Phil’s super light dream machine

Photo: Russell Lee Sports Pix

BORN to ride... Phil McGurk on his bike.

Racer roars to victory on his homemade bike
‘It was fantastic. I smashed the lap record to pieces’
A CHADDERTON speed demon has smashed race records at the prestigious Manx Grand Prix on a motorbike he built himself.

Phil McGurk (41) spent over 1,000 hours handmaking the motorbike he felt would be ideal for winning the ultra lightweight class at the Isle of Man event.

And his dedication paid off as he stormed to victory, setting a lap record of 112.572mph and a race record of 110.709mph in his first Mountain Course win.

It was a dream come true for Phil, who has followed in his dad Tony McGurk’s footsteps — a prolific motorbike racer he watched and helped race at the Manx event.

Phil’s passion for racing began at an early age — his mum claims his first word was “motorbike”.

He first raced at the Manx Grand Prix in 2002 when he came third in the newcomer class and he has raced there every year since, taking third in the juniors in 2008.

This year he also came second in the post-classics.

But his big achievement came after he studied last year’s ultra lightweight class and realised some lightweight bikes didn’t have good enough engines and those with good engines didn’t have a light enough chassis.

The former Blue Coat School pupil set about creating his own bike with a light chassis and Kawasaki engine — for nine months spending every evening after work in his workshop until midnight.

He said: “I build all my bikes but this one is actually handmade where I made things like the chassis and exhaust. It’s a proper home-made bike and not a manufactured machine.”

It was finished just three weeks before the Manx event and he entered a race at Aintree to give it a competitive run out.

Nerves over how it would perform were banished as Phil soared to two first places from 32nd on the grid.

But the real test at Manx was yet to come.

Phil said: “I knew it had gone well in practice and I had the feeling that the bike was good but you don’t know it will win because you don’t know what anyone else will do.

“I didn’t know I’d won until I stopped. It was fantastic. I took the lap record to pieces. It just doesn’t happen. It was just elation.

“I have been going to the Isle of Man since I was a little boy and watching my dad and you never really think you will actually race there.

“It’s a brilliant feeling to race there but you never think you will win and then you do. I’d waited a long time.”

He gave credit to his dad for his help and support, adding: “He has been a stalwart. I’m thankful as there’s no way I could have done it without him.”

And he plans to do even better next year, saying: “The plan is to build another, improved bike and get a faster time. But I expect people to catch up next year. I’m sure someone else will have done something similar.”

Phil was an apprentice at Ferranti and now runs Spring Court Motorcycle Centre in Rochdale.

His business partner Alan Moore called him the “best engineer I’ve ever met”, adding that as soon as Phil realised the bike he needed didn’t exist he promptly set about making his own.

He added: “With a race win, destruction of the old lap and race record and total dominance over the rest of the field it was quite an amazing achievement by a remarkable man and quite a stunning road racing motorcycle.”