Time passes so quickly that Guy Martin retired from racing almost a decade ago. The Briton was one of the main animators of both the TT and the rest of the “road races”, during part of the decades of the 2000s and 2010s. And he was both for having spectacular speed, for which many expected great triumphs from him on the island, and for a special charisma.
Direct, with his peculiar accent and his way of seeing life, when Guy Martin began to be ahead quickly and made a place for himself among the fans. Then came some hits, big scares and watching Guy become a star with TV shows included. But what had not seen the public light is what its beginnings were like.
And Guy did not come from a family with resources, and in order to pay for the races he had to work. A story that is common and that, sometimes, ends with unpayable loans or situations like Martin’s: a moonlight job in which he had to resort to a pharmaceutical cocktail to be able to continue.
The faster Guy Martin went, the more money he needed… and the solution arrived in the form of pills
As the driver comments, when he started competing he used money from work, but when he started to get faster and more competitive everything became more expensive. So he had to combine his job as a truck mechanic with working on a dock on a night shift for three days a week.
That pace added to that of racing is unsustainable and that is why he has admitted that he had to consume ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin in a cocktail that kept him alert and with the ability to, at least, be awake. While caffeine and aspirin are easy to find and freely available, in the case of ephedrine we are talking about a medication that can only be obtained with a prescription and is used, among other things, as a stimulant.
Unlike what happens when athletes take extra substances, Guy Martin was not looking for greater performance on the track but off it. And Guy made good that phrase “The worst thing that can happen to you is that you have a son who is averagely fast on a motorcycle, you will spend all your money and more”.
Luckily for Martin the effort was worth it, he later became one of the most important pilots and had television programs where, yes, it was common to see him with a “tank” of tea in his hand at all hours.
