Racer has won the Isle Of Man TT 23 times, which places him second in all time wins after Joey Dunlop’s 26. That didn’t stop Mugen from fat shaming him, telling him they’d give him a bike only if he lost some weight. His idea? Liposuction.

Ok, so this doesn’t actually have anything to do with racing, but it is cause to make us an even bigger fan of McGuinness. He’s been pestering Mugen for one of their carbon-fiber electric superbikes for his private collection for years.

Initially they blew him off, but apparently now that he has a section of the TT course named after him they’re a little more keen on the idea - under one condition. For McGuinness to collect his prize, he has to lose 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds) before the TT race which begins late May.

As he told :

“I went down to Milton Keynes to their workshop for the weigh-in with about £30 of pound coins in my pocket, drank two litres of water and had two big breakfasts on the train. They chucked me on the scales and they were like ‘woaaaaaah’ when it went to like 90kg (200 lbs)!

I saw him in Macau though, he was there having a look around. He just slid up beside me and said ‘nothing has changed, then John? You are not serious to get the bike?’ and laughed!

They originally wanted the weigh-in to be the end of this month, but there’s no chance of that so soon after eating all that turkey after Christmas, so I’m going to try and put it off for as long as possible. I worked it out though and it’s only about £8000 for liposuction, so if I get stuck it’s a lot cheaper than losing a million quid bike!”

In a sport where every last pound matters, it’s astounding that McGuinness hasn’t had to give up his love for bangers and mash, blood pudding, beef wellington, cottage pie, fish and chips, toad-in-the-hole, or warm beer to keep winning the TT.

And, when you think about it, the price of lipo is well worth losing some fat, getting to keep eating what you want, and getting what’s essentially a MotoGP spec electric bike.

You’re a hero to us all, John.

Hat tip to !

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