Anstey and RC213V-S at the TT

I haven't written about road racing stuff on the blog for a while, but this news has got me excited.

Ten-time TT winner Bruce Anstey is to race the exclusive production bike version of Honda's MotoGP bike at this year's Isle of Man races. This is a reverse engineered way of racing a MotoGP bike on the roads.

Honda produced a limited run of the RCV, with lights and mirrors and a number of other differences (like alloy engine cases rather than the magnesium of Marquez's) and sold them for £137,000 (€188,000), even though it made only 160bhp in road trim. HRC sell a £10,000 race kit to boost power to a claimed 200-plus bhp (which is what bike like the BMW S1000RR are making in Superbike spec). So, as it's now a legitimate production bike, it can race in the Superbike and Senior TTs. Padgetts are the team that helped Ian Hutchinson win five TTs in a week, and Anstey won the Superbike TT last year. It'll be exciting.

Superbike practice starts Monday 30 May. The Superbike race is scheduled for Saturday 4 June. G

Guy Martin Ulster Crash

Dirt Quake hero, long time ally of Sideburn and total one-off, Guy Martin had an horrendous crash at the Dundrod 150 last week. This race is part of the Ulster GP race festival and held on the fastest racetrack in the world (with a faster average speed than even the Isle of Man TT, with a lap record speed of 133.997mph). Guy was leading the race, ahead of outright lap record holder Bruce Anstey, when he was viciously highsided.

He suffered multiple broken bones: five vertebrae; hand; sternum and is very badly beaten up. He's had his spine pinned. It means his Triumph-supported attempt at the land speed record is now postponed until further notice.

It seems a little bit mercenary, but I'll say it anyway... Guy fans might like the Sideburn x Guy Martin T-shirt we have a few of. Every order gets a Chris Watson-designed Guy sticker too (while stocks last). G

Guy in happier times, 2014. 

206mph

The on-board video of TT racer James Hillier on the Kawasaki H2R. That thing revs! G

Hillier x H2R

James Hillier, Kawasaki H2R, Ago's Leap. Today.
Reached a claimed 206mph down Sulby Straight on a parade lap. G

Paul Baleta: Update

Our friend and fellow DTRA racer, Paul Baleta is out at the TT ready to practice and race on two bikes, at his debut TT. He's competed in the Manx before, the amateur TT held on the same course, but this is a step up. If you would like to support him with a donation or buy a T-shirt or cap, you can find out more here. G

It's back. If you don't know real road racing, as in, racing on closed public roads, you need to take a look. If you do know it, the TT needs no introduction.

Practice starts on Saturday evening with first qualifying sessions on Monday and the opening race, the six-lap Superbike, gets things started in earnest on Saturday 6 June.

Friend of Sideburn, Guy Martin, will be racing in the two Superbike races (ie, Superbike and Senior TT), Superstock and both Supersport 600 races. There's a stack of TV coverage on ITV4, plus live coverage of qualifying and races on Manx TT Radio, which is a brilliant way to soak up the atmosphere (complete with ads for local chip shops and builders' merchants) while you're spannering in the shed/shirking in the hammock/wrestling naked on the hearth rug. MP

The Southern 100

Guy Martin won at the Southern 100, at the DTRA and Chopper class at Dirt Quake, then at Armoy this weekend. He's on fire.
This beautiful photo is from the Southern 100 meet held on the Isle of Man every July. I attended the race back in 2011 and it was fantastic. See my snaps here. G

Photo: wpfotos.co.uk

Go North West, Young Man

Today, Saturday, is the main race day at the North West 200 in Northern Ireland, with Supersport, Supertwins, Superstock and Superbike races. Michael Dunlop, having switched to BMW this year from Honda, has put himself on pole for the Superstock and showcase Superbike races. Here's Dunlop in 2012, pootling around on a practice lap on a Fireblade. MP

Under The Skin - Johansson & McWilliams

Under The Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as a seductive alien who preys on and kills Scotsmen. It's directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer - who made the brilliant Sexy Beast.

Scarlett's character has a superbike-riding accomplice played by former GP star Jeremy McWilliams. In an exclusive interview with me, for one of my regular day job clients, Performance Bikes, McWill told me this...

‘There’s some running, stabbing, some killing, bit of everything. There are some really weird scenes in it. It’s not a talking part, I’m just murdering people and clearing up after [Johansson].'

In one scene, McWilliams is riding at 150mph down a Glasgow motorway, in another he is fighting a naked actor who has a real, almost Elephant Man-like disfigurement. Sex and the City it is not.

Jeremy McWilliams (#99), now 50 years old, will be trying to win one of the NorthWest 200 Supertwin races tonight and another on Saturday, on the Ryan Farquhar-prepared KMR Kawasaki 650. G

Seuraavaan Mutkaan

From Peter in Hungary...

Our mate, the Finnish TT rider Juha Kallio will ride at the TT in this year again. But his friend Antti, who studies in the Helsinki Film School is ready with the documentary about Juha.  

