109 Facts About Guy Martin

Guy Martin was born on 4 November 1981 and is a British former motorcycle racer and heavy vehicle mechanic who became a television presenter.

Guy Martin has a total of 17 podium finishes at TT events over several years.

Guy Martin has broken his back twice in racing accidents, in the 2010 TT and the 2015 Ulster Grand Prix.

Guy Martin returned to road racing in May 2019 at the Tandragee 100 in Northern Ireland.

Guy Martin starred in Closer to the Edge, a 2011 documentary on TT racing.

Guy Martin has since presented programmes on various engineering topics and the Channel 4 series Speed with Guy Martin when he set speed records in a variety of human and engine powered vehicles.

Guy Martin has authored four books, and competed in mountain bike pedal-cycle races.

Guy Martin was born on 4 November 1981 in a suburb of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England.

Guy Martin was named Guy in tribute to Guy Gibson of No 617 Squadron RAF.

Guy Martin's father Ian was a successful privateer motorbike racer who had competed in several Isle of Man TT events, but he was forced to supplement his income with a job as a lorry mechanic, additionally selling bikes.

Guy Martin's brother, Stuart, is a truck mechanic and motorbike racer.

Martin and his siblings attended every Isle of Man TT from their births, until their father Ian crashed his Yamaha FZ750 whilst racing at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough in 1988, when Guy was aged 7.

Guy Martin attended Kirmington Church of England Primary School and The Vale Academy school, leaving at age 16.

Guy Martin had shown an interest in working on trucks as early as age 12.

Guy Martin worked for his father, who at the time was self-employed, running a truck maintenance business.

Guy Martin only takes short periods off to race or do television work.

Guy Martin earns money by tuning fellow racers' bikes in the evenings, and takes casual work during TT race weeks.

Guy Martin returned to the Isle of Man at age 16; overhearing lorry driver and amateur racer Baz Kirk discussing his plans to race in the 1997 Manx Grand Prix with his father, he was offered the chance to assist him as a race mechanic.

Guy Martin decided to take up racing after a crash on public roads at age 18.

In 2006 Guy Martin raced for Alistair Flanagan's AIM Yamaha race team, replacing John McGuinness.

The end of 2009 saw Guy Martin leave Hydrex for Northern Ireland-based Wilson Craig Honda, but since November 2010, Guy Martin has raced for TAS Racing, the team run by the Neill family based in Northern Ireland, and with a long TT heritage.

Guy Martin agreed a new deal for 2015 with TAS after the team agreed a new equipment deal with BMW Motorrad, to ride the BMW S1000RR alongside William Dunlop.

Guy Martin was prepared to retire had TAS not chosen to switch to BMW, believing he had raced the Suzuki as hard as he could.

Guy Martin suffered a serious crash in the Dundrod 150 Superbike event, part of the Ulster Grand Prix races in August 2015.

Guy Martin was uncertain if the decision would lead him to retire from road racing, mountain bike racing, or if he would go on to do something else, but said "if I do race on the roads it will be with TAS".

Guy Martin signed a new deal with Honda Racing on 18 January 2017 to ride the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2, rekindling his ambition to win the Isle of Man TT and renewing his focus on his road racing career.

Guy Martin first came to the attention of TV executives in 2009 when he appeared in an ITV4 programme intended primarily for fans of that year's TT race.

Martin's first appearances on TV documentaries were on programmes based around his passion for engineering rather than his love of adrenaline sport, The Boat that Guy Built airing on the BBC in 2011, and How Britain Worked on Channel 4 in 2012.

Guy Martin's thrill-seeking side later emerged with the production of the series Speed with Guy Martin, first airing on Channel 4 in 2013.

Guy Martin later turned down an invitation from Chris Evans to join the new presenting team of the BBC's motoring show, Top Gear.

Guy Martin has subsequently published further titles, "We Need to Weaken the Mixture" and "Dead Men Don't Tell Tales".

Guy Martin is listed as the author of companion books for some of his television shows: How Britain Worked, published on 4 October 2012 and Speed, published on 1 December 2013.

Guy Martin writes for the driving section of The Sunday Times newspaper.

Guy Martin has written car reviews on the 2015 Aston Martin Vanquish Carbon, the 2015 Range Rover Sport SVR, the 2015 Ford Transit L2 H2, and the 2016 Ford Mustang V8 GT, as well as writing about his own Volvo Vox and his Wall of Death show.

Guy Martin was confirmed to be "completely uninjured" and the record attempt was postponed once more.

