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Plans to shorten MGP announced

Tue, 01 May 2012

It looks like next year's Manx Grand Prix Festival will be shortened.

The Department of Economic Development has been looking at the future of the 2 week long event over the last 4 months, and wants to see it cut to 10 days.

The proposals would see the festival run from 17th to 26th August, with all the racing on the last 4 days over the bank holiday weekend.

The DED says it wants the Manx Grand Prix to be the most prestigious series of races for classic motorcycles in the world.

It's considering changing the name to include the TT brand.

It was decided the MGP needed to be changed as it loses the Government £369,000 per year, and generated less than 9000 visitors in 2009.

Last year, the Department spent more on advertising for the MGP than for TT but the media interest was much less.

This year's Grand Prix fortnight won't be affected by the plans.

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