The director Antti Jääskeläinen has studied film editing in Helsinki Film School. This project began almost two years ago with Antti filming Juha's life and racing on Finnish circuits and outside of them, and later developed into a feature length film. The film will be screened first in Imatra Finland around the beginning of the year 2014. Duration 70 min. The film has no major production company behind is, but is partly produced by the Helsinki Film School.

Antti says: 'The Fast of the Forest (Original Finnish title Seuraavaan Mutkaan) is a documentary film that follows a Finnish road racer Juha Kallio, 28, as he battles his way towards his dream race - the Isle of Man TT. Juha is addicted to going fast and he has been racing most of his life. 
Starting his journey from racing motorcycles with his brother in the woods of his hometown in Imatra, towards mastering the world's fastest and most dangerous track with over 260 corners, Juha hasn't got a clue what awaits him.' 

Road Racers by Stephen Davison

Very few photographers can be credited with influencing a sport, but Irish photographer Davison has. His images turned British motorcyclists onto real road racing like never before and he helped make stars of riders like Guy Martin and Ryan Farquhar. This isn't some PR blurb sent out with this new 140-odd page hardback book, it's an eyewitness opinion from a me, a journalist who was working for the biggest British magazines when Stephen's photos started coming through. It's a bold statement, but I stand by it.

Very few British riders knew anything about road racing beyond the NW200 and the TT, and the latter was on its arse. Once British magazines started printing the stories, foreign mags followed. I first worked with Stephen in 2004 and have regularly been on assignments with him since.

Stephen's photos; Paul Phillips taking over the TT; affordable on-board cameras, that led to improved TV coverage and new, free digital channels that allowed for more space for quality footage have transformed the TT and road racing in general. But, I truly believe, Stephen helped get the ball rolling by showing the world not all racers had become sponsor-thanking athletes. Road racing has long had its characters and mavericks and Stephen has benefitted from a rich seam including McGuinness, all the Dunlops, Martin, Hutchinson, Finnegan, and the fans that line the courses, both day-trippers and the hardcore.

The book includes photos dating back to 2000 right up to the present. They are from Ireland, England, Isle of Man, Macau, Spain and the Czech Republic. They include race footage and intimate moments, including an incredible shot of Stephen's friend Ryan Farquhar under-going surgery and at the funeral of Farquhar's uncle.

The RRP is £17.99.

Respect

Ian Hutchinson wins the Macau GP. This is incredible because it's his first race back after an accident in 2010 that nearly resulted in his leg being amputated. The Yorkshireman was also on pole and got the fastest lap. I wasn't sure if he'd ever race again, never mind win. Amazing. G

Grease, hair and the craic

With the Classic TT running this weekend, it reminded me of this precious piece of documentary-making by David Wallace, who followed Joey Dunlop, Frank Kennedy and Mervyn Robinson through the 1977 season of real road racing at such as the North West 200, Cookstown and Carrowdore. It's all Transit vans and country music, flat-out test runs on quiet Irish back lanes, filthy fingernails and scraping together the pennies to go racing. Beautifully filmed and a snapshot of another world. MP

Mugen Shinden Ni

Greatest race bike paint ever. And the only electric bike I've yet to see and want.
To be raced by John McGuinness at the Zero TT this year. G

See more at the always great TW+ blog

Digger

A virtually unknown Wayne Gardner came from Australia to race in England in 1981. He raced the Moriwaki Z1000 and slept in his car. Towards the end of season he went to Olivers Mount, a public road/park circuit in Scarborough, and beat former two-time World Champion, Barry Sheene, who was on a factory Yamaha GP bike. I'm assured that's Bob Smith tucked in behind Sheene.

Gardner became a hero to a generation of British riders overnight. G

Michael Dunlop x Suzuki XR69

On it. G

Guy back on it

Guy Martin's had a tough year by his standards, but he won a big one this morning, Superbike race 1 at the Ulster. Mint. Michael Dunlop won the other, with Guy second. G

Ulster

It's the Ulster GP this week. That means I've had this amazing photo from last year's on my desktop for 12 months or so. G

The TT starts here

After a week of practice, the Isle of Man TT races start today, with the Superbikes out first, scheduled for 11am BST (I think that's 3am in California, 8pm in Sydney - but I could be wrong). You can listen live on TT Radio and get all the stats, live lap times etc through the official TT Live site. You'll have to sign up with your email address (maybe not for just the radio), but it's free. Gives me goosebumps every time I hear those historic course points being called out, as the bikes scream past, commentary swapping to the key places around the course. If you can't be there, listen in, it's great. MP

The Bottom of Bray Hill

First night of TT practice last night, McGuinness is already on it, but Conor was out with an injured wrist suffered when he was torpedoed at the NW200 just over a week ago. Guy Martin made his normal cautious start to practice, lapping at 'only' 123mph.
It reminded me that Peter sent us this evocative, widescreen shot of McGuinness he took last year.

While I was trying to find the name of this kink at the bottom of Bray Hill, and failed, I found this amazingly detailed description of racing the TT course: Manx GP Course Notes. G