Firstly, can I ask you, what are your criteria for a “green machine”:

· in engineering terms,

· in terms of fuel source

· in terms of manufacturing implications

- This is being defined by a panel of experts from various technical bodies. Our Technical Director is a fellow of the IET and is coordinating this. A consultation document will be issued for safety and technical review before being signed off and finalized.

- In essence the “green” element is limited to what is produced by the vehicle only during its operation. We are not focused at this time to move further up the chain.

Secondly:

What is your own involvement.. for instance are you developing a machine of this sort, or simply keen to see this prosper and grow?

- At this time, am not entering my own machine, but that may change. We are however working with several parties that can form credible well managed teams to meet the spirit of the TT. This is serious race with investment, passion and desire to build a world class event. Absolutely not a stunt. We are incredibly committed to making this a success.

Thirdly:

I am interested that you chose the Isle of Man, with its hundred year history of development of transport, and wonder if you envisage the Island becoming a testbed for the development of these engines and vehicles, with, perhaps, employment prospects for Manx people?

- Without a doubt this represents a tremendous opportunity to put down a real milestone in changing the world for the IoM. We are making once in a forever history by staging this race and whatever happens, that will always be associated with IoM. The TT has grown along with the age of oil, TTxGP represents a logical response to what will happen in the next 100 years. And whoever can capture the clean emission space first will enjoy the benefits that flow in the form of employment, inward investment and growth of the economy in a manner that enhances the quality of the island rather than compromising it The technology to make TTxGP happen is among the most advanced in the world. It’s easy to imagine that clean technology would be another tremendous export primed cluster along with aviation, space and film.

Fourthly:

Would you see these machines becoming part of the mainstream TT in the future, competing against the 2stroke, 4-stroke and rotary engines of the past century?

- F1 has already set the model. ABS, sequential gear boxed, Fuel injection, paddle sticks.. are among the many hundreds of both radical and incremental technology that has found its way from the race track to the public road. Competition represents an advanced form of rapid prototyping. The extreme conditions driven by the absolute need for performance and reliability has proven to be a superb development. The vision is that the TTxGP will similarly become synonymous with clean tech that we all be using in years to come.

TTxGP is the second coming of the spirit that started the TT.

Fifth:

Can you give us some idea of the established producers of eligible machinery? I know the majors, eg Honda, Toyota etc have been developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, engines running on used oil etc… is this the kind of thing, and if not, what are the principles, and who are the innovative developers?

We are focused only on emissions. Any fuel system/propulsion is welcome as long as it can meet our criteria for speed and emissions. We will be announcing more about this shortly.

As a final point, I want to add that I feel tremendously privileged to have come to know more about IoM. The “can do” spirit is awesome and the place has been genuinely welcoming to me. Whilst my relationship is relatively early, I hope to grow old getting to know the IoM hospitality and its “Let’s do it live” attitude. Can’t imagine a better place to make history then here.

Azhar Hussain