Foggy and the Isle of Man TT

Forget the jungle, British bike hero Carl Fogarty reckons his bravest exploits came at the Isle of Man TT and helped him to his first world titles…

Words: Bertie Simmonds Pics: Don Morley, Bill Snelling, Mortons Archive

Carl Fogarty: the man best known for eating an ostrich anus on live television, right?

No, no… of course not: 2014’s King of the Jungle may be best known to the British public for his bravery in the various bush tucker trials in the ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ TV series, but we recall his grit, determination, courage and balls (his, not some Antipodean animal) out on the track.

Foggy is thankfully better known to us bike fans for his dominance of World Superbikes during its golden period: we’re talking the early to late 1990s.

The list of riders he would race against and beat includes John Kocinski, Scott Russell, Aaron Slight, Pier-Francesco Chili, Doug Polen, Colin Edwards and Anthony Gobert. During his full World Superbike career spanning from 1988 to 2000, Carl would win 59 races, he’d take 21 pole positions and get onto the podium 109 times, until he was forced to retire due to injury.

And then there were his ‘other’ world championships, often forgotten and indelibly linked to his prowess as a pure road racer. “Forgotten?” says Carl when I dare to say this to him. “Go check on my bloody Instagram and Facebook pages – the championships and TT wins are always mentioned on there and I’m very proud of them!”

Oops. Sorry!

I should have known better. After all, Carl was born into racing and was always likely to go to the TT. Dad George was a very handy racer. On the Grand Prix trail he’d raced in the domestic events and – in 1976 – took part in the 250 and 350cc Grand Prixs at Monjuic Park and managed a 12th place in one of the races. Of course, being of the generation he was, George was a regular and passionate proponent of road-racing and the Isle of Man. He would take four 2nd places at the North West 200 during his career. He’d also finished 2nd to Joey Dunlop in the 1977 Jubilee TT – Yer Maun’s first win of his career – he’d taken 4th in the 1978 Senior and he’d even been Mike Hailwood’s team-mate during Mike the Bike’s return to the TT in 1978…

George had a 20-year career on the Island as a racer, first in the Manx (he debuted in 1963) through to the TT itself from 1966 until his final TT in 1983, which took place a year before he hung up his leathers in 1984. Looking back, if George had the breaks earlier on and avoided a couple of injuries he could have made an impact in Grand Prix racing. Also – with a bit of luck – George could have possibly won a TT…

Of course thanks to his dad’s long history of racing on the Island, Carl had to endure/enjoy going over to support George now and then, even when he was racing schoolboy motocross himself. “When I went to the Isle of Man to watch my dad’s last TT, it hit me like a hammer,” recalls Carl. “What the hell was I wasting my time in motocross for when this was what I wanted to be doing? Motocross had made me forget the thrill of road-racing. The fact that dad was now late on in his road racing career made the fact that I wasn’t racing even more frustrating. From that moment in 1983 – I’d just turned 18 – my mind was made up and I told my dad that I wanted to stop motocross and start road-racing.”

Carl’s career began as George’s was ending, but while dad was happy to help and offer advice on the short circuits, he was also somewhat circumspect about when he felt Carl was ready to head off to the Island and the Manx Grand Prix. Typically, Carl was insistent. So, while 1985’s target was success in the Marlboro Clubman’s Championship on short circuits, it would also be the year Foggy would head to the Isle of Man as a competitor for the first time.

While a broken arm that season would affect his chances of the Clubman’s series (he would just lose out to Darren Dixon), Carl’s preparation for the Manx was doing 12 laps a day in a car to really learn the circuit. It paid off, as Fogarty would take 3rd in the Lightweight class and win the Newcomers Lightweight race. The next season – 1986 – Carl would move up to the TT ‘proper’: “I’d wanted to compete in the TT ever since I was a kid,” says Carl, sadly he didn’t make quite the impact he wanted. His best result that year would be 12th even though he was being marked out as special on the Island. All that would come in time…

1986 would come with some very big highs and very low lows for Carl: 11th at a wet Silverstone British Grand Prix and a broken leg for his troubles at Oulton Park: eight weeks in traction was not what he wanted as he was being touted as the next big thing in the 250cc class. 1987 would be more peaks and troughs: 4th in the Junior TT and then he broke the same leg again at Silverstone. Some may have cried enough by this stage, but Fogarty was made of sterner stuff.

And then of course, in the background, racing was changing. Come 1988, four-stroke production racing was going off in two different directions. The first direction was the established TT F1 World Championship, which started off in 1977 as a one-race ‘world championship’ to compensate the TT for losing its place on the world Grand Prix championship calendar. By the late 1980s it had grown to encompass not just the TT but also the Ulster Grand Prix and a number of international events at tracks that – perhaps – wouldn’t pass muster on a Grand Prix calendar and that many people – even today – may not have heard of, such as Villa Real, Pergusa and Kouvola…

The other direction was the new-for-1988 World Superbike championship: a series for which Honda had just made a new bike, as they wanted to win it badly.

The Honda VFR750RR – or RC30 – was no Grand Prix 250cc two-stroke, but it was beautiful and effective. And – more to the point for Carl – it was comfortable. He says: “After those accidents it was really difficult to get comfy on the little 250, and even though my heart was initially set on the 250cc two-stroke class, I found I was comfortable on the RC30, and let’s face it all the fame and glory comes with the big bikes,” explains Carl.

Amazingly, Foggy would take 7th in the 1988 Senior race and scoop 4th in the Formula One TT – 13 precious points in the TT F1 championship. He says: “Thing is, that RC30 then was so new to us – it was pretty much ‘standard road bike’, including the suspension and wheels. The engine was Tony Scott-tuned though. With that result, we got the invite – out of the blue – to go to Assen for the next round of the F1 series and I finished one place behind Joey Dunlop – the man to beat at the time – in 9th.

