- 30/05/2025
Fourteen-time Isle of Man TT winner Peter Hickman speaks to Media Isle of Man about his 2024 TT - including his crash - plus looks ahead to this year's meeting and his new 8TEN team alongside Davey Todd
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00:00We'll look back on last year, obviously, another win.
00:03You're now up to 14 TT wins, and you're one off Hutsi now,
00:08and then you're even in the top five almost there.
00:11How does that sort of feel?
00:13Did you envision that when you started your TT career?
00:15No, not at all.
00:16No, I never even dreamt that I'd end up anywhere near where I am,
00:22to be quite honest.
00:23Of course, as a racer, I want to go and win.
00:26That's always the aim,
00:27but it wasn't necessarily a goal that I set out
00:30to achieve a certain number of wins or anything like that.
00:34It's just become what it's become,
00:36and I sit here now with 14,
00:37the same as an absolute legend, Mike Halewood,
00:41which I never, ever dreamt of, to be quite honest.
00:44So for me, it's a massive thing.
00:47I think I'm a couple of wins off Hutsi now.
00:49I think Hutsi's got 16.
00:52So yeah, just pretty amazing, to be quite honest.
00:56And that even comes off the back of 2024 TT for me was not the best,
01:01really, to be quite honest.
01:03From 18 to 23, obviously we missed a couple of years with COVID,
01:09but I've won more and more races each year.
01:12The last two years, 2022 and 2023,
01:15I won four in a week both times,
01:17which is quite phenomenal, to be honest.
01:19And is it Phil McCallum, I think,
01:23was the only previous person before that?
01:25Yeah, something like that.
01:26There's only a few of us.
01:28Yeah, so it's a very unique company, isn't it?
01:30Very unique company, a very small group,
01:32but yeah, 24 didn't go to plan.
01:34However, I've had four really,
01:37really strong years at the TT in the last four years,
01:40so I was probably due one that wasn't going to be too good.
01:42And if a not-too-good TT for me is a win,
01:46three-second places,
01:47and to walk away from a slip-off,
01:49I'll take that.
01:50That's pretty good.
01:50Yeah, I mean, by anyone else's standards,
01:52that's an amazing TT, isn't it?
01:53So, and we'll talk about that off.
01:56I'm sure you've seen the footage of Ed,
01:57because there's plenty of folks
01:58doing the rounds on social media.
02:00What was it like?
02:01I mean, was it just a,
02:02I don't know, just one of those moments?
02:03Because that never happens to you, does it?
02:05You don't have offs.
02:07Not very often, touch wood.
02:10It's just one of them things, you know.
02:12We're racing bikes,
02:13and I've done,
02:14I don't know how many miles I've done
02:15around the Isle of Man TT,
02:16but it's a lot in the last,
02:18I think that was my ninth TT.
02:20So, yeah.
02:22There's a lot of times
02:23that things could have happened,
02:25and I've had moments here and there
02:26where things could have gone a very different way,
02:29and they haven't.
02:30This time around, it didn't go my way, but...
02:33And yet, you've still got a win.
02:34Yeah.
02:35Yeah, exactly.
02:36And by that point,
02:38I felt really good on the bike.
02:40The bike was doing everything I wanted it to.
02:42I was super, super fast.
02:45Yeah, I just made a small mistake
02:47of actually doing the opposite
02:48of what most people think.
02:49I rolled off
02:50because I'd actually managed
02:52to get a bit of a gap,
02:54chilled out a little bit,
02:55which normally means
02:56you take away some risk,
02:57and unfortunately,
02:58it meant that I didn't load
02:59the front hard enough
03:00and didn't push the front hard enough,
03:01which then meant I lost the grip.
03:02So, as I said...
03:04Motorcycle racing,
03:06every day's a lesson.
03:08It doesn't matter how experienced you are,
03:10things catch you out,
03:11and it's almost a rookie error,
03:13to be quite honest,
03:14relaxing off a bit too much
03:15and making a mistake like that,
03:17but hey,
03:18I'm only human.
03:20These things happen,
03:20and you're willing to walk away from it.
03:22Yeah, exactly.
03:23I walked away,
03:24and the landlord at Ginger Hall
03:25gave me a couple of pints of Guinness,
03:27so I was all right.
03:28Not a bad way to it,
03:29I mean.
03:30Now, obviously,
03:30fast forward a few months,
03:31so David Todd joined you at FHO,
03:33but then it hasn't happened,
03:36unfortunately.
03:38Just tell us a little bit
03:39about your emotions
03:40going through the whole thing
03:41when Faye decided to
03:43obviously concentrate on other things,
03:44and then that sort of left you
03:45a little bit in limbo,
03:46really, didn't it?
03:47Yes and no.
03:48I mean,
03:48there's so much gone on.
