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When you head to the Isle of Man TT as a newcomer, it is a obviously daunting task, as you are required to learn 37.73 miles (just short of 61 km) of flat-out countryside roads around the small rock nestled between Ireland and England.
But when you head there as a newcomer with a prestigious racing record, it makes the task even harder – a trap that 2022 rookie and British Superbike frontrunner Glenn Irwin is currently trying hard to avoid.
In many ways, it’s no surprise that Irwin has been drawn to the TT at last. He’s established himself as one of the hottest prospects in recent years to progress from Irish to British championship level, and road racing – as well as circuit racing – is very much in the 31-year-old’s blood.
Irwin comes from something of a racing family dynasty, with younger brother Andrew joining him in BSB and elder brother Graeme a former British motocross champion. Their father Alan is the family’s true road racer, with an impressive CV of wins against the likes of Joey Dunlop during the sport’s heydays in the 1990s.
Glenn’s track record in BSB has been strong, too. A five-time race winner in what is arguably the world’s best domestic superbike series, he led the championship battle for much of the 2020 season before eventually finishing the year in fourth. He’s proven that he can mix it with some of the best production bike racers in the world on circuits.
And while he might be finally heading to the TT for the first time in 2022 – a much-delayed first time after COVID saw the 2020 and 2021 events cancelled – it isn’t his first foray into pure road racing, either, with a well-established record at the two major events at home.
He’s also a four-time superbike race winner at the North West 200, a Macau Grand Prix winner and a podium finisher at the Ulster Grand Prix – meaning that, really, a move to the TT was more a matter of when and not if.
The combination of all those factors makes one thing clear – it would be very easy for Irwin to head into this year’s race with expectations that would be perhaps unrealistic on a track – but could be downright dangerous at a road race.
Yet it’s something of a relief to hear that rather than piling any pressure upon himself, or allowing others to do it for him, he’s instead coming to the event rather relaxed – more determined to take the advice of those around him and enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience than to smash records.
“Obviously you’re a racer and you go to races to eventually be competitive one day,” the Northern Irishman told The Race over his kitchen table in an exclusive interview.
“You go to the TT wanting to win it one day. I did that at the NW200, and things maybe happen quicker at those other events – but you can’t have a goal in your first year at the TT. I want it to be enjoyable. What I’m most looking forward to is racing against some lad that maybe I used to race against in Irish championship races.
“I can’t even name anyone because I don’t know where I’m going to be in my first year. I don’t want to name someone in case I’m not there. But I’m looking forward to racing against people I haven’t raced against in a long time.
“People who aren’t a part of the big BSB thing, all that carry on – but people who are lining up somewhere outside the top 20 against very good non-professionals who put everything into being at the TT. I’m looking forward to all that.”
He’s also being careful to pick his battles, in a sense. Opting not to try and get the maximum amount of track time possible throughout practice week by riding in all the available classes, he’s staying away from the supersport and lightweight races, and is instead sticking with what he knows – 1000cc machinery in the one superstock and two superbike races.
“The more times you roll the dice, the more chance of your number coming up,” he admitted. “Even going to the North West 200, I still like taking one of the races on Thursday night to just go and be a spectator again at Juniper Chicane, to breathe. That’s always how it has been for me, so I’m just going to concentrate on the big bike classes.
“People say you need to do laps, but there’s no adaption between a 600cc and a 1000cc. Everything is changing, and I’m happy doing it my way. When you don’t ride a 600 on a circuit anymore, is a road race the place to be re-adapting? So I’ll stick to the big bikes, and they’re the one that everyone wants to win anyway, aren’t they? They’re the ones you dream of.”
But while there’s a lot to learn regardless of how many bikes you’ve got to do it on, Irwin has a secret weapon that most TT newcomers can only dream of – one of the greatest racers in the history of the event as a team-mate.
Lining up alongside 23-time winner John McGuinness in factory Honda colours (actually a throwback to the 1992 Honda Fireblade to celebrate the iconic machine’s 30th birthday), Irwin says that having all that knowledge and experience alongside him has already been a massive help, four months out from the start of racing.
“John sends me loads of photos,” Irwin laughed. “He’ll send me a shot and say ‘where’s this?’ I normally get them right, too, but because it’s him asking me it makes me even more determined to get it right!
“It’s good to do it with him, and a lot of people think that he’ll be able to tell me what to do here or there, and that I’ll be able to look at his data – but we’re not at that stage where I need his data. I haven’t even done 10 seconds of track time.
“I’m more excited about seeing, from a professional point of view, how he carries himself through TT. Seeing how he goes about it. I want to soak that up, because I like his approach. It’s old-school – he’s professional, but he’s still John too, and you can still have craic with him. I always want to keep that identity for myself too, so I’m curious to watch him get tortured by fans. I want to get a nice close insight to what life is like for John McGuinness.
“He’s a great team-mate, very helpful. Yeah, he’s older, but his hunger is high and his enthusiasm for the job is high! Jeremy McWilliams is the same – he’s 56 years old and still loves racing, and I want to be like that too. Andrew [Glenn’s BSB-racing brother] probably wants to retire when he’s 40 and not do this anymore, but I want to keep doing it.”
So, if the mission for Irwin’s first TT is to learn his way around, does that mean that there are no targets for him to hit?
Right now, he’s adamant that there isn’t – but also concedes that simply being able to prove that he’s up to the challenge will be enough of an objective to bring a smile to his face, come the end of the fortnight in June.
“There are no goals at the beginning,” he insisted. “Enjoy it and come home, and I think it’ll be easy to enjoy it because I love it already. I think that it could be the case that you’re under pressure, if you wanted to feel it.
“But there’s no expectation from the team or the organisers, from people like [Peter] Hickman or John – they all tell you that it’s not about the first year, and not to be going there trying to do X, Y and Z. I think if you go and don’t try to do that, you might do it anyway, in a more relaxed way.
“There’d be pressure if you didn’t do any homework and went. Of course, there will be expectation from others, because the one thing I can’t do is control other people’s expectations of me.
“There is always a wee bit of me that likes to surprise people, to prove them wrong, and in the back of my mind, I’d like to think that at the end of two weeks I’ll have a smile on my face. I get a kick out of being that sort of wee f***er!”
