already taken. This doesn't even take into account the promise that was made last year at the Manx GP that this will never happen again. Yes I know WE all know that there are two different organisers, but the public will not see it that way. And I think it was the Tourism Minister that said that after all the pulic row at the Manx GP.

Lets face it, without the support of the manx workers this event will not happen. You may well say thats a load of crud, but you don't realise that this is a massive issue for those employers, and with jobn security the way it is on the Island I can fully understand if Marshals say 'hang on this is just taking the mike stuff this', and not marshal at all. It is also going to be to the advantage to those that don't want the TT, and this is only giving them more nails to hammer into the coffin of the TT. Not one of us on here want to see that.

BUT I don't think that Mr Hussain see's it that way at all. All he is after is an event and a launch pad for his event, thats all, he doesn't care about the TT. Well as for me I would much rather see the proper bikes racing, the manx people being disrupted less and the races continue on the path that has shown tremendous growth in the past few years. We all thought that when Paul Phillips joined the TT crew that this would be just another sponge and that nothing will really change. We all challenged him on everything he has done. Me for one really did have a go at him on many an occasion, but it has been proved that the TT is coming back, just look at the class of the entry list this year. Was it down to just Paul, well I don't know, but one thing is for sure he has made a big possitive impact with attracting new and older talent back to the TT, and the races do seem to be going from strength to strength, not in massive leaps, but small amounts that add up each year.

But will the TT keep going like this now that the majority of people who work in Douglas can not get home on yet another day due to a race that only has one lap, that has attracted someone who can not get a TT mountain course licence but is alowed to ride anyway and the Government are even proud of that. It is a shame all the hard work over the last few years may have just all been undone by one race, which is only one lap in distance. This has not been thought through and rushed faster than anything I have ever seen.

Got your marigolds everyone by the way?

what are the new proposed times for closing the roads,? I have just looked at the TT web site and the roads close at the normal times 18.30.

From Tuesday to Friday the roads close at 4pm