John McGuinness knows the statistics to the decimal point, without having to refer to the record books. "A hundred and eighteen point two nine. Nineteen minutes oh eight," he says, without pausing.
The 23-times TT winner is referring to the speed and lap time for his circuit of the 1999 Lightweight event, when he won his first TT and also set a lap record that was never bettered before the 250cc class was abandoned in 2004.
The mark was 118.29mph on a Honda TSR, when McGuinness was 27. Now the 43-year-old is planning to pull the very same bike from his garage and ride it in the new Lightweight Classic TT for 250cc Grand Prix two-strokes in 2016.
"I've got a garage-full of lovely 250s," McGuinness said. "One of them is that 1999 Vimto Honda TSR. It's not the bike. It is the same bike, but the engine was an HRC kit engine that had to go back. I've got an appropriate engine that's definitely competitive enough to win that race.
"I look at the bike, and it all comes flashing back from when we raced in '99. I'm going to dust it off and ride it. I was slowing down for the pits on the second lap when I set that lap. Joey Dunlop was in the race, Jim Moodie, Denis McCullough, Gary Dynes - they were tough races to win."
Classic TT chief Paul Phillips' decision to add a fourth race to the event's programme seems likely to bring a rush of entrants for the four-lap contest. "Two-strokes have featured in some of the most memorable races on the Isle of Man, and the smell and sound will evoke many memories," said David Cretney, the Isle of Man's Minister for Tourism and Motorsport."
In other changes to the Classic TT programme:
• The 350cc Classic TT is now renamed the Junior Classic TT;
• The 500cc Classic TT becomes the Senior Classic TT;
• The Formula 1 race becomes the Superbike Classic TT;
• Formula 2 bikes (up to 600cc four-strokes) will now run in the Lightweight race.
Michael Dunlop is another TT star who is expressing interest in the Lightweight Classic. "I have a TSR and other 250s," he said. "It will be an exciting race. But parts will be hard to get, and I won't go unless I have the right stuff."
How many entries is the new race likely to attract? "Fifty bikes would be good," Phillips said. "It's about quality rather than quantity. The second year will be better than the first."
He is used to receiving criticism for the Classic TT's fairly loose rules, and expects more flak involving the cut-off date of 2004 for the new race. He said: "The critics will go, 'They're not classics.' But my argument will be, 'While they're certainly not modern, what are they?"
Bruce Anstey is another TT hero who loves two-strokes, and who won the 2014 Formula 1 classic race on Clive Padgett's Yamaha YZR500. Padgett was on holiday at the time of the announcement of the Lightweight Classic TT, but Anstey will almost certainly be begging his boss to drag a 250 stroker from the Padgetts' legendary cache of race bikes.
2016 Classic TT Dates
August 27:
Bennetts Senior Classic TT
Lightweight Classic TT
August 29
Okells Junior Classic TT
Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Classic TT
