Wayne Gardner demands immediate TT ban

[Katman]

What's ironic, is technically, Mad Sunday is safer than non TT week due to the fact that traffic travels only one way. Some sections of the road actually have no speed limit on any weekday and traffic can travel both ways.

Which is safer?

I imagine the number of wannabes intent on carving each other up on a non-TT week would be considerably less than on Mad Sunday.

[PirateJafa]

I imagine the number of wannabes intent on carving each other up on a non-TT week would be considerably less than on Mad Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HadSvwy08

[Quasievil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HadSvwy08

No Amount of safety or track modifications can safe a plonker like that lol

[PirateJafa]

No Amount of safety or track modifications can safe a plonker like that lol

I always sigh when I think that people like that are sharing the same road as me.

The worst part of that video is how he nearly resulted in two other bikers going down too. Feel free to remove yourself from the gene pool, but don't take innocent parties with ya.

And to stay on topic, I see no reason for the IOM TT to be banned. Although I can pretty much guarantee that I would never have the balls to race there, at some point before I expire, I would dearly love to go there one year to watch.

[slowpoke]

As someone who himself got his cranky pants on in a related thread I was gonna leave this (and KB) the hell alone for a while, for the good of all concerned. But WTF.........

From an "also-ran's" perspective: my loving partner would like nothing more than to see me coming off track with a grin like a split watermelon, but she also has huge concerns about even answering the phone on race day lest there be an unfamiliar voice on the line bearing bad news. So I continually struggle with balancing what I've spent far too many years dreaming of doing against hurting the person I care most about in the world. It ain't easy.

To make it worse, I'm not even any good at it, and have only ridden closed relative goat tracks, so I can only imagine the lure that amazing road on the IoM must have for guys ridng in the wheel tracks of Ago, Hailwood, Dunlop, Fogarty, Hislop, Jefferies etc, let alone the guns like Shaun, Bruce Anstey, and co who actually get to follow their footsteps onto the podium.

It's that old saying: never risk what you can't afford to lose, eh? In this case you are risking life itself. But here's the tricky bit that is screwing with everyones heads and hearts: some folks would say dying is losing your life, whereas others feel that turning down/banning the ultimate racing challenge would be losing one of it's most intense life affirming moments, for both racers and spectators alike. I've only ever seen video footage but it still blows me away every time I watch it.

In a way we're lucky that it's on the other side of the world and only the best and/or most dedicated Kiwi racers venture over there. Sadly it also means they are the very guys we lose when the worst happens......but I'd never deny them such a unique and amazing experience. Short of a talent transplant I'll never get to experience it for myself and I don't know whether I should be relieved or disappointed.

[jonbuoy]

I think the real lunacy of the event is that they allow a free-for-all Mad Sunday.

If the true extent of that part of the event became widespread public knowledge the whole thing would probably be shut down in a heartbeat.

It is common knowledge in the UK, but it still takes a fair amount of effort and expense to make it to the Island (depending on where your coming from). Isn´t it better that they set out a day for anyone with racing aspirations to get it out of their system in a controlled way? Everyone else can stay off the roads and have a quiet day at home reading the papers. The Nurnberg ring has claimed a fair few over the years (between 3 and 12 per year on track days), ironically the German government also see that its a free world for people to make their own choices. Riding round the Coromandle loop like your on the TT on a regular weekend day - that's another story.

[Rick 52]

Wayne Gardner is so wrong ! He needs to talk to the riders that do it to understand, go for the week to feel what its about ,Its not about the money it costs heaps for the newer riders just to get there .My mate was born on the Island and nearly spent every penny doing the Manx then the TT on a TZ250 , I have seen Joey Dunlop at the Southern 100 in the IOM win every race he didn't need to go he was loaded by then out of the back of a old van , Its because you love it . I was at the TT this year and loved every min of it but Its always hard when someone has a crash your hart sinks its a cruel sport when it goes wrong But I for one will not be wrapped in cotton wool just as Wayne Gardner wasn't when he was risking life and limb he has turned into a grand farther with a different mind set . Go to the TT and understand !!

[ellipsis]

....the only posts I can understand are coming from people who know what the TT is, cant undertstand where an opinion that contradicts others rights and aspirations to play in an area of OUR sport that takes some special types to do it, come from. All this shit about bringing OUR sport into some kind of unfavourable thing to look upon is just that, shit, its always been that way. Been to the island a lot ,wanted to since I read my first Motorcycle Weekly in the 60s as a kid,ended up being the only other part of the planet that interested me.Was really disappointed when Sheene and co said no to the island, but they didnt try and kill it, they just didnt race there, their option. Never stopped me appreciating every second he was on a bike after that. Met Joey there in 80, he didnt realise then that he would be King Of The Mountain, was looking out for him at Governors Bridge the next year, I was about the only other person there apart from a volunteer to the local constabulary and he was looking out for a family of blue tits that had nested in a stone wall, making sure no-one fucked with them, thats the island, Joey didnt come round when I thought he would, it was Dennis Ireland who came through first.My smile hurt all the rest of the day. A german sidecar swinger died in front of a heap of us the next day, the smile disappeared all over the island , racing carried on, thats the island. A mate of all of us died at a street race down here a while ago, racing carried on, thats what we do. Was having this conversation with a man who has a few silver stars from some years back, he commented that in his last visit to the island a couple or so years ago about the amount of changes to make the circuit safer had happened since he raced there. What right has Wayne Gardner , nothing against the ozzy , to get on his high horse now, to Wayne Gardner and to those who are favouring his opinions. FUCK OFF. But everyone has their opinions, their fears to face , their cocks to wring...

[avgas]

I think the real lunacy of the event is that they allow a free-for-all Mad Sunday.
If the true extent of that part of the event became widespread public knowledge the whole thing would probably be shut down in a heartbeat.

Or promoted.
Lord knows we have a population problem. Let the squids go for it.
In fact put the soft-cock protesters in front of them and kill off both my problems.

[avgas]

I don't know whether I should be relieved or disappointed.

Consult a doctor

[wharfy]

at some point before I expire, I would dearly love to go there one year to watch.

Oh yeah, its gotta be done, no amount of watching TV footage can do it justice. I've watched plenty of street races and the cliffhanger hillclimb, but the TT is bigger and better and faster, and the beer is better too...

[steveyb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HadSvwy08

I think that the yellow bike acutally did hit the camera bike as it was buncing around.
That plonker fell into the easiest trap of an inexperienced rider or racer (who knows though if is inexperienced or not though), that he fixated on where he was starting to go rather than where he wanted to go.
He was not even going very fast, but if he had made sure that he was focussing on being up the road rather than "oh shit I'm running wide, oh shit the bank, oh shit...." he would most probably have made the corner with room to spend.
But there you go ay, just like that.....

[Katman]

I can't help but wonder if the fact that the event organisers are happy to accommodate such idiocy as Mad Sunday, might not hint at the possibility of a slightly cavalier attitude towards safety over the whole event.

[Deano]

I can't help but wonder if the fact that the event organisers are happy to accommodate such idiocy as Mad Sunday, might not hint at the possibility of a slightly cavalier attitude towards safety over the whole event.

Or maybe they are just devout Darwinians.

[Ducatifusion]

Bugger me, you guys seem to think your in court trying to convince a jury. No one is goning to win here and no won is 100% right.
We are ment to love Motorcycles and Motorcycling.
Most guys racing the Battle of the Streets do it for the thrill of racing a motorcycle and most spectators are there for the same reason.