“I don’t get upset I can’t win anymore”: John McGuinness on 30 years at the Isle of Man TT

It is a fact I concealed when John McGuinness joined me on the other end of a Zoom call link ahead of the official Isle of Man TT launch event, but I was still a few months from being born when he made his debut on the Mountain Course in 1996.

It’s rare in sport for a superstar - and McGuinness is a superstar - to still be competing 30 years into their career, not least at the age of 54. Not that McGuinness gives off any signs that this is a rider very much in the twilight of his career.

Thirty years in, McGuinness continues to have full factory machinery under the Honda banner. He may not be doing any ultramarathons, but he remains fit. And, most crucially, he’s still fast. While McGuinness has been scaling back the classes he races in at the TT now, he bagged a top seven last year in the Superbike race, and was fifth in the Senior the year before. He’s still lapping above the 130mph he first breached in 2007, and even set a personal best at Donington during a test just a few weeks ago.

So, don’t expect his 30th anniversary celebrations to be a mere parade: he’s not here simply to make up the numbers.

“I’ve just got to concentrate on what I’m doing, focus and keep dialled in and try not to let that get too much in the way,” he tells Crash when asked about his emotions about his 30th TT anniversary.

“But it’s nice, it’s really nice. I still feel good. I still feel like I’m riding good, testing fast. We’ve got a grip of the bikes, to a certain degree. So, I think it’s like another year but not; it’s like another year, but a nice story. The story is really cool. I feel dead proud to be able to still warrant having a factory Honda, setting off at number one - all the pressure’s on your shoulders to set off at number one! There’s a few little cool things happening at the TT that we can’t talk about too much. But, I still have that burning passion to come and ride on the Isle of Man.”

McGuinness took his first podium at the TT in 1997, in the Lightweight race. In 1999, he bagged his first in the same class. That marked win number one of 23, the most recent one a stunning ride to victory against bookies’ odds in the 2015 Senior TT. Only two other riders, Michael Dunlop and Joey Dunlop, have more wins than McGuinness.

He was still on podium pace in 2016, but a serious leg injury in 2017 during the North West 200 brought things to a shuddering halt. He wouldn’t race again at the TT until 2019, in a disastrous campaign with Norton. Then the COVID pandemic hit. During that period of inactivity, old wounds with Honda - with whom he has enjoyed the most success - following his accident in 2017 had healed, and he was back with the brand for 2022 to tally up his 100th TT start.

I sat down with McGuinness during that TT and asked about retirement. He’d noted earlier in 2022 that it could have been his last TT. As that year’s event came to a close, he was still conflicted. 

John McGuinness on retirement: "I'll know when it's the right time..."

Every year since has had the potential to be the retirement campaign. It comes up, the first time unprompted, again during this interview. In equal measure, it feels both the closest it’s ever been, but the door remains open for him to continue racing.

“At some point… last year, the Senior didn’t happen, and I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t retire, that’s no good, I’ll have to have another go next year’,” he said. “There’s always little bits of reasons why you carry on. But I still quietly want to be fast, I still want to improve on myself all the time. Last year, it was the fastest ever six laps I did. So, all good! Twenty years with Honda, normally they’d flick somebody like that and get somebody else on, but they still love me. So, good!.”

He added later on: “It’s not too far away, let’s put it that way. It’s not too far away. It would be lovely to cross the line at the Senior and go, ‘That was great, finished sixth, done’. We’ll see. I’m sure I’ll know when the right time is to stop.”

What’s evident, despite the inevitability that his racing career will have to end at some point, is that he’s lost no love for the TT. McGuinness admits he comes to the TT knowing that his days of winning are gone, and has made peace with that. He remains fast enough to warrant a factory Honda ride and the respect that entails, while he’s found motivation in working closely with his son, Ewan, and helping his team-mate, Dean Harrison.

“It’s simply little things I enjoy,” he said. “Like, the paint job on the bike looks trick. The UPS van coming up the drive with my new Alpinestars leather in it, I’m at the end of the drive waiting for the van. I’ve had loads of pairs of leathers, but I still get super excited about all the new kit coming. I get excited going to Spain [to test], I love working with Dean [Harrison], all the team.

