Fuelling Around podcast: John McGuinness on riding into the record books

Legendary motorcyclist John McGuinness joins Jason Plato and Dave Vitty this week to talk about his incredible 23 Isle of Man TT wins, his new Honda deal and whether he can match or beat the great Joey Dunlop’s all-time TT record. 

The 49-year-old Morecambe native confirmed the news he was returning to race in the Isle of Man TT to round off the year, in which he became an MBE.

John McGuinness signs new deal with Honda

Image credit: @jm130tt. John McGuinness at the 1997 British GP 250 wildcard

This will not be the first time McGuinness has raced for Honda having previously done so from 1998 – 2002 and from 2006 – 2017 when he had a Superbike accident at the North West 200 in Northern Ireland, which left him with broken vertebrae, ribs and compound fractures to his right lower leg. The accident required surgeons to remove 50mm from his leg and needed an external fixator cage to ‘grow’ new bone.

After two years racing at the TT with Norton, McGuinness is thrilled to be back with Honda: “I have a long relationship with Honda” stated McGuinness.

“My old Honda bosses had been nibbling away at my ear asking ‘How’s the family? How are you doing?’ They had some ideas for TT 2022. I was just about to turn 50, it’s the 30th anniversary of the Fireblade, so all sorts of planets lined up. They offered me a package and a deal and it’s like putting a pair of old slippers back on, it just felt right. 

“I had a lot of success with Honda. When I left before it was like a divorce, but not really wanting to have a divorce, we split up and now we’ve got back together and scribbled on the dotted line.”

John McGuinness’ first bike 

Image credit: @jm130tt

Unlike most riders McGuinness started riding a motorcycle at the age of four. McGuinness exclusively told the Fuelling Around podcast how his dad allowed him to rip around his local industrial estate as his dad worked in his bike shop.

“My dad had a bike shop and he’d be servicing a bike or selling one, and I had a little Italia Jet 50. My dad started it up and said ‘right son get yourself on that.’ I was only 4-years-old and I used to rip around an industrial estate in Morecambe and nobody was bothered. 

“All the other people in the garages, machine shops and joiner shops nearby weren’t bothered because it was just the norm to see me hurtling around the estate on my bike. 

“Nowadays the police helicopter would be in the sky looking for me, the bike would be crushed and you’d get a black mark by your name.”

McGuinness used to love roaring around his local estate on his Italia Jet 50, but it wasn’t until six years later that he realised what he wanted to do with his life. “I remember I went to the Isle of Man TT when I was 10-years-old, went to see the practice for the first time and just the noise, the smell and the speed, it ignited something in me to want to do it.” 

Enjoy plenty more Fuelling Around

Series three is motoring along at pace but there’s still a wealth of previous episodes for you to wrap your ears around.

A string of celebrity guests have littered the award-winning offering that has so far produced a string of cracking episodes to listen to. 

You can also tune into Fuelling Around on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.