John McGuinness creates ‘The John McGuinness Collection’

23-time TT Race winner John McGuinness has brought together a collection of race bikes that have defined his twenty year TT race career in a display in Nobles Park, in the TT Grandstand area.

The free to enter exhibition, produced in association with John’s sponsors Dunlop, Bennetts and Motul features eight of his TT winning bikes as well some of the career defining bikes he has raced around the TT Mountain Course.

The exhibition includes the Paul Bird Motorsport RS250 Honda that he raced in 1996, his TT debut year and the iconic Demon Vimto TSR 250 that he won his first TT in 1999, which was also his British Championship winning bike.

Other instantly recognisable bikes include the 2007 Centenary TT winning Superbike and Senior machine, on which John became the first rider to break the 130mph mark.  It is notable that John is the first rider to pass 127, 128, 129 and 131mph as well.

The definitive collection features other TT winning bikes including the Chrysalis AMDM 720, the 400 RLR Honda that won the 2004 Lightweight TT and the Yamaha YZF R1 on which he won his first ‘big bike’ TT race in 2004.

More recent bikes include his Padgetts CBR600, for whom John raced between 2007 and 2014, and his Honda Racing Superbike on which he set the current outright lap record of 132.701 in last year’s PokerStars Senior TT.

The breadth and range of the machines is testament to the fact that John has won TT races on many different types of machines including singles, 250’s, 400’s, 600’s, Superstock and Superbike machines as well as his electric Mugen bike from 2014.

As well as the collection of bikes, the exhibition area is also serving as the working garage for the EMC2/Bet Victor Superstock Honda that John will run in Monday’s RL360 Quantum Superstock Race.

Speaking about the collection, John said;

“Having the display is something I’ve been thinking of for a while and it was a conversation with Mark Sears of Dunlop earlier this year that kick-started everything. Sadly, Mark lost his life in an accident a couple of months ago but we’ve seen the project through as I wanted to give something back to all the TT fans and share my 20-year journey with them. We’ll also be working on the bike in there so people will get the chance to have a look at a race team at the same time”

He continued:  “I can still clearly remember setting off down Bray Hill on the RS250. It was four seasons in one day – wet, dry, wind, sun, fog and mist. The TT means so much to me and it’s been an incredible journey so far, a journey that the fans have all been part of so hopefully people will come down and enjoy the experience.”