were TT's easier won in joeys time than Mcpints?

[vstromken]

Originally Posted by corkgsxr

if i was a brilliant road racer id have 40 too.

ifs and buts dont make TT wins

How many times has mcguinness bikes let him down while leading a race. Don t shoot the messenger, Im only quoting what joey said himself.

[madbuzz]

easier now..better roads. suspention..safety set up ect ect...still cant take it from the man doh he was pure legend

[vstromken]

Have two agree and say its easier now,joey lost 2 TT races cause the chain broke on his bike if my memory serves me right. That just don't happen anymore
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[lenny]

maybe slightly easier, because machines are better but at the end of the day its ally just a case of era. was hailwoods time harder then and he was top kiddie at the TT aswell.
As top riders say its man and machine versus the course versus the clock.

[kwaker]

Originally Posted by HIGHSIDER

I think there’s a balance. Yes, it was slower years ago where you have to bear in mind the road surface & the machinery involved. The modern mountain circuit; sure there have been vast improvements but consider the speed and the stability of modern era bikes…
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I think the respect & knowing your limit is the same now as it was 30 years ago. It’s a very fine line between the ecstasy & the tragedy all dished up at the TT. It’s a magical place..
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Agree. Mc Pint said in the ITV programme before the TT last year that the first few times he went there the Cronk Y Voddy straight was like a motorcross track.

[Man_In_Black]

Hmm. it depends what way you look at it, the bikes now handle a lot better than they did back in the 80's, as some riders back then commented on, the production race bikes back then were horror shows to ride around the TT, but, a lot of Joey's bikes back then wouldve been a bit more tailor made for racing.

In a way there is more competition for race wins now, but back then, you had a higher standard of competition, what with people going onto GP's and racing in BSB, in a way, you could say that if Joey had've concentrated on WSB for 88 - 89, he couldve won titles there, as Fred Merkel didnt exactly set the world alight winning his titles.

Steve hislop said in an interview two years before he died, that if Norman Brown hadn't have been killed at Silverstone, he would've blown Joey into the weeds (search one of the IOMTT websites for the interview), he was that quick, also, Norman Brown was one of the select few to win a race at the TT in his first year.

All in all, they were/are all good, no matter what era's they come from, with bigger guts/balls than the most of us.

[scoops22]

Joey said years ago that the bikes were getting too fast for the roads, that was the 90s, and here is McGuinness winning all his TTs in the later years on the fastest bikes of the lot, all on 1000cc Superbikes.

I dont think you can really compare the two cause Joeys were mostly won on 2 strokes in a slightly different era of racing, arguments could be made for either side

[metallica]

I rember very well both Joey and Robert saying and I can confirm this myself that racing a 125 or 250 round the TT was harder work than on the big bikes.

[Freddie the poopchute fingerer]

How can it be said it's easier now because roads were worse then ? That makes no sense at all. Is that the same as saying McGuinness is having it easy now because the roads are better ? Is he not actually racing against the other current top class road racers and winning, and also losing some ?
If we pulled down every wall, house, lamp post, kerb, tree and made big run off areas, a giant 37 mile gp track in effect, then surely Rossi in his prime would be the best there ever ?
Or alternately taking the roads logic to it's extreme means that if we went back 200 years Joey and McGuinness would have their arses whipped and it'd be some enduro racer or a flipping horse and jockey who is probably the best, it's a pointless exercise.

Roads and conditions and random mechanical issues have the same effect on all riders at each particular period, there aren't some riders who are just impervious to it.
A rider can only be compared against the other racers in their time, and it's how they deal with it then, in the conditions that everyone is under then, that shows who's the best, and the record shows that Joey is the best (so far).

[NODSTER]

No disrespect to John McGuinness, but one interesting statistic about the Five time World Champion - must be the only rider to win a TT on a single, a twin, a triple and a four cylinder engined bikes

[topcat_bie]

comparision does not make sense,.

and no such thing as an easy TT win, or easier or nowt,..

respect each for their own time,.

[johnni]

it's a hard one, if ya get a 92 blade and go around a few twisties at 70 mph and go round the same corners on a 12 blade at 90 mph your using the same amount of skill. I can only imagine how shite Tyres etc were in the 80's

[Airman]

Originally Posted by lenny

As top riders say its man and machine versus the course versus the clock.

This is it IMO.
Before 60% rider, 40% bike, now it's the other way round to a greater extent.

[glennirwin]

it was as hard when joey won it to now. just as it was as hard when mick doohan kicked as in gps to casey stoner etc now... racing evolves but the scale of difficulty never changes at the top

[woodpecker]

Originally Posted by NODSTER

No disrespect to John McGuinness, but one interesting statistic about the Five time World Champion - must be the only rider to win a TT on a single, a twin, a triple and a four cylinder engined bikes

Are you forgetting about Mike Hailwood? Won TT's on just about every type of bike there ever was - from manx nortons through MV Agusta's, Honda's with many cylinders and Ducati's - Best rider in the world EVER !!!!!!

[NODSTER]

apologies Woodpecker - Mike won TT on the works Honda 5 cylinder 125's and 6 cylinder 250's
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[cargo]

tough question I reckon is much harder to win one nowdays because there will be fewer actual races run now that they wont run in anything other than bone dry conditions.

If JmcG every does get to 26 wins I will still rate Joey as being vastly ahead of him on the grounds that Joey won in ALL conditions


I think the only 1000cc bikes at TT in 1985 were Production races..........TTF1 and Senior were still 750.............I think.......it was along time ago and I drank a lot of beer that year

[LittleBlackBlade]

There has to be a little to do with lack of competition!
years ago if you had the kit you went fast!
some guys were out on stock road bikes while Joey was on factory hondas!
now days all the bikes are bloody quick so a little more driver skill in it IMO.
Like Joey had an RC30 when lads were lugging VF750s and slabby GSXRs and other steel framed heaps around..
no contest and you will know if you have ever rode any of the above!

[cargo]

no works Suzukis in the 80s then ? ?

[LittleBlackBlade]

Originally Posted by cargo

no works Suzukis in the 80s then ? ?

Dont be a dope
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back then teams and backed riders had the money the private guys didnt!
if you are a race fan long enough you will know that privateers were more like mobile chicanes and only ever got referred to as privateers like they were second class citizens!
Im not trying to take anything away from the great riders of yesteryear, them boys rode some fucked up bikes on shite rubber but half of the guys they were racing may as well have been riding their garden gate
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