INTERVIEW: TT legends McGuinness and Todd on getting “stuck in” at Revival

McGuinness has the calm composure of a man with nothing to prove, yet the 52-year-old still has the drive to operate the top flight of road racing. In this year’s TT he set a personal best time on a Superstock bike and a personal best over six laps. “I was fifth, sixth and seventh,” he says. “You look at it and think that’s rubbish, but I was happy with that and content with the results. I still enjoy riding the bikes, and that’s what it’s about for me now. Ten years ago, if I wasn’t winning, I’d be sulking a bit. Now I just like to ride in that area I’m comfortable with and a nice little rhythm, still fast enough to hold my own.”

It’s a different perspective from first-time TT winner Todd. “Getting two wins was a dream come true,” he says, and the circumstances added enormously to the sense of achievement. “After a race-long battle with Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman it was the perfect way to win my first one. Nobody had any problems or retirements or anything like that, it was a straight-up battle. To come out on top was a dream come true for my first win.” To cap it off, he followed up that Superstock victory with a win in the Senior.

The buzz from that win was still coursing through Todd’s veins several months later. “Normally, a win like British Championship or anything like that is an awesome feeling, but it sort of goes away in the next day or two. But that feeling from winning the TT is still with me a good few months later. I still think about it throughout the day, probably nearly every day.”

In the moment, when the riders are putting in the laps, there’s not a chance to enjoy it or even feel a sense of excitement. Says Todd: “What in the world can you possibly compare the TT to? What else requires that amount of concentration for just shy of two hours? You can’t afford to lapse in concentration or the worst could happen. There’s no other sport or anything in the world that will be the same as that.”

McGuinness adds his view. “You’re concentrating, reacting to things so you’re not on the bike massively enjoying the TT race. Even the straights are challenging with the bumps and the nature of the circuit. People go on about the Nürburgring and all that lot; they’re just car parks. There’s nothing in the world that compares to the TT. I’ve done 112 starts, and there’s always something that comes out and bite you at the backside. So it’s just absolute full-on concentration. You can’t just grab it by the horns. You’ve got to try and getting a rhythm, a breathing rhythm, a riding rhythm.”

Todd speaks of the nerves while waiting on the start line. “It’s an eerie feeling, it’s scary,” he says. But that soon evaporates. “When you’re out there you’ve no time to think about anything else. You don’t have time to actually feel anything as such. You’re so concentrated on what you’re doing, thinking about the next corner and the next corner, and being on the right line and missing a bump that’s there or making sure you’re doing everything correctly, not making mistakes.”

TT racers have their own relationship with risk, but it leads to a perception that McGuinness strongly disputes. “Everybody thinks we’re nutters, that we’ve got a screw loose. It’s the most frustrating thing in the world for us. I’ve done 52,000 miles around there, and if you’ve got a screw loose, you’re going to last five minutes. Simple as that. It’s all calculated, it’s all assessed.” Todd adds: “Every second, every inch, every mile is completely thought-out and rehearsed to the tightest degree. You can’t switch your brain off for a second.”

Because the inherent risk is so high, TT riders can’t afford to layer that with any recklessness. It’s a completely different mindset to riding on a race track, or short circuit in motorcycle lingo. The approach to the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy at the Goodwood Revival is completely different. “You can go round here and everyone is looking at each other and giving each other Vs and touching each other’s backsides and all, we have no chance to do that at the TT,” says McGuinness. “Everybody knows the risks, that kind of short circuit to do some crazy moves on each other sometimes, but at the TT you don’t.”

That sense of looking out for each other extends to the spectators. “They’re trusted. If you lean too far over a hedge or sit too far over a wall or something you’d get clipped by a bike at 200mph and it’d be catastrophic. The spectators are as much a part of the TT as the riders are. That’s what makes it so special as well.”

And TT riders are not above spending time watching from the sidelines. “We went to watch a couple of times at different locations around the course,” says Todd, “and we get an adrenaline rush from just watching. You wouldn’t on a short circuit or anywhere else in the world, but at the TT you get a buzz from being a spectator, a real proper adrenaline rush.”

2024 marked Todd’s fourth visit to the Goodwood Revival, and he loves coming to our part of West Sussex every September. “As an event as a whole, it’s something that I think we all love coming to. It’s just so cool. You get the clothes on, you ride the classic bikes. When you end up leaving here on Sunday, it’s weird to go back to the modern day and age.”

McGuinness didn’t attend his first Revival until 2016, despite being told how good it is. “It’s a bit like the TT,” he says. “You get told about it, but you don't really believe it until you experience it. When I came in 2016, I said to the wife ‘I’m not getting dressed up,’ but if you don’t you look [out of place]. I never get dressed up, but I actually quite like to look smart for once. And my family’s here. They all love it. We camp on site and the atmosphere in the campsite is mint. It’s special.”

The atmosphere is a big part of the draw for everyone at Revival, but those fortunate enough to compete take the weekend to another level. “The Festival of Speed [presented by Mastercard] is great, but you just sort of go up the Hill. Here you’re having a bit of a dust up, so you roll your sleeves up and you get stuck in.”

We spoke just after the very wet Official Practice for the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy on the Friday, and it was the weather that coloured the experience for every rider. “I don’t think I’ve been as wet on the motorbike for a long time. I mean, my underpants were just full, my feet were full.

“I think everybody did a good job. It would have been so easy just to end up on your backside. It’s a funny circuit. There are some undulations and dips, and water sat here and there to really catch you out, but everybody rode safe.”

Todd had adequate compensation for his saturated leathers. “I’m happier than most. I came in soaking wet through as everybody did, but it always feels a little bit better when you’re on pole position. I really wasn’t sure how the bike [a rigid chassis 1929 BMW R63 Kompressor] was going to handle. The thing’s a missile with a supercharged engine. I was a bit nervous taking it out in the wet with the rigid chassis but honestly, it went pretty well. I’m happy with it. Me and John got a lap or two riding around together, so that’s always fun.”

There’s a definite sense that the Revival marks a weekend away from the pressures of modern motorsport. They’re still in it to win it, of course, but the stakes are lower and the moment can be enjoyed more easily. A week after the Revival, they were off to Oulton Park for the British Superbike Championship. McGuinness is at the stage of his career where he can pick and choose the venues he enjoys competing at. Todd is leading the championship and therefore has to be at every event, putting his all in. And when the British season comes to an end, he’s going to New Zealand. “Most people are looking forward to the off season, but I don't like any time off a bike. I ride and race as much as I can wherever I can. So I’ll be flat out wherever it may be.”

After half an hour in the company of these kindred spirits it’s clear that, despite the generational difference, they share a will to live life to the fullest. While we all may enjoy motorsport, these are people who take that enthusiasm to a rarefied level and it’s fascinating to see that manifest itself in a form of racing where few could thrive.

Photography by Pete Summers and Toby Whales.