The Isle of Man Government, Department of Economic Development has attracted a huge entry for the Classic TT Races, the new motorcycle race meeting which takes place in August this year on the Isle of Man.

Entries for the Classic TT, which forms part of the Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling, closed on the 3rd May with two of the three main races oversubscribed. In total there were over 300 indivdiual entries and the line-up comprises a truly international field of riders including competitors from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, France, Germany, Belgium and Holland.

Racing will get underway on Saturday 24th August with the 500cc Classic TT Race, which attracted an oversubscribed entry for the maximum 90 places on the Glencrutchery Road starting grid. The 500cc Race will turn back the clock with an array of racing machines from the 1960’s, with exotic multi cylinder bikes from manufacturers such as MV Agusta, Honda and Paton going up against the single cylinder British machines from iconic names such as Norton, Matchless and AJS.

The second day of racing on the UK Bank Holiday - Monday 26th August - starts with the combined 350cc / 250cc Classic TT Races. There were over eighty entries across the two races, with the 350cc Race expected to be a battle between the host of Honda machines entered versus bikes from Aermacchi, Norton and AJS amongst others. The 250cc race entry is dominated by Suzuki machines, with a smaller number of Hondas, Ducatis and Kawasakis also featuring.

The biggest entry overall comes in the combined Formula 1 / Formula 2 / Formula Classic Race which was significantly oversubscribed. Over 120 entries were received for the third and final race of the inaugural event. These three races run concurrently and will recreate scenes from the '70s, '80s and '90s with a mixture of Grand Prix racing two stroke machines and early Japanese Superbikes doing battle once again over the challenging TT Mountain Circuit.

Some of the biggest names in modern day TT racing head the entry list with riders such as John McGuinness, Conor Cummins, Michael and William Dunlop, Gary Johnson, Cameron Donald and Bruce Anstey amongst many others all confirmed to appear. They won’t have it all their own way however, with Classic Racing specialists such as Roy Richardson, Alan Oversby, Olie Linsdell and Chris Palmer just some of the riders likely to be in contention in all of their races.

The Classic TT has also drawn in the biggest teams and most respected machine builders from all over the world to compete. The Yamaha Classic Racing Team will make their one and only competitive racing outing at the Classic TT, with Team Classic Suzuki, a factory team from Norton Motorcycles, leading TT teams Padgett’s Motorcycles and CSC Racing and multiple Manx GP winners Team Winfield also taking part.

The line up reads like a who’s who of classic racing royalty with individuals such as New Zealand’s Ken McIntosh and British engineering greats Dick Linton, Andy Molnar, Fred Walmsley, Tony Dunnell and John Davies all either entering their own machinery or heading up one of the major teams.

Trevor Hussey, Head of Motorsport, Department of Economic Development commented: “Now the entry has closed for the first Classic TT Races we can start to get a real feel for the type of racing we can expect this coming August. A lot of hard work has gone in to assembling what we believe will be the best entry for a classic motorcycle race in the world this year, both in terms of numbers and the quality of riders and machinery and the Classic Racing community has really got behind what we are trying to do. There has been huge interest in the event for many months and we already have lots of enquires for 2014, never mind 2013.

The Classic TT, along with the 90th Anniversary Manx Grand Prix, the Vintage Motor Cycle Club activities as well and the two off road trials events which together form the Isle of Man Festival of Motorcycling look set to provide a welcome boost to visitor numbers. Early booking figures suggest significant numbers of visitors will attend the Festival whilst commercial interest, particularly in the Classic TT, has also been encouraging.”