'I understand why people say it is crazy but you are ready to do it and you want to do it' - Owen Monaghan on the delights and dangers of racing on the Isle of Man

Owen Monaghan was on a family holiday in Greece when his dad let him have a little ride up and down a road.

The youngster climbed on, accelerated slowly away and set his life on a different course.

“I decided there and then that I liked two wheels,” he says.

Now aged 29, the Ilkeston man is set to compete in his fourth Manx Grand Prix in August on the Isle of Man’s famous, dangerous and sometimes fatal 37-mile mountain course used by the TT race.

“People always say ‘you must be nuts,’ but to me it is the most calculated and revised thing I have done because I put so much time and effort into it,” he explains.

"It is a yearly event and everything I do throughout the year pretty much is geared to me doing well.

"Before I set off I know exactly what I’m going to do. I know where and when to steer, change gear, accelerate and brake. It is very methodical and thought about. If you were going to to out there flat out without knowing what was going to happen then you are asking for trouble.

"I understand why people say it is crazy. I can watch a video of myself and think it is a bit mad. It’s the same when you stand at the side of the track. But when you put that much time and effort into it, you are ready to do it and you want to do it. It’s amazing fun.

"When you come in it’s like no other feeling. You’re on a high, full of adrenaline. Incrementally going faster and faster is the goal. It’s a big challenge.”

Owen has banked good experience of road racing since that first solo ride in Greece and his humble beginnings.

"Normally, bike racers come from a racing background but I didn’t,” he explains. “I got into it by accident and I didn’t know people were into bikes.

"My first bike cost me £315 off ebay and I saved up my pot washing money to buy it.

"I learnt to ride it on the back roads and it didn’t really work and then I had a little crash on it.

"I look back at the things I was doing to it to try and repair it and I didn’t have a clue.

"From then to where we are now, it is pretty exciting.”

Owen worked at Nottingham University for ten years, five of them as part of an electric bike team, and it was then that the Isle of Man venture came into his thoughts.

"We worked on a superbike that set also sorts of records and raced in the Isle of Man and that’s when I started to really learn about it.

"It was still a pipe dream rather than something I thought I could do but as I progressed with my career I met people that were doing it and realised you could go racing.

"You progress slowly through track phase and then do your racing on small bikes.”

Motorsport is a costly business.

Machines, repairs, travel and proper back-up all cost money and Owen has had some important help along the way.

Alan Naul, of Rapid Light Transport, helped him with smaller bikes that helped build him up to proper road racing. Then there’s Alan Chamley of AC Racing. An ex TT rider, he has given Owen two machines to ride at this year’s Manx.

Owen isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty either.

He self-funds his racing, personalises his own bikes and has built a community of people who love racing and travel with him to see him race all over the UK.

"As a bought bike you have to take them apart and go through everything to really understand it and set it up for yourself,” he explains.

"Alan has done the hard part, which is spending the big bit of money. I get to spend hours in my workshop at home making it right.

"Ideally you get oily hands in the weeks and months leading up to the Isle of Man, not when you’re there.

"It’s an endurance race really. The races are more than an hour long and anything can go wrong. You do everything you can to try and stop it.”

Owen is a bike lover to the core.

By day he works for the Royal Enfield motorbike company, developing and testing top gear.

"I play with motorbikes at work and then come home and do the same,” he smiles.

But aside from the high speed capabilities of his Suzuki and Asprilia machines, they are nothing without a savvy rider to steer them.

"You can’t go straight to the Isle of Man until you have proven yourself,” says Owen.

"Once you’ve proved you can compete to a certain level, you get an entry to the Manx Grand Prix.

"It’s the same course at the TT. The only difference is that you cannot ride 1000cc bikes at the Manx. This year I am riding a 750cc and you can still do 170mph.”

Owen has been at the main Isle of Man TT race himself recently, helping a fellow rider and getting a feel of the place.

Next year could be the one where he’s at the Start line for the big one itself and fulfils his dream.

"The organisers of the TT invited me to this year’s,” he says. “ I was tempted but I had a plan and I want to stick with it. I have new bikes from Alan and they need to be properly prepared. They really need to be dialled in. You don’t want to turn up to the main event without good experience and understanding of your own bike.

"I said ‘thank you but not thank you, but I’ll be there next year.’”

Yet to hit 30, Owen has plenty of road ahead of him as a racer and to continue that journey which started on a sunny day in Greece.

As he points out: "John McGuinness, one of the biggest names in TT, is still racing at 54 and doing well. There is more longevity in road racing.

"I wish I’d started sooner but I’m on my path.”