Twelve months ago a slight miscalculation left John McGuinness confused about the precise number of North West 200 races he had competed in as he planned to celebrate his 100th race start at the north coast event.
“It was embarrassing when we got it wrong.’ McGuinness smiles. “I had a helmet and all painted for the occasion and we had to leave it at home on the shelf.”
According to the official records, McGuinness has now made 96 race starts at the north coast event. With the special anniversary helmet in tow, he now hopes to celebrate the landmark centenary during this year’s Briggs Equipment NW200 race week on May 4-9.
The 54 year old Honda Racing star reminisced about his long and checkered North West career during the official opening of the revamped Ballymena Honda showroom last week.
“I rolled up to Portrush with Becky-his then girlfriend, now wife- in 1994 in an old Iveco van,” the Morecambe man recalled.
“It was a different track back then with no Mill Road roundabout and no chicanes at Mathers or Magherabouy. I’ve ridden different variations of the track and millions of variations of bikes over the last three decades – two strokes, four strokes, carburretors, fuel injection, fly by wire, traction control- you name it!’”
“It is an event that keeps on giving for me, one I still look forward to coming to, bang on top of the calendar.’ the six time North West winner smiled.
“The teammates I’ve had, the laughs we’ve had, the tears and the pain too. I’ve been in tons of ding dong races where I could have won but I’ve ended up sixth. I’ve won a few and arguably been in the hunt to win a few more that we didn’t. But to win six around here is hard work.
“And then there are the people and manufacturers I’ve ridden for. A lot with Honda and a bit with Yamaha. Paul Bird played a big part in my journey and I wish he was here to see the 100 th start.’
“I always get asked what makes the North West so special and why have I come back each year?” McGuinness smiled as he launched into a eulogy that would gladden the hearts of the Tourism Ireland people.
“It has some sort of grip that gets a hold of you and won’t let go. You are treated like a hero for a week. I’ve seen people coming here in pushchairs and now they’ve grown up and are in the sport. They are on the tools or racing themselves now. Families and friends who have come right through it and still love coming here.
‘”That is a very rare thing but then you are riding along the sea front. It is like riding down the prom at Morecambe or Blackpool. The location is off the charts, the craic is great and the food is mega.
“There are still a few things that need sorting like the water supply in the paddock – you need about 10 hoses and you could pee faster than the water that comes out! But it’s an organisation of volunteers isn’t it? So it has its own character.”
McGuinness laments the reduction in both time and fun the current, tighter qualifying and race schedule imposes.
“The whole paddock used to be in the Anchor Bar or Kelly’s night club back in the day,” he says.
“It was fantastic, but obviously it is a shorter event now. Even though things have changed in many ways, walking through the tunnel from the paddock, pulling on the helmet and going out on to the coast road is exactly the same as it has always been.”
The Honda star enjoys the peculiarities that persist around the event.
“The corporate side of the North West is epic now and we need all the sponsors onboard but when you go to sign on you still get a shop mug, a bag of apples, a programme and a Bible,” he smiles.
“It is still the same craic, same old-fashioned rituals, and that is nice in a way.”
Road racing can also be a bittersweet sport and McGuinness felt the full weight of its downside when he crashed at Primrose corner during practice for the 2017 North West after the ECU on his Honda Racing Fireblade developed a fault.
“I thought I was going to meet my maker that day,” the Morecambe racer, who suffered a compound fracture to his right tibia and fibula plus four broken vertebrae and three smashed ribs, says.
“I’d never been in that position before but the whole lead up in 2017 wasn’t great,” he recalls.
“Guy (Guy Martin, his Honda teammate) and me were worried about a lot of things that year and in hindsight we should not have been on the grid. But you go there, you have all that pressure on your shoulders, and you feel that you are cheating people out of something if you’re not riding.”
McGuinness was fired through the fence in the crash at Primrose, ending up on a golf course.
“I’m not a golf fan.’ he says with a rueful grin. “It took a long time to recover, not just physically but mentally too. I’m a bit old school in thinking you have to grow a set of balls and toughen up but I wasn’t in a good place. Addicted to Tramadol and morphine, I was driving around at 2am, thinking. ‘What am I doing? I want all this to end’.”
After splitting with Honda following the crash, McGuinness rejoined the team in 2022.
Two years later the Morecambe veteran enjoyed a fairytale comeback in his North West 200 story as he is finished third in the CP Hire Superstock race behind race winner, Davey Todd and runner-up, Peter Hickman.
“I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck back in and in 2024 I was back on the North West podium,” McGuinness smiles.
“That was the sweetest podium and now, looking back, I wish I had milked it more! I should have done a Glenn Irwin and gone up on to the grandstand to do some crowd surfing! To be honest I rode straight into the winner’s enclosure with a bit of disbelief, thinking, have I done this? I didn’t really know what to do because it had been a long time since I had been on the podium.’
“It was a hot day with great racing and there is nothing better than being up there on that podium when the sun is shining.’ he smiles, recalling the moment.
“The North West is a big event and in that atmosphere, and when everyone is back safe in the paddock, it is very hard to replicate that feeling.”
During over three decades of North West 200 racing, the Morecambe veteran has been in the mix at the north coast meeting with so many of road racing’s greats.
“I’ve been Joey Dunlop’s teammate there and Michael Dunlop’s teammate too. I’ve been on track with Robert Dunlop and all the greats of the Nineties. Riders like Ryan Farquhar, Phelim Owens and Woolsey Coulter.
“There have been endless amounts of talented Irish road racers, just so many good hands everywhere. The grids were stacked full. We would come across and the Irish boys would just want to beat us and we wanted to beat them. It always got real competitive on the 250s.
“I’ve been on the North West grid on a 125cc, 250cc, 400cc, 600cc and on Superbike machinery. I’ve been through all the classes and every single emotion that racing can put you through. And I am still coming back.”
Has he any thoughts of retirement?
“I sort of think I should stop but then I think, why?” he smiles. “I’m riding a factory Honda with Dean Harrison and sometimes I think that maybe that bike should go to someone else. In last year’s Superbike race at the North West I finished sixth and was holding my own in the field. I think I was warranting the ride and then I thought, come and get it from me.”
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