Gary Johnson
He’s been on fire this month! Literally...
One minute you’re grinding gears and fighting your way through false neutrals, the next you’re abandoning ship and getting the Dunlop brothers to help you put out lashings of flames with gloved hands. Goodwood’s never a boring event for me, and this year’s Festival of Speed didn’t disappoint in any way or form. I had a right good laugh. Well, after we’d managed to extinguish the fire on the priceless 1927 TT podiuming Triumph I was riding up the hill. I didn’t see that one coming and nor did its owner, who was almost as mortified as me. That was my first run of the weekend, and it also turned out to be my most eventful, thankfully.
Still, the Triumph guys I was there with laughed it off and so did I after a while. Stuff like that happens regularly enough at Goodwood, so people don’t get too precious about things. I also had my own Triumph at the show, which was on display in the paddock. People were dead keen to pop over and natter away about it, which was really nice. It’s always good to chat and I came back from the weekend with very little voice left, which has nothing to do with partying all night and drinking excessive amounts of champagne in the Rolls-Royce Experience – honest!
It’s nice to let your hair down, and to be truthful I needed that. I’ve been flat out since I got back from the TT and that’s still the case now. I’m building bikes, sorting deals and trying to get my life back into order ready for the next big challenge on the horizon. In my case, that’s a return trip to the Island for the Classic TT. I can’t bloody wait. I’m riding for York Suzuki again, but this year we’ve got a slightly different XR69 on the cards, which is a bit newer and tricker. That’s mint news, but the payoff is we’re going to need to graft a bit to get it set up and running how we want it, so I’ve got a load of test days booked before the meeting.
If you’ve never been to the Classic, you need to get along. It’s different to the TT because it’s so chilled and as serious as people take the racing, it’s a lot less stressful. We all want to do well, but you don’t fififind people going at it as possessed as they would be during TT week. There’s a much more relaxed vibe, but it’s still a great opportunity to clock up more miles on the Mountain Course. I bloody love it there and I’m just hoping that the weather stays half decent. This year’s TT was a bit buggered by the rain and it caught us all out, but that’s just the way it goes. It’s been, it’s happened and now we’re moving on. In fact, I’ve already got my sights firmly set on next season and I’m just trying to make sure we’re as ready as possible for it, because it’ll be TT time again before you know it. In saying that I’ve got plenty to do before then, so keep tuned and I’ll fill you in.