Closer To The Edge – Motorcycle Speed Freaks at The Isle of Man
Guy Martin’s story, as do most great stories, doesn’t play without some controversy.
Martin is essentially the “star” of TT3D: Closer to the Edge, a documentary film about the Isle of Man TT races which examines the motivations of the riders who race the TT and risk it all to become “King of the Mountain” and take home the Marquis de Mouzilly St Mars Trophy. Filmed in 3D, the action follows the leading riders in the 2010 Isle of Man race, in particular Guy Martin and Ian Hutchinson.
“He’s created a Guy Martin brand without even trying and that’s also pretty special…”
Simon Buckmaster, the team manager for Performance Technical Racing and Martin’s former boss, said Martin is ‘popular but flawed.’
“He needs to stop being distracted and lift his professionalism. Instead of being a TV star and courting publicity, he should be concentrating on racing and what’s needed to win. Get his focus and concentration into racing, not promoting his name and money-spinning deals. At the TT he made a tire company choice based more on financial gain to him than maybe the best tire choice and paid the price,” Buckmaster said. “He needs to drop the ‘I am only interested in racing my bikes and sleeping in the van act’ and actually show that winning is the most important thing to him; as they say actions speak louder than words.”
On the other hand, for a man who came from nothing and built his own legend, Martin’s results are nothing short of astonishing.
Guy Martin’s 2011 TT Results
| Race | Position | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superbike | DNF | ||
| Supersport Race 1 | 3rd | 0:54:56:06 | 123.628 |
| Superstock | 3rd | 1:11:36.59 | 126.452 |
| Supersport Race 2 | 3rd | 1:13:29.28 | 123.220 |
| Senior | 2nd | 1:45:53:00 | 128.281 |
Martin’s new boss, Philip Neill of Relentless Suzuki, thinks he has the formula to get the popular racer, finally, to the top of the heap.
“It’s been a difficult decision changing our line-up as we pride ourselves on loyalty. In saying that, Guy is a rider I’ve wanted to work with for a couple of seasons now, and my loyalty to other riders probably held that decision back a little. He came to us full of enthusiasm and wants to do things our way, which was a good starting point. And on top of that, I’m a sucker for a challenge and I like Guy’s free spirit attitude. He’s created a Guy Martin brand without even trying and that’s also pretty special. We know he’s a very talented rider and has been extremely unlucky not to have won races at both the North West 200 and the TT,” Neill said. “Our motivation is to complete that task, while making sure Guy also fulfils his commercial responsibility representing a manufacturer backed team. Having spoken to him at length before we agreed a deal, I know he won’t let Suzuki or our sponsors down.”
What does Martin think about the changes and the controversy? He’s taking it all in stride.
“It’s been steady away boy… steady away,” Martin said. “We are making good headway and are not bothered with the stopwatch. We’ve had three days working very hard on the Superbike and we gave the ‘stock bike a run out. I’ve found some good direction. t’s all looking grand.”
Guy Martin - Closer to the Edge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QldZiR9eQ_0
You can Guy Martin’s progress on his website and Facebook page…