By Roland Brown
The Isle of Man TT is a glorious anachronism that gets more spectacular with each passing year. While much of the world becomes ever more safety-conscious, for two weeks every June a 37.73-mile stretch of quiet Manx road is transformed into the fearsome Mountain Circuit – roughly 250 bends and kinks, lined by hedges, walls and grassy banks, that the top riders lap at a mind-blowing average speed of over 130mph.
John McGuinness takes a corner at this year’s Isle of Man TT
The Morecambe Missile
It’s a thrilling, uniquely challenging and occasionally tragic event that has been an integral part of Honda’s history for almost half a century. No surprise then, that the 2015 TT saw yet another year of staggering Honda success: four race wins and the manufacturers’ trophy, capped by a record-breaking ride by John McGuinness in the Senior TT – his seventh Senior victory and Honda’s eighth in the last 10 TTs.
Experience played a big part for McGuinness. The “Morecambe Missile” is 43 years old, suffered a disappointing TT last year after injuring his hand in a training crash (though he still won his 21st TT in the electric Zero race), and admitted to seeing a sports psychologist in an attempt to regain his mojo.
McGuinness on his trusty Fireblade
Opening with a bang
There was a family theme to Honda’s TT exploits thanks to the Birchall brothers, Ben and Tom, who won both sidecar races. However, before that victory, another vastly experienced combination grabbed the first slice of glory for Honda in the TT-opening Superbike race. New Zealander Bruce Anstey is 45 years old, a roads-racing veteran who already had nine TT wins but none on a big bike. He changed that aboard a Fireblade painted in the rainbow colours of Yorkshire dealer Padgett’s, who have been winning TTs since the Sixties, and whose links with Honda go back almost as far.
Bob McIntyre on a Honda, racing in the Isle of Man Junior TT, 1961
From Japan to the Isle of Man
History is an integral part of the race’s appeal. The first TT, won by Charlie Collier on a Matchless at an average speed of 38mph, was in 1907. Honda’s involvement began in 1954, when founder Soichiro Honda combined a trip to Europe to view car factories with a visit to the TT, then unquestionably the world’s most important motorcycle meeting.
By 1959 Honda was back with a team of racers, who amused Westerners by bringing their own cook, rice supply and mattresses for sleeping on the floor. More laughs were provided by their 125cc bikes’ knobbly tyres, better suited to ash-covered Japanese circuits. But these were soon replaced, and the team’s thoroughness impressed many. Two years later Honda returned to take the first five places in the 125 and 250cc TTs (Mike Hailwood winning both), on their way to the world championship in both classes.
Joey Dunlop’s 26-victory record is under threat
Record-breaking run
Subsequent years have brought a level of success that even Soichiro Honda could surely not have imagined. Hailwood and Jim Redman won a string of TTs in the Sixties. In 1979, Alex George won the big-bike Formula One race to begin an era of Honda domination that lasted most of the next two decades. Phillip McCallen and Ian Hutchinson each rode Hondas during their multi-victory years in 1996 and 2010.
Most successful of all Honda’s TT riders was Joey Dunlop, whose 26 victories included six in a row in the Formula One race. But even Dunlop’s record now looks under threat from mighty McGuinness. After finishing fourth behind Anstey in the Superbike TT, then winning the TT Zero race for electric bikes, “McPint” jumped back on the faithful Fireblade and rocketed to Senior TT victory, lapping at a record 132.7mph in the process.
McGuinness is likely to be back on the Blade next year, looking to add to his total of 23 wins. In the meantime he joined Anstey and fellow Fireblade pilots Jason O’Halloran and Jenny Tinmouth at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (June 26-28), along with Honda’s former world champions Freddie Spencer and Casey Stoner. Goodwood’s hill is barely a mile long but is lined by hedges and walls in places, so the TT guys feel pretty much at home.
(Roland Brown is the Daily Telegraph Motorcycle Correspondent)
