Right, here's a question for you all..........

How long is the TT lap IN 2003 ???

If we are to use transponders how long ago is it since the lap was measured ACCURATELY ??

This year more jiggery-pokery is being done to the course with resurfacing at places like Handleys Corner etc etc ..........

Can we be assured that the TT course lap is the same as it was last year / year before / year before ???

Do they measure the lap on the "racing line" for instance ??

If we are using transponders every factor MUST be relevant or it is useless to compare "lap records" and "race records"..

I have photos of such places as Hillberry and Creg Ny Baa over the years, and corners on the TT course are now "kinks" or smooth bends after the "easing" of said corners..

Please settle my mind that the lap is not slowly becoming a speed bowl !!

Your sincere and considered comments and opinions please.

I NEED to know...............................

Ian, you've hit the nail on the head.
The similarity between the Mountain circuit and the Daytona Superspeedway is remarkable.Especially that billiard table smooth section between Ginger Hall and Ramsey.
Speed Bowl sums it up so well.....

That billiard smooth section is the only proper section left on the whole circuit.

I wish they'd leave the place alone . . . . .

Bumpy bits are safer, by definition!!

Funny, I have heard that the pre Ramsay section is the bumpiest of the whole course???

Don, are you telling me that irony is a concept foreign to our Aussie colonial friends?

Its dead smooth now compared to what it used to be,you dont need to pick your line to miss the bumps any more. They ought to resurface it with some special " bumpy " tarmac to make it more interesting. lol

Thanks Larry I thought irony was and adjective used to describe fences or battleships. Still I dare say you wouldn't feel any bumps when you are sailing around the course.

Absolutely right Don.

My a**e, like the rest of me, is just too insensitive!!

Back to Ian's original questions, none of which seem to have been answered yet.
Maybe the course length is (was) measured by driving around in the left hand lane only, using some sort of calibrated surveying equipment (not to become airborne in the usual places)!!!
What ever the true length of the course, it is the same for all competitors, so only the actual recorded average speeds may be suspect, if compared with previous years.
As Ian pointed out, to compare records, now that everybody is so much faster than say, 25 years ago, the track length needs to accurately recorded, regularly checked and adjusted if necessary. Correction factors may then be applied to effect comparisons. For the modern speeds attained, there would probably be only micro seconds in it but this might mean a new record or not!
Does anyone out there know?

John Foster might,lol.Have we been here before?Don,Larry?Stop it girls!!!!!We will gat banned

C'mon kiddies, does it bloody matter?????????????