I dont intend my response to be either long or detailed.
But, may I be one of the first to say thank you Paul for taking the trouble to tell us (moning diehards that we are!) so much.

MV

Thanks Paul for your comprehensive and positive answer to our comments.

I agree with all you say except for one major issue...

The small (30%) of fans you mention have, over the years have "SOLD" the TT to the rest, (I know I have personally done much to promote it), and unless the fans go back home each year enthusing about what they have seen and done on the Island, I'm afraid that totals may dwindle as a consequence.....

I really look forward to the 2007 TT but will, like the rest of the 30%, be visiting as part of a nostalgia "trip" and we hope to relive some of our past acquaintance with the TT..........

I had hoped you would have one mock morning practice, a mock "weigh-in" and a few other blasts from the past to show people how it has all developed.

No, I don't expect an 8-lap race like 1957 but I do hope there is a lot more TT-orientated items for us all to enjoy and perhaps less of the inconsequential filling.

Don't forget the Clypse Course, it was also part of the 100 years of the TT !!!

SEE YOU ON THE ISLAND !!!

Philosophically the Centenary TT may be struggling to be two things to two or more generational categories.
The reality is that it may be trying too hard and in danger of being hyped or similarly being loved to death.
Those among us who read the above may feel it to be a eulogy of sorts. However depending on our age and standpoint we might interpret the meaning of the word eulogy in two ways. One it is kind words in praise of someone or something recently dead, or two, praise and commendation for successful people or events that are still current.
For me the forgoing was a panegyric on the convergence of economic rationalism and present day popular culture.
Indeed Paul may be right.

The following musings on Nostalgia may be instructive to those who live on both sides of the watershed of life.
They are by Christopher Lasch an American historian:

"We need to distinguish between nostalgia and the reassuring memory of happy times, which serves to link the present to the past and to provide a sense of continuity. The emotional appeal of happy memories does not depend on disparagement of the present, the hallmark of the nostalgic attitude. Nostalgia appeals to the feeling that the past offered delights no longer obtainable. Nostalgic representations of the past evoke a time irretrievably lost and for that reason timeless and unchanging. Strictly speaking, nostalgia does not entail the exercise of memory at all, since the past it idealizes stands outside time, frozen in unchanging perfection. Memory too may idealize the past, but not in order to condemn the present. It draws hope and comfort from the past in order to enrich the present and to face what comes with good cheer."

I must be totally out of touch, but who is Paul Phillips?

Some Muppet who knows nothing about Motorcycle Racing and runs http://www.realroadracing.com (Sorry Paul)

Paul is employed I think by the DTL, but I will let him explain the technicalities, you know his response will be short!

But to answer your other question, yes you are out of touch :wink:

Peter,

you do appear to have come into here (back into here?)
via a black hole in time!
You will need to catch up on lots of reading to find out who Paul Phillps is!
To sum up briefly, he is doing a thankless job, very well.

Now read on!

MV

Just to clarify, my question re who is Mr Phillips was just that - a question. He wrote what seems to be a reasoned article, and it looks like he has some say in things, but I just do not know who he is!
As a general comment, I just cannot help but think that the same will happen to motorcycle racing in general, and the TT in particular, as has happened in so much else - lots of change followed by a realisation that what went before had a lot going for it, followed by a return to much of the old stuff - if any of that made sense!
The world is waking up to the fact that multiculturalism is not the same as making a country welcome all who want to live that country's way, that making exams easy does not mean more qualified people but more people with less-worthy qualifications.....
Maybe the future will see some of the bumps, twists, and turns on the Mountain Course re-established, separate races for production and 'pure' racing machinery reintroduced, a minimum noise level of, say, 110 decibels made mandatory bringing back the excitement of the sound of power (ever hear of Formula 1 cars being silenced? - not a chance!!).....just some thoughts to stir the pot in the long period before the centenary races!!

Peter.

I for one appreciate your addition to the comments in here.
Some of us are getting a bit tired!
yet more of us now have strangely shaped heads from them being banged against the wall for so long.

All of what you are saying there is music to my ears (literally)especially.
Have you read back to some of the previous commets by and about Paul?

