TT3D: Closer to the Edge Page #5

That'd give me confidence,

if he was involved.

And now he's not here.

it's not f***ed the job,

but it's made it a lot harder

And it took my eye off the ball

a little bit, but what do I do?

Can't sit and cry about it, can you?

Martin Finnegan, really good friend

of mine in racing, in racing.

I was at his wedding.

Ln, I think it would have

been November time of 2007.

Yeah, in 2007.

And then his funeral was in

April time of 2008.

You know...

Teammate of mine,

Darran Lindsay, was killed in 2005.

Friend of mine, used to do his engines,

Richard Britten, he was killed 2006.

You could go on.

I just think, you know...

When you're time's up...

I think you've got to be

in this line of work, you know?

And that's why

I sort of don't believe in

having any commitments of any sort.

Because if I did have responsibilities

as wife, kids, mortgage

and all that sort of caper,

I couldn't do this job,

as in racing the TT,

I couldn't give it me all.

And I wanna give it me all.

Yeah. Before I can start

thinking about winning races,

we've got a lot of practice

to get through.

You know, we've five nights

of practice to get through.

That's not going to be easy. There's

a lot of work to do on the bikes.

And that's where me dad

was gonna come in.

It's not just gonna go straight on the

bike, a lot of things will need making,

to get that swinging

arm to suit the new bike.

But, if it was easy, every man and his

dog would be at it, wouldn't they?

I I'll chill out later on.

I find a different place

every night to kip in me van.

Just get me airbed blown up

in the back of me van.

Bit of a wank, then go to sleep.

You know? Proper!

Proper. You know, people get all...

It's not a crime, is it, to have a wank,

you know. F*** it.

You never get complacent

with the T There's always something you can learn,

and, you know, if you get that way

and overconfident, it'll bite you.

I just went up and had

a little moment on my own,

looking down the road

because the road was shut.

There wasn't a sound apart from

the birds just tweeting away.

And that's just something real special

about the track itself you know,

I was just looking down

thinking next week, in the race,

I'm gonna be going down there

at 200 mile an hour plus.

That emotion you feel

when you roll up onto that start line,

when you're getting waved off

10 seconds apart, it's just...

It's just unbelievable.

It's like nothing else

I've ever experienced.

It's not about

beating the next guy.

It's about who beats the track.

This TT is the most powerful

race you'll ever do in your life.

I love it, and it's legal.

People often ask,

Why do you road race?"

Because circuit racing is fast, you

can get a buzz, but it's not the same.

Circuit racing

is rock climbing with a rope.

It's dangerous.

But there is some room for error

You slip, you fall, you've got a rope.

Road racing is like free climbing.

You know you're climbing up that same

mountain, you're on a course,

but there's no room for error

If you make a mistake it's,

it's going to be, you know...

Well, it could be

serious injury or worse.

You're doing maybe 170,

180 mile an hour;

going through fast bends

with trees, hedges, brick walls.

It's the greatest thing.

And you realise

the dangers before you put

your leg over the bike.

I mean, at the top

of Bray Hill before I go out,

you know, you have lots

of strange thoughts in your mind

and you're nervous and you're worried,

but as soon as you set off;

and you get the tap off

the start marshal

to go down Bray Hill, that's gone.

Then once you're actually

out here the noise, the wind,

the physical strain on your body,

there's nothing like it. It's just,

you put yourself through hell

and you frighten yourself so many times,

but that is the draw.

Out there

you can't fake it, you know.

There 's nothing you can do

that isn't putting you in the moment.

This is it. You know...

Especially if you ride two wheels.

This is about as difficult as it gets.

You know,

people talk about extreme sports.

There's nothing more extreme

than road racing.

One split second.

I mean, somebody like Joey Dunlop,

31 years of career,

26 TT wins. All those other race wins,

all those World Championships...

One split second.

- Oh, dearie me.

- Oh, down he goes.

J Can 't you feel the fears

I'm feeling today?

Oh, that throws...

J There's no running away

J There'll be no one to save

With the world in a grave

J Take a look around you, boy

It's bound to scare you, boy J'

There is no room

for error on the TT course.

Of all road-racing circuits, it is

the toughest and most unforgiving.

With an average five deaths

for every mile,

only a lucky few have crashed

and escaped unharmed.

Milky Quayle is one of the lucky ones.

Your life revolves around the T because its such

an immense, passionate thing

whether you 're on the track or off

the track. It is a life and death thing.

I know it sounds crazy and stuff

I mean,

I've... I haven't raced around here

now for eight or nine years

and I still now

struggle with life because

I can't do it, you know,

I can't get me buzz.

It's like you've done the ultimate

and once you can't have that ultimate,

then you're a bit like

a drug addict, sort of thing.

You just can't, you can't

get it out of your system.

You love it.

When I'm sat beside the track,

you just want to do it and you think,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and then...

So, obviously if you keep yourself busy

and whether it's blooming sweeping

the floors or emptying the bins

or taking other riders round,

or meeting dignitaries

and taking press round,

it keeps my mind off it, really.

Milky looks after the newcomers

and shows them around the course.

It can take three years

of competing to learn it

and at least that long

to build up the confidence

needed to be able to push themselves

to the limits.

It's all about confidence.

You need to be confident

where the corners go

and how fast

you can go round that corner

to build up your speed,

so I'm still experimenting

on how fast I can go, a little bit more,

a little bit more, little bit more.

How to build up

and get used to the corners

and the bumps and the rises

and the tipping points

and the grids and everything, and

hopefully ILL keep going a bit fasten

Get over, get over!

In by the hedge,

transfer back over the bike again.

Into here, and guess what,

there's another one here.

That takes you three years to get right.

After only two years

of competing,

Jenny Tinmouth is the fastest

woman ever around the course.

You definitely feel

like you shouldn't be doing it.

It's quite bizarre. You feel...

You do feel cheeky, and a bit naughty.

To be blasting around the roads,

but again,

I think that's half the fun...

Like when you set off down Bray Hill,

it's just massive big grin.

It's like...

As I'm coming up here,

all I'm thinking about

is the next corner that's coming up,

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