TT3D: Closer to the Edge Page #2

- Guy knows best, and I knows best.

- Yeah.

I'll put a brew on.

See, a Steadicam That's what it is.

Must have shockers in it or something.

You what?

Say, when you was

holding that thing you can jar

but that takes all the jar

out of the camera, doesn't it?

Are they dear?

I bet it's dear that, innit.

Go on, how much is that arm there then?

Fourteen hundred?

F*** off.

Fourteen grand?

Fourteen grand.

F***ing hell.

F***, have you seen that?

Fourteen grand.

Me first TT was '74,

riding a Gus Kuhn Norton

Commando production bike.

I thought,

I'm gonna be a TT superstar here.

So I set off from...

How old was you?

I was...

How old was I?

Forty seven. What's that, then?

- I don't know. '74... '47. By heck.

- Anyway...

Come into Glen Helen,

up Craig Willie's hill,

cranked it in...

Down, down, down,

no further to go, bang.

Straight over the bank.

The bike finished up in three bits.

And I broke my back.

And I was back at the TT again

the following year.

My worst crash ever?

Probably North West, 2008.

Come off the Black Hill, lost the front,

on the apex of the corner;

not very fast, maybe 120 miles an hour

Hit the kerb with my arse

at 120 mile an hour

I walked away. Walked away no bother.

The bike was nothing,

we could hardly salvage anything.

Everything was written off on it.

Everything.

I got away from that, but it scarred me.

It didn't scar me for life, it just....

Proper. I just thought another one

of those moments I thought, ooh.

But that's a buzz that,

you know get it wrong, you're

an inch out here and that's it.

Yeah, it was a lot like that.

I'm not like

a sadomasochist or anything,

I'm not purposefully going out there

trying to kill myself

No, definitely not. The opposite,

really, I want to succeed, you know?

But that's the buzz you get

out of trying to do that.

You do end up in that position

where it looks like it's going

to be game over at any moment.

But, those positions, money cannot

buy the buzz you get out of it.

That thing that you get, that you

think, "That's it, game over,"

you don't go into a panic, you just,

"This is it, game over."

I've been in about four of them

since I've been racing,

and I've been racing 10 years now.

And all of those moments, I think three

of those moments were at the TT.

I come to the gym

a couple of times a week,

and get out on my mountain bike

a couple of times a week.

I enjoy my training

and it keeps me focused on the job.

I don't like anything to

sort of let my riding slip.

If a bit of training's what it takes,

then that's what I do.

I've always been a bike fanatic

but my parents have

always been against it

and by the time I got to 15, I think

I wore my parents down that much.

They were a bit concerned

about me getting a road bike

so they got me a trials bike

and the minute I was 17, I took my test

and got a road bike,

so it backfired a bit on my parents.

But, you know, I met a group of lads

that blagged a caravan for free,

it was an absolute wreck.

Dragged it all over the country,

it was falling apart

and we got to race meetings, had a few

beers at a barbecue, raced all day.

It was just great

to experience that side of it.

Natural ability pulls you

through to a certain level,

but if I'm in a race and it

comes down to a tight battle,

and I lose the race basically

through fitness or something,

you know, I 'd be devastated with myself

so I get very obsessed

about what I'm doing.

There's only one outcome for me.

To win the race.

Every one of the 37 and

three-quarter miles of public roads

that makes up the course has

created a champion or hero.

Over 200 corners must be

negotiated up to six times

to complete the world's toughest

road race in the fastest time.

There are five races over a week

culminating with the Senior T With speeds of up to 200 miles per hour

and the opportunity

for disaster around every corner;

its dangers are set in stone.

To date, 231 riders have lost

their lives on the TT course.

To win just one T is an outstanding achievement.

The legendary Joey Dunlop

has an unmatched 26 wins,

John McGuinness holds

the outright lap record

and Phil McCallan is the only rider

to have won four out of the #five races

run each year

No one has ever won five out of five.

So, can I ask Fred Dibnah

Sorry, I meant Guy Martin.

- So the laundry didn't come back?

- No...

I get told off

for not saying the right thing,

or doing this, or doing that

and not wearing the right clothes

and what have you.

And it just sort of gets

on top of you sometimes.

Well, not gets on top of you,

but it takes the fun out of it all.

Whereas Wilson, for me, he's doing it

for the same reasons I'm doing it.

You know, doing it to enjoy it.

Doing it to win.

I see it as David and Goliath.

And that I think that's

what motivates me in many ways.

That Guy come back

to a small team and can win.

Could you call it

a deal, Wilson?

There weren't a lot of

paper signing going on.

Just a firm handshake I think, Wilson.

I suppose I should say

to have a gentleman's agreement,

we need two gentlemen.

Well, I wouldn't say I was a gentleman.

Guy's all right.

Yeah, but we won't go

as far as gentleman.

You know when I was wanking, didn't you?

Oh, yeah, I used to regularly wake up

and see Guy pulling one out.

I had to go back

to bed for a few minutes

while he finished himself off.

Yeah, cos he used

to sleep above the cab.

I slept above you, didn't I?

You could tell.

I didn't really know that

until I broke my ankle right bad,

you remember that?

Your toes go, do you know?

When you're wanking. Yeah.

So you'd see Guy's toes twitching...

And you knew I was on it.

In the morning, his toes'd be going,

and I'd give him five more minutes.

- Crack a load off.

- Yeah. Get a load off.

In the build-up to the T every other race meeting is

a chance to perfect the bikes,

impress new sponsors

and develop the speeds needed

to compete on the Isle of Man.

You having a brew?

We're not here

for any lap times or f*** all, really.

We're not bothered

whether We're last or first.

We're just here to suss the bike out.

You need to be a good

mechanic to work with me,

and I'm a bit awkward

to get on with, I suppose,

because I'm very particular

about how I want stuff doing.

Most motorbike riders just get on it

and turn the throttle,

but I like to know

what makes that bike tick.

I like the whole idea behind

the old internal combustion engine,

and the way stuffs made.

You need to have a bit

of mechanical sympathy, don't you.

You can't go charging in there

like a bull in a china shop.

It's all gonna end in tears, isn't it.

You end up breaking gear boxes

and blowing engines up

and all that sort of caper

Still no quick shifting, we don't

know anyone that's got one.

No.

Mechanical failures

are what all riders dread.

Sometimes they're over-revved,

and sometimes something breaks.

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