Isle of Man TT needs a rethink?

[Cam]

Take 1976 when 53 climbers died in the United States--the most in the past 50 years. Yet in 1975 only 19 climbers died. The yearly average over the past 50 years is 25 deaths.

That's 1250 deaths in the US alone. The sooner we ban those darn mountains, the better.

There have been over 200 recorded rider deaths in the Isle of Man TT since 1910.

[Waywardism]

It's starting to make itself and it's participators look stupid, ignorant or crazy.

That's extremely disrespectful.

Just because the world is turning into a giant pussy it doesn't mean everyone should follow suit, and it certainly doesn't mean the world is right.

[MOWOG]

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I.....I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

[nacho]

My cousin races there and made it safely this year, crashed last year. I'm worried about it.

Then again it's estimated some 1400 children die every day because of lack of hygiene in the world, and they don't die because they decided to do something they love. That's a lot more bothering to me than people risking mostly their own lives.

[Scuderia Nuvolari]

I first heard about the isle of man tt in 1964 and believe it to be the last of the Great road races.
Having owned cafe racers and motocross scooters most of my life.
I have seen riders do things on a motorcycle that i never thought possible.
I really like the side racing but i don't Think that it is broadcasted. Here.

[autogyro]

My cousin races there and made it safely this year, crashed last year. I'm worried about it.

Then again it's estimated some 1400 children die every day because of lack of hygiene in the world, and they don't die because they decided to do something they love. That's a lot more bothering to me than people risking mostly their own lives.

Surely that is the point nacho.
Without being flippant making others worried about it is part of the mind set.
If all sport and development is made totally safe it would all become boring and less effective.

I remember the restrictions placed on my late friend Ken Wallis and I in the 90s for test flying and air record attempts.
We argued that so long as others were not endangered we should be allowed to take calculated risks.
All development in the past was achieved with qualified testers who regularly risked life and limb.
By comparison computer simulation is bland and I believe less effective.

I do agree with proper scrutineering of vehicles at public meetings and consultation with riders and drivers on track safety.
I have never been sure what the effect of tightening up F1 safety has had, many feel it is now emaciated.
I wonder where it would be today without the high safety levels?

[tuj]

I spectated the TT several years ago, and yes, it is clearly nuts. I mean, the bikes get air at several point on the track! That said, the TT is one of the most historic events in motorsports, and watching people like McGuinness and others is incredible.

You'll notice in the TT that a lot of times riders drop out of the race because something isn't feeling right on the bike. This is prudent. It's the inexperienced guys a lot of times who don't stop when something doesn't feel right, and that probably leads to mistakes. Not saying it doesn't happen to the veterans too, but they are much more likely to stop.

Seeing the TT is one of those things that every fan of motorsports needs to try to do sometime in their life, along with a day at the old Nurburgring (yeah I did that one too).

[MOWOG]

I spectated the TT several years ago.......along with a day at the old Nurburgring (yeah I did that one too).

OK. Now I am officially jealous!

[bdr529]

If you think the TT is crazy then you need to watch some Irish Road Racing,
this is where they get the balls to race the TT

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... zWf-6UzQUA[/youtube]

[langwadt]

My cousin races there and made it safely this year, crashed last year. I'm worried about it.

Then again it's estimated some 1400 children die every day because of lack of hygiene in the world, and they don't die because they decided to do something they love. That's a lot more bothering to me than people risking mostly their own lives.

Surely that is the point nacho.
Without being flippant making others worried about it is part of the mind set.
If all sport and development is made totally safe it would all become boring and less effective.

I remember the restrictions placed on my late friend Ken Wallis and I in the 90s for test flying and air record attempts.
We argued that so long as others were not endangered we should be allowed to take calculated risks.
All development in the past was achieved with qualified testers who regularly risked life and limb.
By comparison computer simulation is bland and I believe less effective.

I do agree with proper scrutineering of vehicles at public meetings and consultation with riders and drivers on track safety.
I have never been sure what the effect of tightening up F1 safety has had, many feel it is now emaciated.
I wonder where it would be today without the high safety levels?

there would be w very different set of sponsors (if any), as it was said in one of the documentaries on F1: the sponsors doesn't like images of young men dying in a cars with their name on the side being broadcast to the world

[Gatecrasher]

We should also ban every racetrack around the world that is not up to F1 standards (sarcasm). Apart from Monaco F1 has tamed the circuits with huge run off areas, unfortunately most tracks cannot afford this, never mind airfence. I applaud F1 for making the changes as eventually all these improvements do roll downhill, especially when new tracks are designed.

