Thanks to everyone who made it down, it was a tough call with the race schedule and.. it was freezing cold! We all had a great night and look forward to seeing you all at the next one
So after two days in the recovery position,I have finally found the brain capacity too upload a piccy of our stag night out on the island...... Although the damp conditions are playing havoc with my mullet...... Hit and miss on the weather, but still loving the island !!
Fed up waiting for delay updates so went and threw some stones at the Calf of Man today. Good cafe there.
It were quite good was the Italian bike night. Let us know @darko when the mgp Italian bike night is. You'll get all sorts coming at the grand prix. As long as it doesn't clash. Note the road closures, sunday contingencies road closure ends at about 5pm I think, which might be worth considering.
Will take a look at the MGP schedule and try to gamble on the best day, hopefully the weather will be better than the TT (its been pretty rubbish this year..) Lots of the classic bikes that were due to be there at the TT night didn't come down due to the weather / race schedule confusion etc.. the racing MV Augusta was sadly broken so he didn't make it either. The 1199RS wouldn't start either so sadly we couldn't get that running on the night (probably too cold ) All is all it was a decent turn out, once the racing was called off a lot of people arrived later on and we actually closed up just after 11pm. Smoky Sam's sold out of food around 10, and there was no coffee left by the end either. The guys from GAR / JENAR racing were late down for obvious reasons, so apologies if anyone wanted to ask about the RS660 Trofeo race bike. The little Aprilia will be racing at the Southern 100 and MGP again this year (once another new engine is fitted..) We can add more indoor space / tables for the next event, had we known it was going to be so cold we would have done that. Hopefully when its warner the outdoor seating will be ok.
We are starting to organising this year's (2025) TT Italian Bike Night, the MGP (as I am sure everyone knows) was a nightmare with the schedule and we just couldn't make it happen sadly.. We still have a few options for TT with the dates. Traditionally the Italian Bike Night has always been on the Tuesday of race week, I personally think we should move it to a rest day. Even so, the schedule is subject to change with weather etc.. I would really like to hear people's opinions on this please. We are looking at possibly trying to run the Italian Bike Night on Port Erin day (afterwards from 5pm), this is slightly tricky with the promenade road being closed / restricted etc, but it does open at about 4pm At the moment the TT schedule is : PRACTICE : Monday 26 May - Morning Free Practice & Afternoon Qualifying Tuesday 27 May - Evening Qualifying Wednesday 28 May - Evening Qualifying Thursday 29 May - Evening Qualifying Friday 30 May - Afternoon Qualifying RACING : Saturday 31 May - Supersport (Race 1) + Sidecar (Race 1) Sunday 1 June - Superbike Race Monday 2 June - REST DAY (also Peel Day & Port Erin Day) Tuesday 3 June - Superstock (Race 1) + Supertwin (Race 1) Wednesday 4 June - Supersport (Race 2) + Sidecar (Race 2) Thursday 5th June - REST DAY Friday 6 June - Superstock (Race 2) + Supertwin (Race 2) Saturday 7 June - Senior TT Race
If the weather is playing nicely, I would suggest Sunday 1st. Only 1 race, so it shouldn't run too late. Maybe with a contingency to move to Mon 2nd if the Sunday race schedule has been adjusted.
Thanks @98 SPS - will look at that. We kind of have to go with one date as the venue is used for other things. @comfysofa what time did you turn up in 24? It was pretty busy despite the cold, and at 10pm the bar and warehouse were still full. With the race schedule change most people arrived later
It’s only since last year, with the help of friends, we have tried to resurrect this event. It has been dying away the last few years I agree.. Since last year we have a proper venue, and work with Port Erin council to have a stretch at the end of the prom (exclusively for the event). Last year we organised food as well, this was very well received and most was sold out by 9pm. The race schedule and weather are big challenges frankly, by securing a venue with indoor space we hope this helps. We are looking at more things to improve the event, so any suggestions are very welcome
TBH i cant remember but pretty sure we turned up at the right time...! - literally every time weve been its not like "there were a couple of bikes..." literally nothing...! Go back i reckon about 5 years ago or so, we didnt even know it was on and when we turned up it was packed....so each year weve gone back hoping that it would be the same...
Makes no odds to me as long as it’s while I’m out there during race week. I’ll be on my own so pick a day and I’ll likely be there. Can’t say riding home in the dark at 10pm after a couple of light shandies is very appealing but let’s see how we get on. Any chance of making it a bike afternoon instead of night? (If being held on a rest day of course)
@comfysofa - totally agree, Ive attended over a few years and there were some cracking ones. The problem started when it moved to the golf club (without much info it had moved) and then the chap who used to run the event handed it over to someone else who was not interested. I believe in 2023 the organiser was not even at the TT. I managed to speak to various people who had been involved in the past (including Chris who runs the excellent MV Agusta meeting) and we all agreed it needed a fresh start. I live on the Isle of Man and it seemed an obvious thing for me to take it on. The new venue is great (Foraging Vintners) and Ian, the owner is mad about bikes including Ducati. The Port Erin commissioners (council) also include bike enthusiasts, and with their blessing, we are trying to bring this back and maybe even improve upon the great event it once was. Weather is a real struggle, it was bitterly cold in 2024.. The venue (FV as we locals call it) has a bar with a wood burner, and a warehouse (the winery) where there are infrared heaters too. We are considering hanging the display bikes up in the ceiling to make more space for people to be inside, although that makes it harder to see the bikes properly etc. The other struggle is the schedule.. for that reason we simply had to cancel the MGP event, this was a huge shame as there was a lot of interest. The weather combined with the schedule can cause havoc. With road closures, getting to where you want to watch in time means many people simply don't have time to go to events anymore. One thing we all noticed last year was that Port Erin day was full of bikers, now this might seem normal except the focus of these village days is for the kids really. It was kind of surreal to see loads of bikers strolling around looking at market stalls selling toys or tickets to the bouncy castle.. Port Erin day is on a rest day and is the same day as Peel day this year (Monday 2nd June). Peel has always had a good bike display rolled into live music etc. Arguably it's focused on everyone, not just kids, and particularly including bikes. We were thinking that running the Italian Bike Night on the Port Erin & Peel days would offer an option to start in Peel and then end up in Port Erin at the end of the day, grab some tasty BBQ food and watch the sunset with some Italian bikes (I might be biased, but nothing beats a Port Erin sunset)