03:52There's a lot happened,
03:53and it was over a fairly long period,
03:55like nearly four months,
03:57of discussions and talking
03:59and what's the best for me,
04:02what's the best for other people,
04:04what Faye wants to do,
04:05what the team wants to do,
04:06or, you know,
04:07there's so many different opinions,
04:09ideas, discussions
04:11about how to move forwards
04:13with everything,
04:14as there is every year
04:15with every team.
04:16You know, most contracts
04:17are one year only anyway,
04:19and it came to a point
04:20where I felt like for myself,
04:23I needed to go
04:23in a different direction
04:24to move forwards.
04:27I think Faye probably
04:27felt the same as well,
04:28although maybe didn't want
04:30to do it in the way
04:30that I wanted to do it,
04:31so in the end, actually,
04:33me and Davie ended up
04:34walking away from the team.
04:35It wasn't quite her decision alone,
04:39if that makes sense.
04:40There was a lot of discussions,
04:41a lot of people involved,
04:43but as it turned out,
04:44the direction
04:45that we wanted to go in
04:46is a very different direction
04:47to what she wanted to go in,
04:48so when that happens,
04:50then you're always going
04:51to go in your own way,
04:52so we decided to make
04:53a big call
04:54and walked away
04:56after we didn't really know
04:59what we were going to do,
05:00to be quite honest.
05:01It wasn't a plan
05:02to then make a team
05:03and move just away.
05:05That wasn't actually the idea,
05:06but that's what it's ended up being.
05:09We had discussions afterwards
05:11between myself and my guys
05:13that had been with FHO
05:15and with Smiths before that
05:16because, of course,
05:17it was a team before
05:18it was even FHO Racing
05:20or the same,
05:22similar group of guys,
05:23at least.
05:25We wanted to move forwards.
05:26We wanted to move forwards
05:27with BMW.
05:28We wanted to be here at the TT.
05:30We wanted to do the Northwest.
05:31We want to do super bikes
05:32and we want to do it
05:33in our way,
05:34how we think is the best way
05:35to do it.
05:37We then spoke with Davey
05:38and he felt the same way as us.
05:40He's got his group of guys as well
05:42which were coming with him.
05:44It's ended up forming our own team.
05:46Literally around the table,
05:48just like we're sat here right now,
05:50this is literally how it happened.
05:52It was like,
05:52what do you want to do?
05:53Well, I think this.
05:53Well, I think that.
05:55Yeah, I reckon that's
05:56the right thing to do
05:57and we all got together,
05:59made a plan and said,
06:00do you think we can actually make,
06:02is this achievable
06:03because we're in February?
06:04Yeah.
06:05You know, of 2025.
06:06It is super, super late.
06:09But as it turns out,
06:10everything's gone in the right direction.
06:12There's been a lot of hard work.
06:13There's still a lot of hard work
06:14to go before we get here.
06:16But it's looking pretty good.
06:19Yeah.
06:19I mean, you've obviously got
06:20your own experience
06:21with running the team anyway,
06:21haven't you?
06:22So I'm guessing that's been
06:23a massive help for you
06:24in this whole process.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Whereas Davey,
06:27I'm not sure,
06:28does he have experience with that?
06:29I mean, he's still relatively
06:30new to the TT,
06:31isn't he?
06:32So I don't know,
06:33I guess,
06:33has he been leaning on you
06:34a little bit?
06:34I don't know how that sort of
06:35dynamic is between the two of you?
06:37Yeah, a little bit, I guess.
06:38I mean, you could probably
06:39ask him more than ask me.
06:40But yeah,
06:41we work together on everything.
06:43We make decisions together
06:44on everything.
06:45We're 50-50 partners
06:46in the team.
06:47Yeah.
06:47So we own it 50-50,
06:4950% each.
06:50Super easy,
06:51super simple.
06:52I've got a fair amount
06:54of experience now
06:55from running my own PHR team,
06:57not only here at the TT
06:58in the Northwest
06:58for myself and Pierre
07:00who rides for me,
07:00but also in the
07:01British Championship.
07:02You know,
07:02we ran Cooper,
07:04Richard Cooper last year
07:05in the Sport Bike Championship,
07:06which I actually managed
07:07to win the championship,
07:08which is pretty cool,
07:08with my team.
07:10So that is something separate
07:11to what I've always done anyway.
07:13So yeah,
07:13I have a lot more experience
07:15on how things actually
07:17work from a team point of view.
07:18So yeah,
07:19it makes sense
07:20that I've taken
07:21a little bit of that role,
07:23but still,
07:24everything is 50-50
07:25when we decide together
07:26what's the best thing to do
07:27along with the people
07:28in the team
07:29to make sure
07:29that we're all
07:30on the same page
07:30because everyone's
07:31got a different idea.
