The much-anticipated Isle of Wight Road Races motorcycle event, which was due to take place in April, has now been pushed back until 2023 due to a lack of action by the Isle of Wight Council.
It is said that the delay is due to unresolved issues with the Motor Race Order (MRO). This is the permission needed to close public roads for motorsport and is essential for the event to go ahead.
The MRO is acquired through the Isle of Wight Council. Previously, an act of parliament was required for motorsport to take place on the public highway but the law was changed in recent years.
Event promoter James Kaye has said:
“We have reluctantly accepted that the Isle of Wight Road Races now can’t go ahead on our planned dates this year. Our Motor Race Order application was submitted on time to the Isle of Wight Council on 19th October 2021, but has not yet been determined. We understand that there are some technical concerns, but this is out of our control and the clock has run down.”
In a statement to the promoter, the Council has said that ‘it is not yet satisfied that the application has been duly made in accordance with the relevant legislation’. However, the ACU – the governing body of motorcycle racing in England – has confirmed that it issued all the relevant paperwork, including the correct permit, as part of the Isle of Wight’s application.
The team behind Isle of Wight Road Races are professionals in their field with many of them involved in the iconic Isle of Man TT.
The IWRR team say they will be looking firstly for ways to understand and resolve the problems which the Isle of Wight Council has highlighted before negotiating new dates within the international road racing calendar.
It was expected that the Isle of Wight Road Races could bring in the region of £30million of direct investment to the Island with much of this income shared directly amongst local businesses. For those unable to travel, there is always the option of a motion racing simulator!
James adds:
“We would like to thank all the Isle of Wight Road Races fans and in particular the Island-based motorcycle clubs and the Facebook supporters group for their continued enthusiasm and encouragement. Especially those who had already looked to book travel and accommodation for April.
“We have received an enormous amount of positivity from across the whole Island, including many residents, land owners and businesses based in and around the circuit in Brighstone, Chale and Shorwell. We look forward to securing new dates for the Isle of Wight Road Races as soon as possible.”
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson has said:
“The council had been awaiting further information from the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU) — the governing body for motorbike races — in order to progress the application but this was not received.
“This has meant that, as per the relevant legislation, the motor race application was not considered to be duly made and could not be considered by the council.
“Further, it is unfortunate that the application was submitted on, or near, the latest possible date to meet statutory requirements which left no allowance for changes to the application documentation.”
It was announced in July 2020 that a major motorcycle race would be heading to the Island in October 2021. However, the event was then postponed until 2022 before things changed dramatically, with Diamond Races disappearing. Just a month later Isle of Wight Road Races appeared from the ashes.
If it were an application for a hundred houses on a greenfield site it would have been waved through in a week…
The council has set itself up as a joy sponge.
Useless incompetent IOW council. A God given opportunity landed in their lap to promote the Island and bring desperately needed tourism and £’s onto the Island – whey weren’t THEY chasing the ACU rather than “waiting” for the ACU to contact them. Useless stupid incompetent idiots. An island embarrassment and disgrace.
Ain’t gonna happen. Let’s stick to wildlife, clean air and peaceful walks along the coast.
and all the lycra clad cyclists in there hundreds clogging up all the roads
Those lycra clad cyclists will have priority on the roads from 29th January.
Yes inconsiderate people who drive cars too yet put there Lycra on and become idiot’s
And more cars
If done well, could bring a lot of money to the island, something the hospitality market needs. I hope it goes ahead in 2023.
I was under the impression that this was planned for October in the original applications – a quiet time for hospitality, thus the argument of bringing much needed business. However, April is not a quiet time for the hospitality industry – Easter and so forth. How has this slipped through?
NIMBYs 2 – NUMPTIES 0
Think you’ll find if you make the effort that the delay is nothing to do with the Counci. It’s the organisers who didn’t get it right with the regulations governing the closure of any road. Sorry about that..
If the ACU can’t even get this paperwork right, then what the hell will the rest of the organisation be like. More than likely up to this low standard. Just forget about it. It ain’t gonna happen now. Souped up cars and bikes are not suitable for our roads, or the incompetent people that attempt to drive them.
Another cock up by iow councillor ,are they all killjoys ,idiots or so far up their own backsides ,with this ,the floating bridge building wherever you want to put a load of houses up,they are not fit for purpose.but hellbent on taking this island down.