Or maybe not.............

Well, Guy has always been known to change his mind & with respect who's to say he shouldn't. As this article was written last November obviously the offer from Honda did the trick. Personally I think he doesn't have anything to prove going back, but wish him well & with his determination who knows what he will achieve.

I dont mind Guy at all, I certainly dont hero worship him like some, but I dont understand the haters either.
He brings a fresh and interesting perspective to the TT, and the fact that he wont toe the corporate line and tells the DED where to shove it,is a bonus.

I think Honda are just following the football teams precedent...bring in a big name to sell more shirts and merchandise and the team make a profit.

The road racing set up is no football team.
Even if Honda received every penny of profit all T Shirt etc that was sold ( they dont) it would not cover a fraction of the costs to put this team together

(18-01-2017, 04:30 PM)SeaCol Wrote: I think Honda are just following the football teams precedent...bring in a big name to sell more shirts and merchandise and the team make a profit.

Yes he`s a big name and will probably sell more merchandise for Honda but he`s no also ran . He is a top rate TT rider and with a bit more lady luck could get that elusive win.
I like Guy Martin and he`s good for the TT because he`s a character  and the crowd love/hate him.

Personally I would prefer it if he didn`t race.

Would prefer if Honda supported a young up and coming talented rider, need to look forward to the 2020's.

Personally, I would rather he did not race, and concentrated on his other projects.  If he has made his mind up, then good luck to him and I hope he does well.

ive got to say i like c iom tt's posts
honest with no attittude
more often you gat the guy haters or the full on hero worship defence mode

any rider that decides to ride or not ride the roads deserves respect for making there own mind up
riders who dont feel happy racing round thye roads shouldnt do it
theres a rider who lives not far from me who i fully expected to go on and be a tt great wasnt happy with the bike he had late 90's and was advised by a tt legend set off get you start money and park it down the road
as he was starting to make a name for himself he wouldnt do that ( so im told)
he came of around a third way round the coarse and suffered injuries that basicly ended his racing
he did make a return to the tt but found he didnt have the strength in his injured limbs to ride hard enough
real shame as he was a rider for the future

(18-01-2017, 05:50 PM)SeaCol Wrote: Would prefer if Honda supported a young up and coming talented rider, need to look forward to the 2020's.

Fair enough, so in that respect would you say they should replace John McG as well !

No, would always go for youth plus experience. By the way I really like Guy Martin but this smacks of a publicity excercise on behalf of Honda.

I got the Guy Martin book for Xmas and he was pretty emphatic in saying that he'd wasn't road racing again and it was quite a relief because he wasn't enjoying the lifestyle.  Seemed fair enough.  The book was very enjoyable btw.

He did say that if he did go back he'd need to do a full season of shorts to be on the pace, otherwise it wasn't worth doing.  So I'm wondering if he's going to have a real crack or take the route he has in recent years just doing a few low key meets plus the Internationals.  How serious is he?

From the Honda perspective - he's got the highest publicity value of anyone in the paddock so I think its a no brainer for them.  As a very broad analogy - one of the rugby league stars (Isreal Folau) over here signed for a season of Aussie rules with a bottom of the table club - he didn't play well but someone did a quick tally up of how much press coverage he got and correlated it with advertising space - he was worth about 4 times what they payed him.  Guy will be much the same I think.

Not sure about any comparisons with Mark Flynn .............. Mark was up and coming and trying to get a decent ride. Guy is well past that stage - he can get any ride he wants I'd think.

Personally I think he's been a breath of fresh air to the sport.  But I don't think he should come back.  That said - if he makes it to the TT then I hope he manages to bag a win. 

Cheers


Sam

(18-01-2017, 05:50 PM)SeaCol Wrote: Would prefer if Honda supported a young up and coming talented rider, need to look forward to the 2020's.

They tried that with Connor, and it didnt work

Think that is a bit unfair. Conor had some decent results on what was an inferior bike and I seem to remember a couple of bike failures. Suspect Guy's bike will be so loaded down with cameras and recording equipment for some future documentary it will struggle to get round.

No
Its factual. Factory bike, poor ( not decent) results = P45
Your last comment is daft. A GoPro weighs about 150 grams. Even if he had 10 of them fitted ( not a chance) it would still be only 1.5kg. A TT bike is not about the lightest BSB/WSB weight, qiute the opposite.

Love or hate the man I personally have respect for anyone who starts the TT, MGP, and Classic. Guy's on bike commitment is second to none lapping at 132+ is amazing, he might help bring more publicity to the brand but he is a proven front runner also. I'm not a fan of the whole flying a ballon bike contraption and all of that stuff but on a motorcycle on the roads he is a talent its great to see him back.

Guy Martin's return is great news. He's a top class rider and has all the road racing credentials anyone could ask for. Yes, a TT win isn't one of them, yet, but I really hope he does win and even if he doesn't all credit to him for trying. I've shunned the TT virtually since it lost GP status and concentrated on the Manx but I'm thinking of going this year (to watch). I'll definitely be at the Southern 100 though. I can't wait!!

C IOM TT..
How can 'poor results' be 'factual', surely 'poor' is a subjective view. I seem to recollect Conor was very close to John McGuinnes in some races and beat  him in Macau.

Cameras on Guy's bike .......IRONY not 'daft'.

Connor results at the TT on the factory Honda have been poor by even Conors standards, thats not subjective, its a FACT.
You analogy that Guys bikes would be loaded up with cameras that much that he would 'strugle to get around' was beyond daft.
I was being polite using the word daft.