BRAKING NEWS
National Motorcycle Museum in bother, Isle of Wight road races…
The National Motorcycle Museum, which holds the world’s biggest collection of British bikes, is in crisis. COVID-19 has removed all sources of income, and their CEO says he may have to sell bikes in the collection to keep the museum afloat. ‘We’re in the worst possible position,’ says James Hewing. This is because the museum is funded by a conference centre and two hotels on the same plot, and they have been decimated by COVID-19. The two hotels rely on the conference centre (shut), or people going to the NEC exhibition centre (shut) or those flying from Birmingham Airport (might as well be shut).
‘It’s a perfect storm,’ says James. ‘We’ve had to make a couple of people redundant already and we can’t open the museum on its own because as soon as we do, we start losing even more money.’ However, there’s no chance the museum will go bust. ‘I don’t want to cry wolf, because we won’t go under. It’s not about that because we can always sell some of the bikes to stay afloat. But we don’t want to do that. We’ll never get those bikes back.
‘The museum has the greatest and by far the largest collection of British motorcycles in the world and charts the history of one of our great industries from the earliest bikes of the 1890s to the modern Triumphs and Nortons. There’s one of everything – even the most weird and wonderful bikes that were only made for two years. If we sell bikes off it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophesy – the collection won’t be like it was and we’ll get fewer visitors. That’s why we’ve started the appeal (see below).’
Organising a road race in Britain is a perilous task – even an established event such as the Ulster GP has closed, while the proposed Welsh TT of 2018 never made it off the drawing board. But the new Diamond Races on the Isle of Wight look like having a better chance.
After the event went public at the end of July, organisers were inundated with sponsorship offers and the reaction online from locals has been almost universally positive. ‘We’ve had approaches from a dozen companies that want to work with us,’ says Paul Sandford, the new event’s CEO. ‘I’ve also had calls from a number of people who want to invest, and on the island the support is overwhelming.’ Tt-winner Steve Plater is the event’s safety advisor: ‘I’m always sceptical with this kind of event, especially in the current financial climate,’ he tells Bike. ‘But we’ve had a fabulous response from the industry – I couldn’t believe how many people have been on the phone offering to throw marketing money at it. It’s been a breath of fresh air after the tough times we’ve all been through.’
Isle of Wight community forums are predominantly positive. Colin Mccourt’s response is typical: ‘This would create so much income and move the island onto the world stage. Sailing doesn’t bring the income anymore. This is a great opportunity.’
Steve Plater reckons the course itself is a cracker. ‘Gary Thompson [TT clerk of the course] and I were circulating in a car looking at various safety aspects and every time we came out onto the Military Road [a 4.9-mile stretch along the coast] we just looked at each other – we both wanted to be out there on a motorbike.
‘It’s bloody glorious – pretty much flat out all the way [there will be a superbike race, so expect 200mph+]. There are crests, curves and a fast chicane that will probably be back to fourth gear. It’s really fast, flowing with a beautiful view of the white cliffs of the Needles.
‘I rode down there from Honda’s place at Corby, on the Fireblade SP you see in the pictures, and my teeth were crashing together all the way down because UK roads are that rough. But, on the Isle of Wight, there are no potholes. That Military Road is brand new and they’ve got a five year budget to keep on top of it too, so they won’t deteriorate. It blew me away how good the road surfaces are.’
The Diamond Races – the island is the shape of a diamond apparently – is planned for October 2021, the weekend after the last BSB race at Brands Hatch. Summer dates were rejected because of clashes with UK racing or the school holidays, when most of the
Isle of Wight’s accommodation will be booked up.
We can but hope…
‘It’s bloody glorious – pretty much flat out all the way’