‘I’m not any slower’: Peter Hickman prepares for Isle of Man TT return after 140mph crash

“The last two years have not gone my way at all, really; I was probably due some bad luck”.

Luck is a very relative term when the Isle of Man TT is concerned. A 140mph crash is pretty unlucky, particularly when it came through no fault of your own. But to walk away from a 140mph crash at the TT, there is a strong argument to be made that Peter Hickman is a very lucky individual indeed.

Describing the incident at the time as a “slap”, Hickman came off his 8TEN Racing BMW during qualifying last year at the Kerrowmoar section of the 37.75-mile TT course. He suffered chest, back, shoulder and facial injuries. The cause of the crash: a failed exhaust mounting bracket.

He was knocked about badly. But he, miraculously, wasn’t in hospital for long, and was able to be present for Davey Todd’s Superbike TT victory for 8TEN Racing, the team both riders co-own, after founding it in the winter when FHO Racing ceased its racing activities.

Hickman returned to racing later in 2025 and has been hard at work this season, competing in the British Superbike Championship, as well as pushing forward with the next phase of 8TEN Racing, and preparing for his TT campaign.

“I had four years before that of everything going really, really well. So, unfortunately, that’s life. Life doesn’t stay rosy all the time. I’d love it to, but it doesn’t,” he tells Crash in an exclusive interview during the 2026 TT launch event in April.

There was a time when Peter Hickman could do no wrong on the Isle of Man. His breakout victories in 2018, including a new all-time lap record in a Senior TT thriller against Dean Harrison, paved the way for years of success. He scored three more wins in 2019, then four in 2022 when the TT returned after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.

In 2023, he celebrated another four wins, including the Senior TT, as well as a crushing display in the second Superstock race that year to smash the all-time lap record and reset it at 136.358mph. To this day, it’s not been beaten.

Things got harder in 2024. As Michael Dunlop took the all-time winners’ record to new heights, Hickman had a disappointing year, by his lofty standards. He scored a win in a dramatic Superbike TT, and a handful of podiums. By any measure, that’s far from a bad week of work. But you don’t get to 14 wins on the Isle of Man without being at a high level, and Hickman knew he was capable of more.

That was supposed to come in 2025, before his 140mph crash during practice week.

"I don't remember a lot..."

“I had quite a big head trauma at the time from the actual accident,” he said. “So, I remember bits. I don’t remember a lot. And I was still in quite a bad way, even at the end of TT. So, there’s not a lot of memory that I have of TT 2025, which is probably a good thing!”

What he does remember is that during practice week, he was surprisingly fast. Now, to brand a 14-time TT winner and the all-time lap record holder ‘surprisingly fast’ is a bit unfair. But, as he openly admits, Hickman is not a rider to come swinging out of the blocks. He has a more methodical approach, where he builds into his laps and steadily gains confidence to begin really pushing.

More surprisingly for him was that he was quick out of the gates on the Superbike, which he’d been struggling with in 2024. That’s only added to the motivation he has coming into TT 2026.

“I can’t wait to get back,” he added. “I want to get riding around the best track in the world, enjoy myself and have a big smile on my face. I remember little bits before the accident last year, and I know that I was pretty fast for me, in particular, because I’m not someone who ever normally comes out the box fast.

“I’m not somebody who’s fast right away, and I know I was fast immediately, particularly on the Superbike, which is quite interesting as it’s the bike I struggled with the last few years. The two years previously, the Superbike was not the easiest thing to ride, and last year, straight out in practice, I was pretty fast on it immediately. But I just want to get back and get riding and enjoy myself, and I’ve got all my mates and my family around me, and I can’t wait to get going.”

The 39-year-old hasn’t had an easy start to the 2026 BSB season, with Hickman yet to score points after two rounds. That, in large part, is a continued aftereffect of his TT crash from last year. Suffering numerous injuries, the biggest has definitely been nerve damage in his right shoulder. It’s impacting him more on short circuits, which is forcing him to compensate for the lack of strength by using other parts of his body to ride the bike.

