Isle of Man TT

[bloke]

Ah that is not cool. One thing is nothing to do with the other. And for the sake of conversation it is anyone's right to question, disagree or blank point want something banned without people getting defensive. Otherwise we would have no conversation and end up sitting around holding each other's c0cks all patting each other's back for agreeing with other.

Hard to engage with our resident Jeremy Clarkson's "couldn't care less" contraversy-du-jour though, personally.

The competitors and their families and fans care a great deal. "Freak show" indeed.

[Alfaguy]

My concern mainly is about the spectators. I think its only a matter of time before one of those bikes hurtles into a crowd like a missile.

[pedrosixfour]

if you've got kids, the joy of being around for them as long as possible should far outweigh the risk of pushing hard for an extra few tenths here and there on a TT lap.

It doesn't though (not to the hard-core, at least) and it never will.

To them, when they are putting everything they have into the pursuit that drives them, they're courting life, not death.

They are absolute fanatics and will not let anything stop them.

[-alan-]

And by the way, maybe a challenge for those of you on the freedom bandwagon: without looking it up, can you say anything about anything sports related with this year’s TT? And if you can’t then why not? Given that it’s so important and so amazing.

For most who love the sport, it doesn't really matter that much who wins - what's more important is that it's allowed to happen, people are allowed to race there.

You've driven the mountain - I know you get the buzz. The riders are pretty much in the same boat, except a bit (or perhaps a lot) further along the spectrum. Many of them - especially those further down the field - will tell you the appeal lies not in the winning, but being able to go balls out around those very roads on purpose-built machinery.

As you say, the deaths are indeed a very sad thing - but if you let people ride very quickly and race on those kind of roads at that speed, it's always going to be a thing.

[-alan-]

Free will, personal responsibility and all that, as Alan says plenty of other things out there that can kill you that we still allow folk to do.
Like those pursuits, you'd like to think its a young persons game, with little responsibilities is it goes South.
Anyone with kids still competing, not so much...if you choose to bring a child into the world, I feel its kind of incumbent on you to do your best to stick around and generally avoid doing stuff that has a reasonable risk of you leaving them .

Not really sure what TV channel it on or how many websites its covered on is a relevant metric for allowing it to carry on, if anything I'd have thought the more it flies below the radar , the better?

Agreed. Hard to argue against that.

[Conorw89]

It doesn't though (not to the hard-core, at least) and it never will.

To them, when they are putting everything they have into the pursuit that drives them, they're courting life, not death.

They are absolute fanatics and will not let anything stop them.

I think the word you're looking for is 'gobshites'.

[markcro]

I think the word you're looking for is 'gobshites'.

No different to North Pole guys, Everest, K2 guys, astronauts, etc. Everything is on the line and not for money. But for just "doing it". I think that it is amazing. And long may they do it. Road racing is probably the last pure motorsport/ sport left. Man, machine, life and death.

Back in the 1990s, 7 friends died in motorbike crashes and 1 was paralysed from the waist down. And all within a 2 year period. One was on the Isle of Man actually. Very sad times. R.I.P.
It was incredibly sad and hard times. But they were doing something that they truly loved doing by their own choice.
Of course it was their family, wife, kids and friends that were left to deal with the aftermath.
Do I think that motorbikes should be banned? No.

[Cold]

I don't think anyone has suggested that anything should be banned, by the way.

Do you think it would be less appealing if it were safer? If safer meant things like moving lamp posts back from the road, maybe smoothing out some surfaces here and there, cut back trees that are close to the road, and have more crash barriers or whatever you call those things made out of foam?

I think the most dangerous corner is Hillberry maybe? This is where I stood when the practice was cancelled. The amount of crosses around there is quite... alarming.

[Eoin]

If it can be made safer than it should be simple as that! To not attempt to make it safer is just feckin selfish from spectators to participants!
It reminds me of the gun laws in the USA for some strange reason! Both are just insanity for not wanting any change I suppose!
It will be halted eventually unless they try to make it safer!

[Jay]

I know it's on ITV4 (which is not trivial to access on Sky at least) but what I was referring to it's not an event that shows up on any of the usual motor racing websites that I look at or channel that can be easily accessed. The only mention is about the occasional death. It's a sporting irrelevance other than for the fact that some randomer dies at it every couple of days and I'm not sure that makes much sense tbh. I guess the flip side is that the rest of motorsport decided that this is a bunch of b0llocks and fixed it and seem to be doing quite well as a result. The TT is more like a freak show.

Very few motorsport events get a mention in mainstream media unless someone is hurt or there's a big crash, so that's perception the average Joe gets of the sport.

Likewise the TT probably doesn't cross the radar of most of motorsport websites you are looking at unless someone dies or a bike explodes in to flames. It doesn't make it irrelevant.

I wouldn't be a big fan of road racing in general but I do listen in to the TT. I like to follow how the Irish lads are doing, I've been watching them for years in Mondello. I was particularly interested to see how Glenn Irwin got on, I remember his first race win on a 600 in Mondello, it was great to see him break the fastest newcomer record at the TT.

As was said about people climbing Everest, astronauts etc. That's their dream and their life's goal and they are prepared to put everything on the line to achieve it. It is something I admire and I respect their right to chase the dream. As I said to a lad today who was talking about people being killed at the TT, it's your choice not to watch it, as I said, I don't have an interest in road racing in general so I don't follow it, it's not my place to say those that do it shouldn't just because it's not my thing.

[-alan-]

I think the word you're looking for is 'gobshites'.

You should try Joe Duffy's show. He's always looking for insightful comment.

[Conorw89]

You should try Joe Duffy's show. He's always looking for insightful comment.

I think it's a fair enough opinion to hold that men with young families that still take part in these races are selfish arseholes. Don't bring kids into the world if you don't hold your own life in high regard, there is a responsibility undertaken when you decide to have children. I'm not calling for anything to be banned.

[-alan-]

^ Just for clarity - by extension then, in your view anybody male or female with kids who has ever participated in any sport or activity where people have been or could be killed (not just motorcycling) is a Gobshite ?

[markcro]

I think it's a fair enough opinion to hold that men with young families that still take part in these races are selfish arseholes. Don't bring kids into the world if you don't hold your own life in high regard, there is a responsibility undertaken when you decide to have children. I'm not calling for anything to be banned.

I know alot of people who say the same about anyone who drives a motorbike full stop.
What about the fellows who flew to the moon? All family men.
Stunt/ aerobatic flying, climbed K2, Everest, North and South poles, cross Atlantic solo sailing, pot holing scuba diving, etc. ?
Start coating one form of free adventure in cotton wool, where do you stop?

[Healyc]

Being somebody who has lost a friend racing at the TT (RIP 122) and spent time trying to justify the situation I’ll say most of the comments here are laughable, you just don’t have a clue.

Road racing is not a “sport”, it’s more of a cult tbh. The majority of the people involved are born into it. It’s not like soccer where you join the local team in school and progress etc, you need to be shown the ways of road racing.

This is not moto gp, this is not F1, this is not WRC, this is not Paris Dakar. This is the last gladiator sport out there.

Trying to ban it I hope is never an option. With the TT there is literally only so much you can do with safety and I’m certain the organizers have gone to every extreme.


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