Manx Grand Prix – the future.

It appears that the Isle of Man government has completed a review of how much revenue they receive as a result of the Manx Grand Prix http://www.manxgrandprix.org/ held on the island in August/September and have concluded it’s not making enough.

They have calculated that the event sees spending by visitors of £5.9m, of which the government get £630,000 in VAT receipts, plus another £125,000 in other receipts making total revenue of £755,000 – however the government spent £815,000 staging the event. They have estimated that to become profit making the fortnight long event would need to see an increase in spending to approx £10m.

Now obviously the MGP isn’t as busy, or as revenue generating as the TT http://www.iomtt.com/ held in May/June each year but I think it’s wrong to look at these race meetings in isolation. The island is seen as a mecca by motorsports enthusiasts and as well as the TT and MGP fortnights, the Manx Rally http://www.manxrally.org/, Rally Isle of Man http://www.mir.co.im/, Southern 100 http://www.southern100.com/ all take place annually, and throughout the year various owners clubs, on both 2 and 4 wheels head across to enjoy some of the best driving roads in the British Isles. The government should take all these events and meets into account and recognise that drivers and riders see the island as a year round destination to enjoy their cars and bikes. If the accountants start peeling away individual events which they don’t see as profitable we have a real danger that the whole island starts to lose it’s hard earned identity as this mecca.

So whilst the Isle of Man government and Manx Motor Cycle Club must work together to increase the number of visitors and thus the revenue coming onto the island, the government must also step back and look at the bigger picture to ensure riders and drivers continue to be tempted onto the island throughout the year.

As for me I’ll be doing my bit again this year by attending both the TT and MGP, although I’ll be sticking to 4 wheels, and letting my Skoda Octavia vRS stretch its legs around the mountain circuit (seen in the picture here at Guthries Memorial, looking north towards Ramsey - although obviously facing the "wrong way"...)