Milky Quayle - Interview - video Dailymotion

Tindle News

Reporter Tom Curphey speaks to Richard 'Milky' Quayle about his role at the Isle of Man TT

Transcript

00:00 So, we're with Milky. Milky, I want to know, obviously TT is in full flow, it's chaos at the minute,

00:05 but tell me a bit about what you do for the rest of the 50 weeks of the year.

00:09 Well, yeah, I mean, Jesus, you know, it's ace. I mean, I just said to a lad there, you know, he's like,

00:14 "Oh, you're really busy?" I was like, "Yeah, but it's a nice busy, you know, the rest of the year, everyone's busy.

00:18 Everyone leads such busy lives now and stuff, don't they? So, but, you know, I'm busy throughout the year,

00:22 but obviously this time of year when it is ace, it's an enjoyable busy, whereas the rest of the year, it's like,

00:29 "Oh, Jesus, don't worry."

00:32 That shows how busy you are.

00:33 Yeah, yeah, honestly, that's the thing. So, yeah, so this time of year, it's a pleasant busy because it's,

00:39 you know, it's enjoyable. We love our bikes and, you know, we love the TT and, you know, we realise it's,

00:43 you know, it's good for the Isle of Man, so you want to work hard on the job. So, I always think if you're not

00:47 working hard, there's something wrong with you, you know, so it's, yeah, it's got to be done. So, yeah,

00:52 the rest of the year, I just drive a bus, you know, it's mental, you know, I drive a bus around the TT course,

00:56 really, so, yeah, so it's just nice to have a bit of rest from doing my day job and working on this job.

01:03 So, it's, yeah, we all love it, you know, yes, it's hard, but we do love it.

01:07 I want to speak to you a bit about the rider liaison side of it all. I was just speaking to Barty then,

01:10 and he was telling me that it's almost satisfying seeing these guys come in, you've shown them around the

01:15 course, you've shown them what you can and can't do, you guys have got such vast experience, and then you

01:19 see the smile on their faces when they come back.

01:20 Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, obviously, that's sort of my main role, I suppose, is really, even though I do

01:25 lots of other different things around the Grandstand and charge the start line, the park

01:29 for me, you know, everything else that goes on, I also, yeah, we also teach these newbies, I mean,

01:34 we like to pass on our experience to the new lads, and it's hard, you know, it's the hardest

01:38 race track in the world, so you need to have someone to try and guard you through those

01:42 those hard bits and stuff. So, everybody's different, it's really, like I say, it's really

01:47 difficult, and every year the TT gets faster and faster and faster and faster, so it gets harder

01:50 for the newcomers, so they pretty much have to be coming here, and with, you know, running

01:56 basically, they can't afford to think, "Oh, well, I've got loads, I've got a week of practice

01:59 week, I can just idle around." You can't, you've got to be on point straight away, you've got to

02:04 really hit the ground running effectively, so it's hard, you know, and they have to, they have to do

02:08 it, they have to do all the legwork, you know, we can tell them to a blue in the face, you know, "You

02:11 need to do this, you need to do that," but, you know, if they don't listen, or they don't take it in, then

02:15 it's wasted, so the good thing is nowadays with the newcomers, it's not like the old days where

02:19 you had like V for Victory on the, you know, on a VHS cassette, you know, nowadays you can watch,

02:25 there's so much out there on social media, YouTube, everything like that, they can learn the

02:30 track in the bedroom, so there's no excuse now really, they can literally learn it at home in

02:35 Slovakia or wherever, you know, or America or South America, and so they actually, it's up to

02:41 them to learn it, to get it into the brain, so I'm hoping, I'm hoping that, you know, it sinks in, and

02:46 they come here with a good knowledge of what's going on about them. We tell them, we tell them

02:51 where the danger spots are, they pretty much hopefully should know whether it's a left or a

02:55 right, or what the problems are that they're coming to, but we have to tell them where the real danger

02:59 points are, and where to go slow, and where to be careful, and where they can go fast, and where they

03:03 can go slow, so. And I can imagine your experience helps them massively with that. I just want to find

03:07 out about, you know, when they initially get in touch with you or Barty, and they come over here,

03:11 is it a hard process to find out whether they're ready, or whether they're worth it? Well, again, it's not like

03:16 it used to be in the old days, now with the old internet and stuff, nowadays you can, you can

03:20 pretty much Google anybody, you can, you know, you can go Google, Facebook or whatever, and see whether

03:26 they're telling the truth, because they can tell you, you know, oh yeah, well I'm a champion at this, and a

03:30 champion at that, but they can be rubbish, I mean, they could just be a pack of lies, which probably

03:34 wasn't in the past, you know what I mean, because there was no real way of following up a South American

03:40 champion or whatever, so now you can just Google everybody, so you can Google it and say, okay, yeah,

03:45 this fella is a good goer, or he's not, he's not, you know, the championship that he's in is not

03:49 particularly strong, and maybe it's not, you know, credible or whatever, so yeah, so it's a lot easier

03:55 to check that out, even before they arrive here, as soon as they throw us an email and say, you know,

04:00 I'm interested in doing it, that's the first thing we do, like, okay, let's check this boy out, so it's,

04:04 again, it's easier now for that side of things, and that, so the pick and the ride is quite easy,

04:12 but ultimately they come to us, we don't go out and get them, they come to us, and again, the TT now

04:17 is such a fast, high level, you know, we need to have the best of the best, you know, you've got to

04:21 have the top people, really. Absolutely, and just over these two weeks, you do so much, I remember

04:28 speaking to you last year, and you're even unblocking a toilet, if I remember correctly, so you do

04:31 absolutely everything, but what's your highlight? It must be on the start line, taking them new

04:35 boys out, surely, but is there anything else that's a big... Yeah, taking the new boys out is really

04:39 good, because obviously, we've been there, we've done it, and we know what they're going to experience,

04:44 and I feel a little bit jealous of them sometimes, you know, because I think, jeez, I wish I was in

04:48 their situation, where I was starting, starting afresh and learning it all, but my highlight,

04:53 my highlight of the Fortnite is basically the last race, the last lap, everyone gets home safe

04:57 and sound, and then I can relax then, up to then, I'm just like, you know, and yes, there's so, so

05:04 much to do, and that's the trouble, you're just constantly firefighting for two weeks, you know,

05:09 because someone always comes to with problems, you know, where they recognise people, so people

05:12 come instantly to us, "Milky, this is a problem, I need to fix this", so you literally go and fix

05:17 that problem, fix that problem, fix that problem, so, but that's, like I say, it's good, you know,

05:21 if you did it every day of the week, you'd burn out, within six months, you'd be burnt out, so

05:25 just for those two weeks in the year, you can pretty much, your body and your mind can pretty

05:28 much stand it, but it's, yeah, it's hard. And then you can go back to bus driving. Yeah, exactly,

05:32 I could just fall asleep then, just driving the bus around, but yeah. Well, that's perfect,

05:36 Milky, thanks for speaking to us. Top man.

05:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Milky Quayle - Interview

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