It started as a rumour in the beer tent as pints of Okells were being downed to celebrate another successful Classic TT. Four bikes, including the second and third finishers in the Superbike Classic, had been disqualified for being oversize. The rumour became a story. More was to follow.

Was Monday August 29th the day when the Classic TT lost its innocence? When it became another version of the TT rather than a festival celebrating great racing machines and personalities of the recent past?

When news started to seep out that some teams had also broken the rules, but were allowed to race, social media went into overdrive. Comments ranged, not unusually in this digital equivalent of a shouting match, from the downright insulting to some containing a smattering of common sense.

To recap: The regulations cover, among other things, fuel tank capacity and engine size. They also allow for dispensation which was given, for the Senior TT, to the Paton of John McGuinness and the MV ridden by Dean Harrison, to run oversize fuel tanks a) because they had no alternatives, b) they were stopping for fuel and c) McGuinness was a big name. None was given, or applied for, relating to oversize engines. Perhaps the teams hadn’t read the regulations or because they hadn’t been applied before, ie no post-race engine strips, they would get away with it.

I think there needs to be some calming down. It is understandable how some people, including some team owners accused of cheating, actually feel cheated themselves. No-one argues that regulations covering the matters in dispute exist. It is either how they were applied or why hadn’t they been applied before? Or why some people chose to ignore them?

According to the Steam Packet company record numbers came to the event - 29,000 fans and 4000 bikes. And it should be remembered that the great majority don’t give two hoots about rule transgressions. They just want good racing and good weather – which they got.

This is a young event created and run by a very small group of sensible and dedicated people. It has not been an easy ride and the relationship with the Manx MCC has been tricky. The Classic is about entertainment, the Manx GP is for riders and very important in that respect. But shoe-horning both into a couple of weeks is difficult.

Classic racing has always been a hot-bed of argument over formulae. Mistakes will have been made, lessons are being learned. There is a strong argument, particularly for this kind of event, that less is more, ie less regulation, even an open Formula. But there have to be rules and they have to be observed and applied. Anarchy is not a good idea.

But the message for the organisers, both of the Classic and the TT, is that if you have rules they must be strictly and efficiently applied. It cannot be mere coincidence that both events have had problems. But as someone who believes in the cock-up rather than the conspiracy theory, then it is fixable.

Robin Miller is a former editor of Motorcycle News, and chairman and chief executive of Emap plc