Automotive
Honda Motor Europe is delighted to be re-signing John McGuinness, and just signed up Guy Martin to ride the all-new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2.
That's the 2017 Honda Road Racing Superbike assault at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT
Really, of all the racers at the TT, who would you most like to hang out with for a day? Exactly, this goof ball with zero censorship, lots of moxy, and plenty of chutzpah
I have watched the "Closer to the Edge" documentary, it's cool. Watch that. And the documentary where he races up Pikes Peak... but I hadn't decided to dive in and see what all this crazy bugger is up to... and I just learned he broke his damn back last August in the Ulster Gran Prix. He's made the podium 15 times at the Isle of Man TT
So, reading up on him through Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Martin I learned that after the normal amount of schools, he went to college for mechanics, but after a month realized that they were only teaching him stuff he already knew, or shit he was never going to use. Plus, he wasn't earning any income while there, so he dropped out (makes sense to me) and was quickly snapped up as a mechanic at a Volvo Trucking outfit, and then a Scania outfit, and he has remained working as a trucking mechanic throughout all the rest of the tv specials, movies, and races.
Here's what he had to say in an interview:
I’m an amateur motorbike racer – it’s not my job but I’ve done all right. It’s good because, if I don’t get the results I want, I’ve got that excuse. But when I beat the other boys, I say, ‘It’s your job and you still can’t beat me!’ It’s a short career and in motorbike racing you’re not earning mega money. So I’ve always had my truck job. We’re like the Ferrari dealers of the truck world. I do general maintenance on the trucks, which is a legal requirement if you’re making a living running a truck. I take two weeks off from my job to go and race the TT and I always try to get a job while I’m there, because we only practise in the evenings. I do it to switch off. I painted a garage last year and this year I’m painting the house owned by the same guy. It’s like being in my shed.
When staging the new cast of Top Gear, Chris Evans invited him to be on the new show as a presenter. Wisely, Guy turned that down and avoided being on the train during the train wreck show flop. "With the programmes I do on Channel 4 I'm wagging my own tail, not having it wagged for me."
Martin has written 4 books, his autobiography, Guy Martin: My Autobiography, it reached No.1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list, followed by Guy Martin: When You Dead, You Dead, covering the previous year in diary format, from the 24-hour Solo World Mountain Bike Championship to the Isle of Man TT, it was listed No.1 in online retailer Amazon's sales figures for celebrity autobiographies in November 2015, with his main autobiography being No.10.
October 2016 saw the release of his latest book, titled "Guy Martin: Worms to Catch" featuring Guy's thoughts on the past year and upcoming challenges. Martin is also listed as the author of companion books for some of his television shows: How Britain Worked, and Speed.
Martin also writes for the driving section of The Sunday Times newspaper. He has written car reviews (on the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon, the 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR, the 2015 Ford Transit L2 H2, the 2016 Ford Mustang V8 GT, as well as writing about his own Volvo Vöx and his Wall of Death show.
He also earns money by tuning fellow racer's bikes in the evenings. He also bought a tractor, using it on biomass farms for seasonal muck-spreading at night.
When setting out to make tv show episodes for "Speed With Guy Martin" he has set 3 Guiness World records: Fastest speed on a gravity powered snow sled, Fastest speed in a soapbox, Highest speed on a Wall of Death
He owns a Merlin airplane engine from a 1942 Lancaster bomber, which he plans to install in his front room, alongside a Scania 144 530 truck engine. I like that... that's cool
At age 21 he bought a BMW E46 M3 CSL, followed by a Porsche GT3 RS at age 24, then a new BMW E92 M3 V8, and lastly a 2010 Aston Martin V12 Vantage bought new at age 28.
He found all to be a disappointment or unsuitable in one way or another, being particularly unimpressed with the Vantage, which had been his dream car, but which he found ostentatious, ultimately selling it cheaply, although he had not driven it in 2011 due to the insurance cost, as a result of the number of points on his drivers license for speeding. He now deems supercars by marques such as Aston and Ferrari to be "fake" and for people who "don’t know anything about cars".
By late 2011 he had accrued 21 penalty points on his standard UK driving licence, having been caught speeding many times. Instead of yanking his license at 18 points, the judge showed leniency due to the effect it would have on his livelihood, had he lost it, and let him have another 3. He used them up too.
For the 2015 Isle of Man Senior TT, he took 4th place with a fastest lap average of 132.398 mph, a personal best for Martin and just two seconds slower than race winner and outright lap record holder John McGuinness.
https://www.guymartinproper.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Martin