Guy Martin has retained his truck job in part due to the financial security it offered over racing.

Guy Martin seeks out casual work as a way to switch off during TT events.

Guy Martin is not comfortable with being a public figure and rejects any notion that he is a celebrity, turning down offers such as Top Gear's Star In A Reasonably Priced Car segment.

Guy Martin would be quite happy if nobody watched his shows, as it would mean he would never get recognized.

Guy Martin prefers to live out of his van while racing or on television shoots.

Guy Martin fears being seen as inauthentic if he became a full-time presenter, seeing some in the industry as "passionate about anything that they're told to be passionate about".

Guy Martin had only watched one of his shows, the Pike's Peak episode of Speed, and only on the recommendation of a usually unimpressed friend.

Guy Martin wants to go fast and get near death, while walking away.

Guy Martin's television producer agrees, stating "he's not stubborn, or reckless, he's calculating".

Guy Martin has never wanted to race motorbikes full-time, believing he would get sick of the sight of them, and liking the ability of being able to point to his amateur status to professionals, as both an excuse when he loses and a way to gloat when he wins.

Guy Martin decided to prioritise cycling over the TT in 2016 as he felt he was nearing the point where he would be too old to compete properly, and after 11 seasons at the TT he was beginning to find the routine of the motorcycle season monotonous.

Guy Martin continued to race on the English scene and he regained his Cock o' the North title at the Scarborough circuit before going to Ireland for the Kells Road Races in which he took one race win.

Guy Martin was eleven seconds in the lead when an electrical problem forced him out on the fourth lap.

Guy Martin claimed a podium, third, in the Superstock race but suffered further retirements in the Senior and second Supersport races.

Guy Martin won the feature event and now has won 6 Gold Cups in a row, a new record, and has the lap record for the 1000cc bikes at Scarborough with a time of 1:45.3.

In 2009 Guy Martin contested all three Internationals as well as selected British Championship and Irish National races.

Guy Martin placed fourth and fifth in the equally close Superstock and Supersport races.

At the 2009 Gold Cup at Oliver's Mount, Guy Martin won the Steve Henshaw Gold Cup feature race, becoming the first rider to win seven consecutive meetings.

Guy Martin went to the Isle of Man TT, looking to achieve his first TT victory.

However, the meeting was dominated by Ian Hutchinson, who took a record-breaking five victories in all the solo races, and Guy Martin suffered serious injuries in a major crash in the final race.

Guy Martin recalled being thrown from the bike and accepting he was not going to survive the approaching high speed impact with a wall, attributing it to luck that he hit it at the right angle to get away with it.

Guy Martin finished second in the opening superbike race behind Bruce Anstey on the Padgetts racing Honda Fireblade.

Guy Martin made his first 2012 appearance at the Cookstown 100 meeting in preparation for the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT.

Guy Martin brought his race season to a close winning five races at Scarborough's Oliver Mount Gold Cup.

Guy Martin took part in the Ryan Farquhar Parade lap on one of Ryan's own KMR Kawasaki's.

Guy Martin was lucky to escape injury while competing in the superbike race, and was battling for the lead of the race on a Suzuki XR69 with Jamie Coward, when he crashed on the final lap.

Guy Martin made a good start to the Superbike TT, and at the end of the first lap he was lying in third place behind John McGuinness and Cameron Donald.

Guy Martin continued to hold station during the following three laps, but a problem during his final pit stop at the end of lap four, resulted in the team being unable to replace his rear tyre.

Guy Martin joined his teammates in early March 2015, for pre-season testing.

Guy Martin opened his 2015 season at the Oliver's Mount Circuit on Saturday 11 April, at which he recorded a maiden victory on his BMW S1000RR Superstock at the Scarborough venue.

Guy Martin continued his fine early season form by winning the opening Royal Hotel Superbike Race, and then sealing a brace of superbike wins at the feature race, the KDM Cookstown 100, again accomplished on Superstock machinery.

On return from a practice lap on his Supersport machine, Guy Martin was briefly interviewed by BBC Sport presenter Stephen Watson.

Guy Martin did not make an impression in any of the races, and failed to finish in the top six.

Guy Martin then secured his only podium place of the meeting, again on board the Smiths Triumph Daytona, when he claimed 3rd place in the second Supersport outing.

However, Guy Martin edged him out, taking the lead on lap 3 and thereafter dicing for the lead with Kneen and Michael Dunlop.

On board his BMW S1000RR Guy Martin took to the grid for the finale to the event, the Southern 100 Solo Championship.