“It’s all sorts of other things apart from just the TT. My job is changing a bit at Honda, bit more ambassador stuff. We’re working good together. You want to beat your team-mate, but I want Dean to win. I thought my answer would have been answered by other riders sort of knocking me down the field, really, pinching my ride off me.

“But, at the minute, I’m still in that area where I can hold my own. I look at myself in the mirror and think ‘you silly old twat’. But it’s just a number now. I’m not going to think about it anymore. I’m just John McGuinness, the bike racer, and I’ll put my leathers on and go ride my bike. I don’t get upset that I can’t win anymore. Ten years ago, I’d have been sulking not to win. But now I’m alright; I love just being on the track.”

Asked if there is motivation in proving people wrong still through his form, he replied: “I used to just think, ‘I’m going to serve it into you, have that’. Now, I don’t. I think it’s a personal thing; I don’t get too upset about where I finish. I love working with my son. My son is on the spanners with us; he gets hands-on, he’s a numbers man, he’s a stats man, he’s positive with me all the time.

“The till is still ringing and the bills are still coming, all my sponsors are really proud of me and are really positive and don’t put any pressure on me. Win, lose or draw, they’ve been with me when I’ve been injured, been with me when I’ve won, been with me when I’ve been struggling. So, it’s just a happy, little sweet spot I’m in. A rostrum would be the icing on the cake. I think one more TT rostrum would be mega.”

'If I want to ride, there's a bike for me...'

There is a clear new world order at the TT, helmed by the likes of 33-time winner Michael Dunlop, Harrison, Davey Todd and Peter Hickman, and it has been the case for some time now. But McGuinness believes age and experience are helping him to remain a top six contender in the big bike races on the Isle of Man.

“I think it’s a muscle memory, very repetitive thing, it’s a timing thing,” he explains. “I think experience. I wouldn’t say I’m the fittest guy in the world, but I’m a creature of habit: same food, I hate coming out of my little comfort zone. I’m a bit finicky, really - a bit weird.

“But I can go out on the track and go fast. At Oulton Park, I was P1 in session one because I’ve done a billion laps. Then the others half my age catch me up and pass me. That’s why the TT, I can still do it, because I can get my heart rate down, I can ride the bike. I can ride the apexes, I know how to set the bike up. So, it’s still working.”

What works most of all is the freedom Honda has given McGuinness to operate. Despite the ultra-successful history both parties have enjoyed together, and the grandeur of the Honda brand in motorcycle racing in general, the team has put no pressure on McGuinness. If he wants to ride, then it will have a bike ready for him. If he wants to call time, the team is happy if he wants to do that in the middle of a race; ideally, he’ll do so by a pub.

“Honda could have stepped me aside, or run three bikes… they were going to run three bikes with Nathan Harrison. They just said to me, ‘if you want to ride, there’s a bike there for you’. And very uniquely, they said, ‘if you want to stop, stop’,” he revealed.

“Of all the budget and effort to go into it, it’s very unusual for a team to say… my boss said to me if I wanted to stop in the middle of a race, stop in the middle of the race; ‘just stop outside a pub on the TT track, and we’ll come and have a pint with you’. How cool is that?

“My life is balanced up nicely. It’s great. I don’t want it to change. I don’t want to have any interference; I don’t want to have any hassle. It’s just all good and so nicely balanced. I just love it.”

McGuinness has been a major draw at the TT for a long time now. Yet, he has also transcended road racing, his achievements celebrated throughout the motorsport landscape. As such, you could understand if he let all of that get to his head. But that’s what’s made him so endearing for these past 30 years: his feet have always been firmly planted on the ground.

As we wrap up, I ask him what a successful TT 2026 would look like. He has a goal in mind, but the main thing is that he just enjoys himself. What happens beyond that, we’ll see.

“Four top six finishes. Come home in one piece. And then the cherry on top would be a rostrum,” he said. “And then I’ll do a streak down the prom - that’ll be interesting…

“But, no, I just hope to enjoy. Be safe. Good weather. And then that will be me, complete…”