Guy Martin: My 1,000-mile Indian road trip on a Royal Enfield
The racing champion tells Theo Merz about his latest project – a 1,000-mile journey across India on a 'bulletproof' motorbike
Guy Martin: 'It’s the ideal motorbike for the job. It’s dead reliable' Photo: James Woodroffe/Channel 4
As one of the UK’s most recognisable motorcycle racers, Guy Martin is used to cutting-edge equipment and fast vehicles.
But the man who fronted a Channel 4 show called Speed was forced to move at a slower pace when he filmed
Our Guy in India, a two-part documentary which begins on Sunday.
While the 33-year-old took a 1,000-mile motorcycle trip around the country, culminating in an extraordinary race outside Goa involving more than 1,200 competitors, he had to put his brain “into another gear” when it came to getting around.
(Photo: James Woodroffe/Channel 4)
In the first episode, we see Grimsby-born Martin crawling through Delhi traffic at three miles an hour, before spending 12 hours in a city station waiting for a delayed train for a part of the journey he would complete by rail.
For the rest of the 1,000 miles, he rode on a Royal Enfield – a British-designed vehicle which went out of production in the UK in the 1970s but remains the most popular bike in India.
One dealer Martin meets in the documentary claims he could find a person who knew how to fix the bike on every street corner in the country.
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My horn was worn out after one day' (Photo: James Woodroffe/Channel 4)
“I wouldn’t say I fell in love with it, but it’s the ideal motorbike for the job. It’s dead reliable; it’s a big, cumbersome thing but it’s bulletproof and it doesn’t give any bother.
“It only goes up to about 60 miles an hour, but on the Indian roads you don’t want to be doing any more than that.”
The bike’s continued popularity is also due to the country’s protectionist policies, where high taxes are imposed on European and Japanese vehicles.
The main problem, Martin says, was adjusting to the new rules of the road. “When I first got there, I was still doing my mirror-signal-manoeuvre.
“But after a couple of hours I realised that you just don’t bother what anybody else is doing and if you want to go in that direction, you go in that direction.
“The horn isn’t for when someone’s in your way; you press the horn before you do anything at all. Mine was worn out after a day.”
So does he return from the race which ends his Indian adventure with another trophy? Wary of spoilers, Martin probably shouldn’t say, but in any case he never hangs on to his trophies – preferring to pass them on to others who have helped him prepare.
“I’m not a bowl [trophy] collector. I won’t appreciate it and I know they will. The only thing I keep from the races I’ve won are the handle bar grips from the bike, the rubber bits.”
Neither will he be watching the documentary when it airs: he does not have a TV and has never had an internet connection at home.
“What I really took in in India was that people – even in the slums – were happy with what they’d got. That’s something we’re not good at in the Western world. I’m not a materialistic person at all but I always want the next thing; I’ve got a nice toolbox but I still want another set of spanners.”
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Even in the slums, people are happy with what they've got' (Photo: JamesWoodroffe/Channel 4)
But Martin did not see India through rose-tined spectacles, describing much of the country as “a s***hole”.
Those conditions, however, appear to be something he is used to.
Asked about his opinions on
Sacha Baron Cohen’s forthcoming comedy, set in Martin’s hometown of Grimsby, he says: “I hope he’s done it justice in the way that it is a s***hole. I was born in Grimsby and always lived around there, but it’s died a death because of the loss of the fishing industry.”
And after a day in London to promote the new documentary, Martin will return to the Lincolnshire town – where he still works as a mechanic in a truck yard, and where his colleagues rarely mention his growing TV profile.
In the long term, he hopes to return to India to collect his Royal Enfield, driving it back to the UK across Afghanistan, Pakistan the Caucasus and Europe.
In the medium term, he has another season of UK-based bike racing, starting in April. Tomorrow, though, he has a lot of trucks to work on.
Our Guy in India begins on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4
Source:-
Guy Martin: My 1,000-mile Indian road trip on a Royal Enfield - Telegraph
