Isle of Man TT boss discusses the future and hints at greener fuel

Organisers of the Isle of Man TT races are toasting the success of their revolutionised online TT+ streaming service, with more than 200,000 racing fans from around the world now signed up to watch riders lap the 37.73-mile course.

MCN sat down last week with TT Business Development Manager, Paul Phillips who explained how the event’s 2022 return after a Covid-enforced hiatus formed part of a ‘multi-year strategy’ to safeguard the future of the motorsport festival.

“What we have as a sporting event is absolutely visceral and unbelievable and the age of high-speed internet and normalised video consumption is really good news for something like the TT because the two go together really well,” he told MCN.

“We had a place we wanted to get to in year one and a place we wanted to get to in year two and we’re beyond both. No event, or business, or organisation can thrive without growing its customer base and the TT is no different.”

Much like last year, fans from around the world have been able to watch all the two- and three-wheeled races online using the event’s TT+ streaming service – plus the practice and qualifying sessions from the first week of the fortnight.

On top of this, there have been podcasts, features, YouTube content, and much more across the year since the 2022 TT – plus a four-part docuseries called No Room for Error, which aired on ITV4 in late May and highlighted the immense physical and mental challenges faced by riders and their families during the event.

“The TT is blessed with a whole raft of interesting people,” Phillips continued. “There’s something in the DNA and the makeup that attracts a certain type of person to it. They’re very authentic and No Room For Error showed them with authenticity.

“There was no amplification of anything, no manipulation of the story. It wasn’t a programme about motorbike racing – that was the most important thing – it was a programme about people.”

More races for 2023 TT 2023 also played host to more races and a number of schedule changes – with the addition of an extra Superstock and Supertwin race to bring the total to 10.

The blue riband Senior TT was also moved from its traditional Friday slot to Saturday, June 10. In fact, it was the first time the TT has hosted racing across two weekends, with the first Supersport and Sidecar action kicking off on June 3.

What’s more, rather than the usual Mad Sunday on June 4, fans were treated to the opening Superbike race, which was won by Michael Dunlop.

“The schedule change was a painful process,” Phillips admits. “There was a lot of opposition to that, or certainly a lot of vocal opposition to it, particularly on the island. The idea of not racing on a Sunday afternoon feels ridiculous actually, I think. When you look at it from that perspective, why would you not?

“That’s when you put big sport on! No matter what, we’ve got to be prepared to always consider other changes. If something’s not working, we need to go in a different direction,” he says.

A greener future On top of the current changes, the TT boss also discussed how the racing might evolve in the future, hinting at a greater focus on sustainability.

“There are going to be things that will become increasingly important,” Phillips continued. “The obvious one right now is environmental sustainability and that’s become a bigger part of all our lives.

“The challenge for the TT as a standalone event is it needs to follow the rest of the industry and what it’s doing,” he added.

“There’s a real focus on the development of synthetic fuels and stuff and I wonder if [that is] the future for motor sport. It’s the visceral thing that draws us in. It’s the noise and the speed and the smells and all the rest of it.”

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Revolutionised Isle of Man TT is on track to welcome a new global fanbase

First published 9 June, 2022 by Dan Sutherland

The Isle of Man TT races are back and more accessible than ever, with organisers taking full advantage of a three-year Covid layoff to deliver expansive live-streamed coverage, plus a greater focus on rider and marshal safety.

“The pandemic was terrible for lots of different people… but for the TT, I think it will be the best thing that ever happened to it,” TT Business Development Manager Paul Phillips told MCN. Phillips leads a team for the island’s Department for Enterprise covering TT marketing, promotion, racing, facilities, funding, and more.

“When the TT was cancelled in 2020, it gave us a once-in-a-career opportunity to get some space to really consider everything that we’d done up to that point, challenge ourselves, admit mistakes, and conduct research that we’d probably have never had the opportunity to do otherwise.”

The two-week road racing festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 but has once again welcomed riders and thousands of fans for 2022 – with many more watching and listening in around the world, thanks to the new TT+ streaming package.

Announced in mid-February 2022, TT+ offered free to access videos and podcasts in the run up to the event, with a potential 40 hours of live streamed practice and racing available online for £14.99 for the first time in the event began in 1907.

“My concern would be we were probably tip toeing down a dead-end street that we might not have been able to get back out of,” Phillips continued. “One of the biggest threats to the TT undoubtedly is audience and audience decline. We have got huge generational and territorial gaps in our audience and one of the big parts of our strategy is to deal with that.”

With such a drastic change to the way the TT is marketed, there have understandably been some teething problems, with Phillips adding: “If you said to me I could go back three weeks, I would go back and go again on a few things. But I can’t change that now, but that’s life and those things get pulled into a process and put right.

“Now we know that broadcast works and that there’s an audience and an appetite for it and a financial model that works, I’m excited about where we go next.”

And it’s not all about the fortnight of racing either, with documentaries, short films and more all planned in to provide 12 months of rolling coverage.

“Our documentary film comes this autumn and is going to look stunning and is going to show the TT like you haven’t seen it before,” Phillips explained. “We want the TT to be the most accessible motorsport event in the world.

“The TT needs fans, it needs younger fans, and it needs as many fans in as many countries as possible, and that’s where we are and that’s what this is all built around.”

As well as attracting a new wave of road racing fans, Phillips admits the revitalised event was pivotal in his motivation to continue in his role.

“When the TT cancelled, I’ll be honest with you, at the time I wasn’t in the greatest place for it and I genuinely thought that was the last TT I would work on. It was not progressing in the way I’d have liked,” the Manxman explained. “I went from being completely disengaged, to absolutely more engaged than ever.”

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Safety first! MCN talks to the Clerk of the Course

The forced layoff meant more than broadcasting changes though, with a new Safety Management System to improve conditions for riders and marshals – plus a new race control office after a sprinkler went off on Christmas Day 2020 and wrecked the old one.

“Bikes have been getting faster and bike technology has improved, so we’ve got to tailor safety to match that,” Clerk of the Course, Gary Thompson told MCN. Now more modern, the new race control also benefits from a live feed from the broadcast cameras, giving Thompson and his team more visibility around the 37.73-mile course.

“In the past, all I could see was from the start line to the end of pitlane and I was completely reliant on the information from the marshals,” Thompson added. “We still are, but we can use this in the event of an incident, or if we think conditions are deteriorating.

“Digital flags are [also] operated centrally from race control and are there to enhance the marshalling rather than replace it. We haven’t reduced the number of marshals around the course at all.”

Other changes include riders’ kit specifications, with higher standards for leathers, boots, and gloves. Helmets have to meet FIM standards, too. Starting numbers have been reduced, greater protective kit provided to volunteer marshals, and more focus has been paid to riders’ mental health.