Guy Martin - Guy Martin: Worms to Catch

Thanks to Andy Spellman for sticking it out, Gary Inman for translating, Nigel the dog just for being there and to Sharon for squaring me up. And thanks to everyone for finding my life interesting enough to read about.

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Epub ISBN: 9780753545331
Version 1.0

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Virgin Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA

Virgin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Copyright Guy Martin 2016

Pictures courtesy of Guy Martin
Illustrations Ryan Quickfall

Guy Martin has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published by Virgin Books in 2016

www.penguin.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

HB ISBN 9780753545300
TPB ISBN 9780753545317

After reading the book this far youll be sure, like I was, that I was done with the TT and road racing for the big teams. If I was going back, it would be on something oddball the Martek, a 500 two-stroke, a MotoGP, something like that. Id made my mind up. Id seen the bigger picture. Id done the Tour Divide when the 2016 TT was on and hadnt missed it at all. Then Neil Tuxworth got in touch

Tuxworth is the boss of Honda Racing in Britain and he first contacted me in October 2016, just as the hardback of this book was coming out. He rang my dad for my number. They used to race against each other. My dad doesnt hand my phone number out to anyone, but he broke the rule this time. Tuxworth asked if he could come and see me. As soon as he said it I thought, Im not riding for Honda, but if he wants to come round for a natter So I said, Get yourself round.

I like the bloke, hes interesting. He raced the TT himself and was a podium man in the mid-seventies, in the F2 and Lightweight 125cc class, and raced the TT right up until 1989. He won the Classic Manx GP too, but more impressive to me is that he used to run ultramarathons. Hes paying for it now, though, with knee-replacement therapy. To most people, hes much better known as a team manager. Tuxworth has managed teams that have won championships in World Superbike and British Superbike and hes run the endurance side of things and Hondas successful TT team for years. Hes had Colin Edwards, Fogarty, McGuinness, Dunlop, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Alex Lowes and tons of riders racing for him.

He came round for his tea and made it clear that he wanted me to race for Honda. I told him if he could get me Mrquezs bike, Id be there like a shot. He said hed ask the question. He came back to me not long after and said that we couldnt use Mrquezs bike because its not a road bike, its not what he did, but that this is what he could offer: minimum PR stuff three press days; this bike; this team; these tyres; use of a car; a Ten Kate 600 Supersport to race if I wanted it; the chance to race the Mugen electric bike; and a wage.

I asked him to give me a week to think about it. I was going to China for the TV job at the end of that week and gave myself until then to have a good think about it. All that week I couldnt talk myself into it and I couldnt talk myself out of it. It wasnt until I was in the check-in queue at Heathrow that I called Tuxworth to say, Ta very much, but Im umming and ahing too much, so its not for me.

I went to China for three weeks and didnt give it another thought. It was the right decision. I was still excited about motorbikes. I was still getting my Martek ready to race at the Burt Munro Classic in New Zealand at the back end of the year, Id been regularly dirt tracking on my little Honda 100 and Id been out to the Nrburgring on a Triumph Daytona 675R to do a few laps, but it was all just fun stuff, nowt serious.

After I got back from China I went to a night do at Cadwell organised by Peter Boast, an old mate who has been racing for years and got the whole dirt-track thing going in Britain. Hed organised an event where racers from the 1970s were talking about the old days. Tuxworth was there, too. We said hello and he told me, The bikes are still there if you want them. I said, No, youre alright, but youre welcome to come round for tea if you want, next Friday. I liked him coming round. I liked that he was chasing me, even though my mind was made up, because normally its racers chasing him for a job and this was the other way round.

Between the do at Cadwell and Tuxworth coming round I had a week to think about the offer that was still on the table. Then, when I was biking home from Grimsby on the Wednesday, I thought, Hang on, Im going to do it. It might kill us, but fuck it.

When I got home, I walked into the kitchen and said, You know what, Shazza? Im going to do it. She said, Do what? I told her I was going back to racing. Sharon would rather I didnt do it, but shell support me either way.

Tuxworth came round two days later and as he walked through the door I said, Alright, how are we doing it? He was prepared, he already had a new deal to offer, this time changing minimal PR to no press days. All I had to do was a thing at their Louth workshop one Monday morning in the new year and that would be it.

I know, Id completely contradicted myself. All the way through this book Id written what I was thinking at the time, that there was no way I was going back. Id done the Tour Divide, the best thing Id ever done in my life, while all those boys were back at the TT doing exactly what theyd done for years. But bugger it, Im allowed to change my mind. Its the best team, and what sound like they could be the best tyres. And like I always say, never say never.

I waited for the contract to come and crossed some of it out and sent it back. That was it. I would be racing for Hondas official team. In the past, when it came to our mindsets and attitudes it seemed like Honda were at one end of the scale and I was at the other, but theyve ended up chasing me. I never saw that coming. Im excited about it. I like the people, but Im not kidding myself about the reasons theyve come to me.

The first bit of business as a Honda rider was the launch at their Louth headquarters. I dont know what I was expecting, but I was surprised when I turned up and there were four or five folk from Motorcycle News there. I didnt know about that and Im not much of an MCN fan. I took Mick Moody with me; he is my boss after all. Hed been telling me I should join Honda and go back to the TT because its unfinished business, but I dont think it is. Im quite happy with what Ive done. I just miss racing. Im allowed to, arent I?