Lap 3 saw Guy Martin maintain his lead, however Dunlop low sided at Ballabeg Hairpin putting him out of the race.

The ensuing melee enabled Guy Martin and Kneen to break free from the chasing pack and their two-way battle ensued into the following lap.

Guy Martin crashed at high speed when leading the 2015 Dundrod 150 Superbike race in August.

Guy Martin signed himself out of hospital four days later.

Guy Martin stated that while he had accidents that looked worse, this was the one that caused the most damage.

In January 2016 Guy Martin confirmed he would not be racing the 2016 Isle of Man TT as it clashed with a mountain bike race he wanted to compete in, and he would not be racing the prior North West 200 due to the mountain bike training.

Guy Martin took the big Honda to fifth place in the first Superbike Race, however he again failed to start in the second race.

When queried on a previous statement made after the 2015 meeting that he would not return to the triangle circuit, Guy Martin commented that the primary reason was to get the necessary race-time to enter the Isle of Man TT Races.

Guy Martin confirmed that he enjoyed riding at the Northwest 200 and that he had development work to do with the new Honda.

When queried why he did not renew his association with the Irish Tyco BMW Team, Guy Martin stated that after the 2015 accident, he had decided to retire from racing but still had respect for Tyco BMW, concluding during the Tour Divide cycle race that he no longer had passion for racing.

The 2017 Isle of Man TT qualifying week was disrupted by poor weather and Guy Martin had little track time.

Guy Martin was unable to offer an opinion as to whether the bike would be safe to ride in the Senior TT, merely describing the SP2 as a "Jonah".

At the start of the season Guy Martin confirmed his intention to compete at the 2017 Southern 100 races on the Isle of Man.

However following the problems with the Honda CBR1000RR SP2 at the TT races, Guy Martin decided not to participate at the event.

On 26 July 2017, it was officially announced that Guy Martin had retired from motorcycle racing.

Guy Martin had provisionally entered the earlier Cookstown event but failed to appear.

Guy Martin has successfully raced mountain bikes in cross country, downhill races and endurance races.

Guy Martin achieved his goal of a podium-finish during a 2013 British Championship event in Fort William, Scotland.

Guy Martin placed second in the male solo rider category at the Strathpuffer 24-hour mountain bike race in both 2014 and 2015.

Guy Martin achieved an ambition and competed in the 2016 Tour Divide mountain bike race, which runs from Banff, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, negotiating the Rocky Mountains, beginning on 11 June.

Guy Martin completed the course, taking 18 days, six hours and 23 minutes, with an average of 150 miles a day.

Guy Martin competed in the 2019 Arizona trail race, however he struggled to finish and he said " I was looking for something to break me, and this did".

Guy Martin participates in a promenade concert, and covers the Victorian craze of sea bathing.

Guy Martin covers the engineering behind the Victorian fashion for collecting plants from around the world, to be shown off in extravagant botanical gardens.

Guy Martin joins the team with four months left, and once certified by the team's chief engineer, is permitted to assist in preparing it for a 1,000 mile farewell tour, as it is jacked up for a vertical alignment test.

Guy Martin takes the controls of one of the other surviving Vulcans in taxiable condition, for a fast taxi manoeuvre.

Guy Martin is shown embarking on a 1,000-mile motorbike trip, as he explores rarely seen aspects of modern India en route to Rider Mania, described as "one of the world's maddest bike races".

In 2017, Guy Martin purchased the pub in his home village.

Guy Martin owned a Merlin aero engine from a 1942 Lancaster bomber, and a Scania 144 530 truck engine.

Guy Martin has a 1915 Amanco Chore Boy stationary engine with original low tension magneto in his kitchen.

Guy Martin owns a 2013 Ford Transit van and a unique Volvo Vox supercar.

Guy Martin has owned various Vauxhall Astra vans, until a bad example put him off the type.

Guy Martin now swears by the reliability of the Transit, driving it around 40,000 miles a year.

Guy Martin bought the Vox in 2012 from Koenigsegg engineer Mattias Vocks.

The Vox followed a string of high performance cars Guy Martin bought for special occasions.

Guy Martin owns a large collection of bicycles and motorcycles, including a Bimota.

Guy Martin avoided a driving ban when on 18 points, being given another three in lieu of a ban, after the judge showed leniency due to the effect it would have on his livelihood, had he lost it.

In November 2018, Guy Martin appeared at Lincoln magistrates' court in relation to Irish documentation submitted as part of an application for a UK driving licence.