I have also been lucky enough to have been to the TT, NW200 and a lot of the Irish road racing events and have huge respect for the riders.

I now do motorcycle track days in the US and my wife has been with me to funerals for some of my close friends due to bikes. She hates it but won't stop me as she understands it is a sport I love.

We might not all be able to compete in IOMTT, F1 or MotoGp but that should not stop us from experiencing just a tiny bit of what the top riders and drivers get.

Life is for living, not just watching others do it on T.V.

RIP to the riders last week.

[Pierce89]

..It souunds like you think they should change for the sake of political correctness...

Think of any top-line or national Motorsport event, DTM, WRC, IndyCar, NASCAR, F1, etc. If the rate of deaths were similar to the IoM TT, would you still be of the same view? Sometimes, you have to protect people from themselves, if only for their families sake!

"Sometimes you have to protect people from themselves, if only for the sake of their families". That's exactly what I would call political correctness.

[Pierce89]

We should also ban every racetrack around the world that is not up to F1 standards (sarcasm). Apart from Monaco F1 has tamed the circuits with huge run off areas, unfortunately most tracks cannot afford this, never mind airfence. I applaud F1 for making the changes as eventually all these improvements do roll downhill, especially when new tracks are designed.

I have also been lucky enough to have been to the TT, NW200 and a lot of the Irish road racing events and have huge respect for the riders.

I now do motorcycle track days in the US and my wife has been with me to funerals for some of my close friends due to bikes. She hates it but won't stop me as she understands it is a sport I love.

We might not all be able to compete in IOMTT, F1 or MotoGp but that should not stop us from experiencing just a tiny bit of what the top riders and drivers get.

Life is for living, not just watching others do it on T.V.

RIP to the riders last week.

Id give 100 up votes if I could. Was the atmo at the Northwest 200 anything like the TT?

[ringo]

Ringo I'm disappointed in you. So, you're not a fan of the TT. Its always been this way. Why should they change? It souunds like you think they should change for the sake of political correctness. The TT riders are like the f1 drivers of old that some here always look back on with rose-tinted glasses, but they deserve their own sporting entertainment like the rest of us. By your logic above, skydiving, base jumping, free climbing etc should all be outlawed.

If they don't impact your world, let them have their race.

Don't get me wrong, i love watching it. It's been a while since i've watched it on TV. But when you see guys dying and leaving their families behind for a sport, it kinds of put things in perspective.
Racing is fun and good, but i don't think it's worth dying for.

My concern is hosting an event that is extremely dangerous and wreckless. regardless how ready the riders are to die, whoever is making money from it or marketing it, must have some kind of humane conscience to recognize that if 20 guys enter for example, 2 of them aren't going home when the show is done.
I'm not a fan of sky diving by the way lol. there's no reset button or time out.

[ringo]

Ringo, I completely disagree with your conclusion that "something must be done."

By who? I assume you mean the Isle of Mann government. For what reason? The riders do this voluntarily.

Your logic leads down the path to the tyrannical nanny states we have today all over the world. By what right do you say I can't smoke or drink or inject what I want into my own body in my own home? It's my life, my body, and I should be free to do what I want with it - as long as I don't initiate force against another person.

If you don't like the TT, don't watch it. But don't impose tyranny on the freedom of others who are not harming anybody but themselves.

Alls good if a few guys want to go out and test their mortality out of volunteering, but someone is making money from this, the marketing side. And i don't think it looks good to be showcasing something where people just die and it's taken as par for the course.
Then what gets to me more is hearing " he was a hero and a good man, and a legend of the sport" when in truth the guy who died was some kind of mad lunatic that may have been a scumbag. It's really the hypocrisy that comes when these fools die for nothing that i'm against. For their own good i'd at least put in some kind of increased safety.
It just doesn't look good that someone has their kid, send them through school, feed them, send them to college, and put in all that effort for them to waste their life doing something that doesn't really amount to much. Then there's some fool making a profit from it, and he's going to use the good old "he was the best, a hero a legend" and then that's that next event, who's up to die?