Twelve bikes that encapsulate the McGuinness story will take to the Mountain Course for the event-closing John McGuinness MBE Parade Lap.
With the 30-year career of John McGuinness MBE taking centre stage at the Classic TT this year, twelve bikes that encapsulate the McGuinness story will take to the Mountain Course for the event-closing John McGuinness MBE Parade Lap.
The Morecambe Missile himself will of course play a part in the parade, and will be flanked by some of his closest friends and fiercest rivals in a true show of respect for a man whose name has transcended the sport.
Starting where it all began, the Paul Bird Motorsport-prepared Honda RS250 will return to the Mountain Course 30 years after McGuinness’ debut ride in 1996. Originally competing in the Lightweight TT, the bike will fittingly be ridden by a Lightweight legend and 10-time TT winner, Ian Lougher.
Current TT Rider Liaison Officer Richard Quayle will take the honour of riding the bike that took McGuinness to his first of 23 TT victories, the Vimto Honda TSR250 from 1999. In a sign of what was to come, McGuinness stormed to victory in the 1999 Lightweight 250 TT, beating Manx-based Welshman Jason Griffiths by over 30 seconds.
An often forgotten feather in the McGuinness cap is his Singles TT victory, having won the final running of the category back in 2000 for his second TT win. The bike he rode to another commanding victory that day, the Chrysalis AMDM, will join the parade, marking a key moment in the shaping of McGuinness’ career.
Jumping forward, Peter Hickman, 14-time TT winner and current TT lap record holder will ride the Valmoto Triumph Daytona that Bruce Anstey rode to victory in the Junior 600cc TT.
Although known predominantly as a Honda rider, McGuinness’ first big-bike victory actually came aboard a machine from Japanese rivals Yamaha. Riding a works Yamaha R1 in 2004, McGuinness held on to beat Adrian Archibald’s Suzuki home in the week-opening Formula One TT. All-time TT win record holder, Michael Dunlop, will have the privilege of riding the R1, a fitting tribute given Dunlop has taken a Yamaha R6 to the top step of the podium nine times in the Supersport class.
What came next was an era of Superbike dominance for McGuinness, winning every Superbike and Senior TT between 2005 and 2007. His performance on the second lap of the 2007 Senior TT is remembered to this day as one of the most significant moments in TT history - the first 130mph lap of the 37 and ¾-mile Mountain Course. So significant is the milestone that 19 years later only an additional 30 riders have joined the 130 Club, and it is still the benchmark for those looking to chase finishing positions at the head of the field.
There is, of course, no-one more fitting to ride the bike that set the first ever 130mph lap than the man himself, and McGuinness will line up on the HM Plant Honda that carved itself into TT legend on 8th June 2007. The bike usually takes pride of place in McGuinness’s hallway.
While McGuinness was breaking records in 2007, Scotland’s Keith Amor was making his debut at the TT, beginning a career that would yield five podium results before his retirement in 2015. All but three of Amor’s TT starts would come on Honda machinery, so to see him back on a Fireblade will be a welcome return for fans of a certain age as he rides McGuinness’ Superstock bike that took him to second in the 2007 Superstock TT.
One of the most emotional memories for McGuinness came just over 10 years ago at the 2015 TT fortnight. But why was 2015 so significant for McGuinness? It was the scene of arguably his greatest win ever, which also happens to be his last - to date. The 2015 Senior TT is remembered among some of the greatest TTs ever, not necessarily for close racing, but for the sheer emotion of seeing McGuinness back on the top step of a Senior TT podium.
The win saw McGuinness equal Mike Hailwood’s record of seven Senior TT wins and set his personal best lap of the Mountain Course, 132.701mph, and was the modern equivalent of Joey Dunlop’s 2000 Formula One TT win.
Earlier that week, McGuinness entered a Fireblade under his own team, with backing from EMC2, in the Superstock class. A family team entered bike requires a suitable rider for a parade like this, so it’s fitting that John’s brother Kurt will ride his 2015 Superstock Fireblade around the island for the McGuinness Parade Lap.
Jumping forward another seven years to the 2022 Superbike TT, Manxman Conor Cummins will have the honour of riding one of the most iconic McGuinness machines from his three decades of racing: the one-off gold-streaked Fireblade from McGuinness’s 100th TT start. Cummins rode a similar machine in the Milenco by Padgetts colours on the day, although failed to make it to the finish, while McGuinness took a popular fifth place, the first Honda home.
Finally, bringing the collection full circle will be Dean Harrison aboard John’s bike from this year’s TT. Wearing a livery in homage to that PBM Honda RS250 from 1996, McGuinness turned back the years as he rode to an impressive fifth in the Superbike TT, a race dominated by team-mate Harrison.
Now based in Ballaugh, Harrison was on outright lap record pace before the Senior TT’s early end, and he’ll ride the 2026 Honda Racing 30th Anniv. Fireblade SBK at the tail end of the parade, wrapping up a jaw dropping, emotional and evocative display of the sights and sounds of one of the greatest TT careers of all time.
Parade Entry List:
Ian Lougher - 1996 PBM Honda RS250
Richard Quayle - 1999 Vimto Honda TSR250
John Barton - 2000 Chrysalis BMW 720
Peter Hickman - 2003 Valmoto Triumph Daytona 600
Michael Dunlop - 2004 Yamaha UK Yamaha R1
Keith Amor - 2007 HM Plant Honda Fireblade STK
Jamie Coward - 2009 Padgetts Honda Fireblade STK
Kurt McGuinness - 2015 EMC2 Honda Fireblade STK
Conor Cummins - 2022 Honda Racing 100th Start Fireblade SBK
Ben Birchall - 2023 Honda Racing STK