That said, he doesn’t believe that will be the issue at the TT, where there are plenty of sections that allow for rest.

“The problem with nerve damage is that it takes a long time,” he explained. “There’s no shortcuts to it, there’s no hurrying it up. It just is what it is, to a certain degree. I had an operation on it originally, just because there was so much damage to my shoulder and my arm. And since then, it’s been about just trying to work it as much as possible. The nerve stopped telling my muscle what to do, so my deltoid muscle has basically wasted away. So, I’m trying to build that muscle back. The nerve is starting to regenerate properly.

“It just takes a long time and there’s no way of hurrying it. So, I’m just working as hard as I can do, riding the bike as much as possible and trying to get as fit as possible for TT. But I can ride a bike pretty good, anyway. My speed is still there; I’m not any slower. I can still do what I want to do. My biggest problem is actually a bit of longevity, or stamina; I don’t have any stamina in my arm because the muscle is just not strong enough. So, I have to compensate using other bits, and then I wear myself out because of that. But mainly on short circuits, because obviously I’ve not ridden anything like TT since TT last year. There’s quite a few sections where you can rest quite a bit at the TT. So, it’s just a theory at the minute, but I actually think I’ll be better at somewhere like the TT, than at somewhere like Oulton Park, where there is zero rest.”

Asked what he’s having to do to compensate in his riding, he added: “Just body position, more than anything. I can’t always put myself in the position that I’d want to be in, or would naturally be in, just because my arm won’t let me do it; after a certain amount of laps, my arm just sort of gives up.

“So I have to use other parts of my body to be able to do what I want to do, and put more weight in the right area for the bike to work properly. So, it’s not necessarily painful or anything: it’s probably more uncomfortable. It’s nothing major, it’s just not how I would be normally.”

"We didn't even have a truck at TT last year"

Since we did this interview, Hickman competed at the North West 200 and looked in solid shape. He won the opening Sportbike race on his Swan Yamaha, and bagged a couple of fourth-place finishes on the 8TEN BMW M1000RR Superbike.

The TT, of course, is a completely different beast. But, given where Hickman has come from, you would be writing him off over the next couple of weeks at your own peril.

One thing that’s certainly much more straightforward coming into TT 2026 for Hickman is 8TEN Racing. The outfit only had one bike between two riders when testing for the new season began. This year, all the bikes are in order, the team has a new workshop and everything is ticking along nicely.

“This time last year, we had one bike. I didn’t have mine, but he [Davey Todd] had his,” he said.

“So, we’re in a much stronger position, much better position, much more prepared. The bikes look good and are starting to feel good already. So, happy enough with how we’re going along.

“We’ve got a truck now. We didn’t even have a truck at TT last year! We have our own premises. It’s all coming together. This was always a long-term plan with 8TEN. It was never a short-term thing. It was all about building for the future and being in charge of our own destiny, which is exactly what we’re doing.”

He added: “We’ve got some great supporters in BMW, for a start, of course. Monster, Zeeco, Wolf Oil. The companies and people we’ve got involved are really on board with what me and Davey have been trying to build for the future. We’ve got a great team manager in Darren Jones, which means me and Davey don’t have to think about any of the running of the actual team, because he does it all.

“Without him, we would be pretty knackered, to be totally honest. He looks after the whole job, as he did at FHO, as he did at the Smiths Racing before that, at GB Racing before that. So, he’s been in that sort of role for a long time. Honestly, we turn up to race and that’s all we have to think about, is being a rider - not having to think about anything else. It works really well. The team is working really, really good.”

Unfortunately, Davey Todd has been ruled out of TT 2026 as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a nasty crash at the Daytona 200 at the start of the year. So, Hickman will be flying solo on the 8TEN side for the big bike classes.

TT 2026 is shaping up to be a stacked contest, maybe the most competitive in a long time. Hickman will have designs on getting into that lead battle. But, given where he has come from, simply setting off down Glencrutchery Road next week is a victory in itself…