By now Carl and his rag-tag team of mates and personal sponsors were getting to grips with the RC30. It was proving reliable and it also finally got some suspension work, including a Proflex rear shock. Villa Real was next – a notoriously tricky and potentially dangerous road circuit. Carl was 4th when the race was stopped due to the rain. Unfortunately the bike cut-out when the race was restarted but Foggy’s rival Joey also had his own issues.

Finland beckoned and Carl was surprised to see how many fans were at Kouvola. “These TT F1 circuits were a real challenge and Kouvola was no different. The good thing there was a fairly big crowd of around 15,000 people, and they were great, hospitable people.” Sadly a pit-stop error would lead to Carl having to stop twice in the race – he would come home in 4th.

On to the Ulster GP: “I couldn’t believe it when I won at Ulster, beating Joey,” says Carl. “I qualified on the fourth row I think, 21st or something and wasn’t too confident but then it was a wet race. We were using Metzeler tyres that year – I’ll be honest, it was because they were free and we were skint! But they were very good tyres – they must have been as I won races on them. They really worked well in that race and to win put me in the hunt for the championship now, five-and-a-half points behind Joey, and growing in confidence.”

Pergusa, Sicily next where Carl took pole position from local favourite Gianluca Galasso on a Bimota. Towards the end of the race Foggy came in to the pits to refuel when his engine started to cut out, but instead he was pushed out and – thanks to a healthy lead – managed to take the win.

Donington Park would be the scene of the season finale and Carl was now 15 points ahead of Joey, who’d suffered a DNF in Sicily. A top six would seal the deal and Foggy came home in 5th place, taking his first world title – and it meant a lot to him, still does: “I’ve said that the circuits were very challenging – and often very dangerous – and while there was only a hard-core of riders doing all of the rounds, you had some really quick riders popping up. People like the Dunlops, Steve Hislop, Phil McCallen, Dave Leach, people of that calibre. It was not easy winning that championship and beating those riders on those tracks, including the Isle of Man, means I will never forget my TT F1 world titles.”

1989 and Honda wanted Carl to defend his TT F1 title – it was that important to them. Sugo was now on the calendar and the season opener so it was off to challenge some very fast Japanese riders. “I was the world champion so I was hoping for an RVF or something special from Honda,” says Carl. “But instead it was me and the RC30 against some very fast locals, some of whom were riding the factory RVFs. It was a bit of a shock to be honest, and I qualified 30th and managed to scrape 13th in the race.

That year’s TT was a difficult one for many reasons – and Carl had lost his good friend Phil Hogg. Despite this, he would take 3rd in the Ultra Lightweight TT, win the Production TT race, take 4th in the Junior TT and – most importantly for his world ambitions – take 4th place in the Formula One TT. The Production TT win was most satisfying – he’d finally shown he could win on the most challenging circuit of them all.

He says: “Dave Leach and Hizzy were two of the fastest guys that year. I started off with Dave (we were setting off in pairs then) 10 seconds behind Steve. We both ended up behind Steve on the final lap. I was trying to hang on to them both, but when we got to The Mountain I felt confident I could pass them. I would win by 1.8 seconds. I was finally a proper TT racer…”

World championship duty again andCarl’s love affair with Assen began, where he won. “I’ve always loved Assen,” he admits. “I think I led from start to finish and Steve Hislop was beginning to be my main title rival. He took the win ahead of me in Portugal and we finished the other way around in Finland. I just needed 6th to win the title at the Ulster GP and would finish 2nd behind Hizzy.”

With the TT F1 series dropping to just five rounds in 1990 – it was to be called an ‘FIM Cup’ rather than a world championship. Fogarty would win it again – and on his way to the title have his most successful TT year yet. It would also prove to be a turning point as he took in some World Superbike races, a series he would come to dominate.

“We moved into a proper team for 1990,” says Foggy. “Neil Tuxworth ran the Honda Britain team and it was me and future mate James Whitham. The RC20 was then pretty past its sell-by date really, but I was determined to do well in the World Superbike races we had scheduled for that year. I think we did Jerez, France and the UK rounds. Even double champ (1988/89) Fred Merkel was struggling with the Honda that year, so the TT was a bit of a highlight.”

Hislop in 1989 had won three races and moved the lap record on, so he was the man to beat, but Carl wanted to beat the man who was his TT team-mate.

“I did try and get in Steve’s head a bit that year,” admits Carl. “I had to, as Steve was one of the most naturally talented riders and brilliant at the TT and I was fully focused on winning. Also, I was almost saying goodbye to the TT that year, as I didn’t intend on coming back, if I was honest. I know things didn’t go that way, as I came back twice. Those big bike race wins, the F1 and Senior, made for a great year. The F1 win was the biggest win of my career so far and – in between the two races I took 2nd in the Supersport 400 and 4th in the Junior. The Senior race was postponed for a few hours thanks to the weather. During the race I was battling with Trevor Nation and later in the race could see I was catching Steve on the road. I went past him at Kirkmichael to lead by 22 seconds at the end of the first lap. When I came over the line to win, I began crying. This was the first time ever… Winning both these important races, considering I’d seen my dad try and win one was so important to me and still ranks as one of my biggest achievements in racing…” 

In his own words Carl ‘breezed’ through that year’s FIM Cup, but he had his eyes on bigger prizes. He’d go on to dominate World Superbikes on his Ducati, taking four world titles. Before that, he’d also come back to the Island and take part in two classic battles with Steve Hislop again in 1991 and 1992…

So there you have it: Carl Fogarty’s TT wins and associated TT F1 world titles (and cup) are clearly more palatable to him than a camel’s penis… Honest.