Supporters of the Manx Motor Cyle Club packed out the conference room at the Mount Murray Hotel last night (Tuesday) to hear the club’s own proposals for changing the Manx Grand Prix.

The club called the meeting after controversial proposals to rebrand and drastically alter the event were published last week by the Department of Economic Development.

The proposals had been outlined in an article in MCN the previous week before reaching any agreement with the Manx Motor Cycle Club and the club’s own proposals for the event had been ignored.

An online petition in support of the club has topped 2,000 signatures after just four days and people were forced to occupy standing room at the back of the hall,

MMCC chairman Harvey Garton told the crowd: ‘We are not here to slag off government or individuals but we want you to listen to our presentation and at the end anyone with anything to say will have an opportunity.’

Among those present was at least one competitor who had flown over specially from the UK as well as the current and two former clerks of the course.

Accountant, club director and treasurer Ned Bowers gave a presentation which seriously questioned the figures used by DED in calculating an estimated loss of about £300,000 by the government in staging the event. He also said visitor numbers according to Steam Packet figures were 27,000 for the MGP last year compared with 33,000 for the TT. Classics were in long term decline (50 per cent in five and 70 per cent of entries were riders on modern bikes.

Peel MHK Tim Crookall and Middle MHK Howard Quayle were both at the meeting. Mr Crookall said it was important for the MMCC and the DED to get together again to discuss matters and he would try to organise this as a priority.

‘There are clearly a lot of problems to be sorted out,’ he said.

Mr Quayle said he was ‘very disappointed’ with how things had turned out. He said when Tynwald next met on Tuesday he would be asking why the MMCC’s proposals for the event had been ignored.

Former Onchan MHK Adrian Earnshaw, a member of the Hailwood Foundation which organises trips for potential newcomers to the MGP said he thought the DED was ‘hanging its hat on the wrong peg’ by placing too much emphasis on classic racing.

Theo Fleurbay of the Manx Hospiality Partnership said the DED were wrong to claim the new proposals had their support.

‘We supported them in growing the event and streamlining it on the understanding that it should be done in consultation with the MMCC. The MGP is vital to our industry. Without it some of our members would be forced to close,’ he said.

Will Clucas, long standing scrutineer for the TT and the MGP suggested demonstrating and bringing traffic to a halt on Prospect Hill before the next Tynwald session.

Mr Bowers said the club was now hoping to speak further to government and present its own proposals.



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In all the Press release this past couple of weeks, the name of Goodwood Festival Of Speed has been mentioned. Well today officials from the Goodwood Club were spotted outside IOM Governments offices. ????????????????????????????