07:32Yeah, of course.
07:33And our ideas
07:33aren't always going to be
07:34the best idea
07:35and maybe somebody else
07:36comes up with a different one
07:37that's better.
07:38It's just a lot
07:39working together.
07:39Literally,
07:40it's communication,
07:41keeping the team together
07:42and going,
07:43what do we all want to do
07:44as a group?
07:45Yeah.
07:45We all think
07:46this is the right direction.
07:47Let's go that direction
07:48and that's how we do it.
07:49Yeah,
07:50it's been,
07:51I'd say it's a long process
07:53to build a superbike
07:54from scratch
07:55and the team's done it
07:57in eight weeks
07:58with a brand new motorcycle
07:59that nobody
08:00has ever seen before
08:01and it's been
08:02pretty impressive really
08:03to show
08:04the team
08:05needs a lot of credit.
08:08The boys have worked
08:09really hard
08:10to make a bike
08:11that would go around
08:12Alton Park
08:12on Thursday
08:13as it did last week.
08:14I suppose
08:15as you alluded to earlier
08:16that the fact
08:17that you and Davey
08:18both got
08:18most of your own crew
08:19and your crew chiefs
08:22and all those sort of people
08:23have not stopped massively
08:24in that.
08:24They know what you want,
08:25what you need from the bike
08:26and they can build it
08:27around that,
08:28can't they?
08:28Yeah,
08:29and that was something
08:29that Davey pointed out
08:30straight away.
08:31I mean,
08:31normally day one
08:32on a superbike
08:33that's been built
08:33from scratch
08:34and is brand new
08:35can be quite hard work.
08:38Electronically,
08:38it's very different.
08:40The engine spec's different
08:41to last year.
08:41The chassis is different.
08:43The new BMW
08:44is a new BMW.
08:45It's a new bike
08:46so nothing translates
08:47over from last year
08:48even though we have
08:49the experience of last year
08:50and the previous years.
08:51None of that translates over
08:52because it's completely different.
08:54So when you start
08:55from scratch like that,
08:56the bikes,
08:57particularly in BSB spec,
08:59are very difficult.
09:00So he was really,
09:02really surprised
09:03that the bike was actually
09:04pretty good straight away
09:05and that's down to
09:06the experience of the team
09:07of understanding
09:08we're pretty sure
09:09it's going to want
09:09that and that.
09:11Have you got a target
09:12in mind for this year?
09:13I know you say
09:14when you first started out
09:15you didn't set
09:15a certain target
09:16in terms of race wins
09:17and stuff
09:17but now that you've got
09:1814 under your belt
09:19do you go into this year
09:20sort of thinking
09:21I want this or that?
09:23How do you sort of
09:24tackle it?
09:24Yeah,
09:25well I want to win now.
09:26Now that I've started winning
09:28I want to keep winning
09:28you know
09:29and I think people forget
09:30I've actually only won
09:31for the last five years
09:32like I've not actually
09:33been winning for that
09:34for very long.
09:35I've not been going
09:35to the TT for that long.
09:37You know,
09:372014 was my first TT
09:39and we've had a couple
09:40of COVID years
09:40so I'm sure
09:42this is my 10th TT now
09:43so I haven't actually
09:45been going for that long
09:46really.
09:47So you need to rack up
09:48that many wins?
09:49Yeah,
09:49in a short period of time
09:50I've racked up
09:50a fair amount of wins
09:52so and it's
09:53yeah,
09:54something I've got
09:54a little taste for now
09:55and of course
09:56I want some more
09:56so what do I want
09:58from TT 2025?
09:59Well,
10:00I've got eight races
10:01I want eight wins
10:01that's what
10:02that's what I really want
10:03that would be
10:04unbelievable
10:05and is nearly
10:07probably not
10:08achievable
10:08but that's
10:09of course the aim
10:10that's why we're here
10:11I'm turning up
10:12because I want to win.
10:12once you get a couple
10:13more wins in your belt
10:14the next person
10:15on the list
10:15I think is
10:16a John McGuinness
10:16on the 23rd
10:17I think
10:17so
10:18I don't know
10:19Hutchie's 16
10:21Molly's 19
10:23is he?
10:24Yeah,
10:24so in terms of the
10:25solos
10:26will you then
10:27start looking
10:28in the next couple
10:28of years
10:28of trying to reel
10:29in John McGuinness
10:30who obviously
10:30people didn't think
10:32that him and Joey
10:33were ever going to be
10:34touched
10:34but we saw Michael
10:35last year
10:35I don't know
10:38to be honest
10:38I'll take each year
10:40at a time
10:41I want to keep winning
10:42of course
10:42I want to keep
10:44coming back to the TT
10:45for many years from now
10:46so
10:46let's see what happens
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