Guy Martin

“I've had sideburns since I was 16, but back then, a gust of wind would have blown them off.”

“I've had my eyes opened to so many things. But still, all I really want to do is my truck job. It's like an ingrained, default setting.”

“When I crash during a race and injure myself, what's the point in whinging? Because I put myself in that position. No one's making me race motorbikes - I want to go and race motorbikes. The...”

“Speed on its own isn't always so exciting. On a racing motorbike, I can do over 180 mph, which is fast, but not as fast as the airliners that we all climb aboard to fly off on holiday. Moder...”

“I'm the luckiest man alive.”

“I'll always give it my all, and to be with a quality manufacturer like BMW is mega.”

“I'm not a materialistic person at all, but I always want the next thing; I've got a nice toolbox, but I still want another set of spanners.”

“I like the Mid Antrim circuit, and if anyone were to ask me to show them a typical Irish road surface, I would take them to the Mid Antrim. It is awesome.”

“Television opens up some bloody great doors. That's the plus. The minus is the attention it brings.”

“Short-circuit racing is full of health and safety, but the reason I ride a motorbike is because of the danger, and there is no place more dangerous than the TT.”

“I was working for Martin Finnegan. He was my best mate in racing. I went to his wedding in November 2007. No-one else from the racing world was invited apart from me and my girlfriend. The f...”

“I've got my own TV stuff on the go, and it's all a bit oddball - it's one-offs, and I can do what, when, and how I want it, really. I don't have any scripts or people telling me to do stuff...”

“In my normal life, I am a private person doing a proper job.”

“Building the machine for 'Speed' was fun, as was working on the 'Spitfire' programme. They are programmes I enjoyed being on, but they are not my job.”

“I do all that TV stuff, and it's not real work.”

“I don't see coming down to London and talking to people and making TV shows as real work. The only reason I do it is because they keep coming up with decent ideas.”

“The most common way to crash coming out of a corner is to highside - which is where you accelerate out of the corner, and the rear loses grip, then suddenly finds grip and chucks you off the...”

“Some riders believe in all the hype at the TT; have a successful week, give up work then go and buy motorhomes and cars. I like to get back to normal afterwards and go to work.”

“I broke five vertebrae, and they had to rod my spine because I broke my sternum, too.”

“My back is full of metal; so are my hands and legs. I'll have to decide who will get all that in my will. It's probably worth a fortune in scrap metal. But it doesn't affect my movement.”