Isle Of Wight Road Racing

Knowing the Isle of Wight Council they will find away of putting a spoke in the wheel eventually, the will was there originally for the Moto GP until they along with the landowner ballsed all the licensing up. The Isle of Wight is for two types of people the dead and the dying.
My birthplace i know and i lived there for the first 60 years of my life but no way would i ever return.
But good luck to the organisers there will have to be some mega bucks spent on the proposed circuit the five mile straight is part of the old military road built to defend the south of the island during the threat of a Napoleanic invasion. The other inland roads are nothing more than old horse and cart tracks and are really shit condition.
Great if comes off !

 

Alas I suspect it will go the same as the welsh one: get some funding then it disappears...

 

The bungalow dwellers will be barricading the roads with caravans in protest!

 

Then there is the price of that ferry, most expensive thing ever for such a short distance!!

 

Proposed weekend after end of BSB season - October!

 

“...to experience the thrill of road racing on safe, closed and controlled roads, which will also play a key role in promoting road safety and consideration to the Diamond Races audience.“

Sounds great... What could possibly go wrong...

 

There's a WightLink ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth that's cheaper. I haven't used it but it takes bikes.

https://www.wightlink.co.uk/

 

They are all fookin expensive the 3 car ferry routes and the 2 fast cats, plus a Hovercraft link. The cheapest and by far the most enjoyable would be to pack some camping gear, and cycle to the south coast of the Island pitch up and enjoy. The island is only 25 mile east to west and 12 north to south, get on 'em boy.

 

I didn't look in to it very far but it looked at first glance like the WightLink ferry was about 2/3 the cost of Red Funnel.

Certainly a lovely part of the country to camp with the New Forest on the doorstep.

 

I like the IOW, had some great holidays down there when the kids were little, also have friends who live there so hopefully will be able to stay with them as long as this covid-19 issue is over. I hope it comes off as it will be a major boost for the Islands income but, as always, there will be people who'll hate the idea of 'those noisy, dangerous things' spoiling their peace & quite whilst they queue for the grave.

 

You're not wrong we had the biggest and best music festival ever in 1970 some 600k+ attended but only 250k tickets sold !! What did they do ? Protested and got an Act of Parliament to restrict public gatherings not to exceed 5k. Typical Isle of Wight mentality " NIMBYS"

 

Love the Island. Having spent most of my life looking at it from stoles bay, and spent most of my childhood holidays there too. If I never needed to get to the mainland, I’d find a nice bungalow tucked on the south coast (but not too close it’s in the sea in 5 years).

 

I would have loved to been at that festival trouble is I was only 1....
Were you there PB?

 

That brings back memories. A mate and I cycled from Farnborough in Hampshire to Lymington and took the pedestrian ferry across to the island without any idea that there was a music festival on. We were 2 of the 250,000 and as I have no memory of paying for a ticket, I guess we were not 2 of the 250 who did. Hey, we were 16, what can I say ? Andy

 

Do you remember any of the bands you saw?

 

Sadly no, nor do I have any of the pictures I took with an, even for then, old Kodac. Andy

 

That’s a shame. The Doors, Hendrix, Jethro Tull, The Who, the list goes on.
Must have been amazing, sure beats Ed Sheeran......

 

I love the IOW. Spent a lot of time there in my sailing days but like anywhere, it’s probably very different when you live there. I can see a coastal route circuit working well, plenty of obvious viewing points. I’d go

 

How could I forget Alvin Lee and Ten Years After!!!
I’m sure I can see Andy and PB in the crowd.....