MV

Paul is a paid official of the Manx Government, who negotiates with teams and individual riders, and does much of the organisational stuff the Isle of Man is responsible for. Paul was appointed on the strength of his lifelong love of road racing, his extensive contacts, and his knowledge of the practicalities of organising a huge event such as the TT.
He doesn't dictate what happens, but passes on the decisions and opinions of the MMCC, ACU, Manx Government etc, when asked by the public. Don't shoot the messenger.
If you would like to clarify or modify what I have said, Paul, please do as you will obviously be more accurate than me.

a bit uncalled for those comments Peter (who ever you are) i dont know Paul personally but i know he works hard for the roadracing and if you dont want to go on his site thats your choice.

thewitch Wrote:Paul is a paid official of the Manx Government, who negotiates with teams and individual riders, and does much of the organisational stuff the Isle of Man is responsible for. Paul was appointed on the strength of his lifelong love of road racing, his extensive contacts, and his knowledge of the practicalities of organising a huge event such as the TT.
He doesn't dictate what happens, but passes on the decisions and opinions of the MMCC, ACU, Manx Government etc, when asked by the public. Don't shoot the messenger.
If you would like to clarify or modify what I have said, Paul, please do as you will obviously be more accurate than me.

Peter, the above is exactually who and what Pual Phillips is and more!
I have been a competitor at the TT since 1991 with a couple of years out.

Paul phillips is the very best thing that could have happened to the TT for the Competitors and for the Isle of man Goverment

I for one, could not see how any body else could even come close to what this man does, He is as passionate about the TT as any competitor I know ( And I do Know) He is professional- discreet with information that he is privy to- and a Bloody Joy to work with.

If you would spend a measley 20 Pounds, whats that, 6-8 pints these days, ( Dam cheep) You could see where this mans back ground comes from.

If you followed the road racing as a true fan! You would have known exactually who and what this man is, he spends hours on the internet, telephone etc at his OWN exspense, Yes I owe this man a lot! but would have said exactually what I have said here regardless

Please Peter, Sit back and read a bit more on Paul Phillips.

Thank you Shaun - what I wanted to know, from a man who I can only respect and admire.
That will sure be good enough for me!!

PeterCourtney Wrote:Thank you Shaun - what I wanted to know, from a man who I can only respect and admire.
That will sure be good enough for me!!

Thankyou for your kind words Peter 8)

I do understand where you are coming from with your questions about the man, but, as I did sya to you, very briefly, earlier in this thread

"To sum up briefly, he is doing a thankless job, very well. "

Now you have heard a view from a rider (did I say A rider!)
that supports that.
We all have our own views as riders, ex riders, marshalls, sponsors, fans and other interested parties, but Paul is doing stuff.

MV

Peter, Frances Thorpe of the TT Riders Association is looking for your address to send you the BUlletins. Last address she has got is Leeds.

We can't all afford fancy villas in Spain.

frances@thorpiom.freeserve.co.uk

or
Mountain View
Glen Maye
IOM
IM5 3BJ

Tel/Fax 01624 843695

Tom - nice to hear from you again - I am posting this here rather than in a private message in case (as I suspect) Frances has put an appeal in the latest TTRA bulletin for missing persons like me!
I have emailed her with my new details, following email from Arthur Lawn, so thank you both!
As to affording villas, fancy or otherwise, for info we have a 4-bed/3-bath 2-storey house with pool on a 1500 square metre plot in a little Spanish village, built new for less than we got for our 2+box semi in Leeds..........
Plus, I have no desire to live in a country like the UK has become, governed by people like govern it, and in any case could not afford to!
We pay around 24 Euros per month for our equivalent to Council Tax, including water, and very drinkable wine is 45 cents (30p) per litre, diesel is 96 cents per litre....and there are 320 days per year of sunshine. The neighbours (all Spanish) give us tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, fresh eggs, nispero, lemons, oreanges...just to be welcoming and to show off their produce. We are 30 minutes from the sea.
On the down side, although the roads inland are as uncrowded as Surrey in the 60s, the standard of driving is abysmal/frightening, and.........I will think of something else eventually!

Two strokes have been part of the TT for many years and its My opinion that some form of 2 stroke racing should take part for the TT07. they were here in the bad times now bring them back for the Big Year.