Exclusive: Peter Hickman Q & A
"I wanted it to be like the drive to work every day that you can do with your eyes closed.♍ I was only doing it at forty miles an hour but I knew where I was going."

The fastest newcomer award, presented to a rider debuting the Isle of Man TT course, has been the focus of much attention in recent years. Since Steve Plater broke the recor♔d in 2007 with a staggering average✅ lap, three other riders have gone faster in their debut year.

The most recent of which was Peter Hickman who caused a stir by posting an averag🦹e speed of 129.104mph around the 37-mile circuit, obliterating Josh Brookes' year ol🌳d mark in the process. The 27-year old now sits 19th in terms of fastest riders around the mountain track.

mahbx.com caught up ♉with Peter to talk about starting the year by working without racing, catching Michael Rutter's tow, and that Senior lap time.

mahbx.com:
Where are you at the moment Peter?

Peter Hickman:
Just at work actually but I can work and talk. My boss is standing about five foot away but he'🃏ll get over it!

mahbx.com:
You were drafted in at the last minute at 🎃Snetterton [with the Tsingtao WK Kawasaki team]. When did you learn you were riding that weekend?

Peter Hickman:
I didn't go to Snetterton with the intentiꦬon of even riding. I was actually half way there when I got the phone call. To jump in half way through the weekend was always going to be tough but 𒀰it went how I thought it would go pretty much. I had a bit of fun anyway. I pulled some wheelies, did some skids and that's about it.

mahbx.com:
How did you find getting back on the short circuꦅits after missing the first two rounds?

Peter Hickman:
I hadn't ridden a Superbike since last October.ღ It was a good exercise in getting myself back into thin♔gs. Unfortunately things weren't quite right with the bike but it was alright, exactly how I thought it would be.

mahbx.com:
The announcement came in March that y🍎ou would race. Was the TT something you always wanted to do or was it more or was it more to do with circumstanc🅰e?

Peter Hickman:
A bitꦿ of both to be quite honest. It was something that I was already looking at and the opportunity arose in the right circumstances for myself so I thought, 'Why not, let's have a go!' It was brilliant. I really enjoyed the whole exp🦂erience, the North West and TT were both really good fun and they couldn't have gone any better.

mahbx.com:
Your Dad has a bit of history with the mountain course, win🤪ning a Manx GP in the 70s. Was a place you visited growing up?

Peter Hickman:
He did a couple of TTs and he did the Manx. He actually won a Manx but he did a couple of TTs as well. There's a little bit of history there although he didn't want me to do it! I went to the event when I was one year old back in 1988 but other than that the first time I went was actually last year. I went just to have a look and see what it🦋 was all about.

mahbx.com:
Your approach to the event must have been quite detailed to go so q🌠uick from the off. What 🦩did that include doing?

Peter Hickman:
Well I did near on seventy laps in a hire car between January and the end of April. I did about seven trips over to the Isle of Man and kept going round and round. I did some night laps, did some day laps and watched a lot of onboard videos from last year. I just tried to do as much as possible. I didn't know the course inside out but I knew where we went right, where we went left, where there was a jump and all the rest of it. Even when I did my first lap with Milky [Quayle] on the Monday night [of practice week] I never got lost once. I even kn🐈ew what gear to be in roughly so I was really prepared for what was coming. I wanted it to be like the drive to work every day that you can do with your eyes closed. I was only doing it at forty miles an hour but I knew where I was going.

mahbx.com:
By the end of race week did it feel like that, even though you were goi♌ng well ov🌠er 140mph?

Peter Hickman:
To be fair I kind of felt like that all along. I had learnt loads and I was still learning in the last race. Even on that last lap I changed a few things. Some things worked, others didn't. I ran wide in a couple of places but there was nothing dramatic at all. I didn't scare myself, I may﷽be went a few feet off line in places rather than hitting kerbs. I didn't hit one kerb throughout the two weeks. It was the same at the North West too. It was all just learning, every lap I learnt a little bit more and every lap I did was that bit faster again and again🔯. It was just about piecing it all together really.

mahbx.com:
All riders are different but did you set yourself any targets at the start of the💮 w𝕴eek?

Peter Hickman:
I tried not to. I turned up with the mindset of 'once I'm over 120mph I'll be happy.' I did that early on, a lot earlier than I expected. Although I didn't push for it I figured that I could push for [a] 125mph [lap], which I achieved in the first Superbike race on the Saturday. I did 126.2 on the Saturday and was well happy with that. That was on a 𒁃Superstock bike too and I figured tha♛t's where I should be. I looked at what Josh Brookes did the year before on a Superbike that he had known and ridden for three years. I figured if he could do 128mph then about 125 on a 'Stocker' is where I should be. I was pretty pleased to have done that and then obviously ended up going a lot faster again. I think it surprised everyone as much as it did me! I didn't think I was capable of doing that and it came around a bit faster than I thought.

mahbx.com:
Does your mindset change when you've🙈 exceeded expectations so ea𝄹rly in the week?

Peter Hickman:
Not really. It was more about just letting it happen and going from there. I think I did 123 on the Friday of practice week and I was happy considering we had missed three nights of practi💜ce. But I just enjoyed the overall experie✨nce, it was real good fun. I've got something to come back for next year.

mahbx.com:
I've heard some newcomers say in the past that the best thing💙 that happened to them during practice was to get passed by one of the top 10. You can see the lines first hand. Did you have this experience?

Peter Hickman:
Not at all really. It was only really early on the Thursday night when Michael Rutter passed me. He was on a Supersport bike so I could catch up a bit on the straights. To be fair I think he rolled off foဣr me and helped me around which was real good. I 𓃲did 115 by myself and from a standing start and on my last lap he came through at the bottom of Barregarrow. I followed him through to the Grandstand. It was good, he kept having a little look over the shoulder to make sure I was still there and it helped out a lot.

mahbx.com:
When you finished the S𒉰enior did you know it had been a fast one? Did it feel quܫick?

Peter Hickman:
Yes and no. I felt like I had pieced a lot together but I had run wide in some places and did some things that I knew maybe weren't right. I figured it might have been faster than what I had been going but I wasn't too sure on what I had done already. I knew when I came in for my firs꧂t pit stop that I had done 127.6 on the second lap, I heard that over the tannoy and knew I was in the ball park. I wasn't sure how fast I'd gone. In fairness I didn't even ask, I was told it rather than asking. I was just really happy that I had finishedꦕ around eleventh, it was really good.

mahbx.com:
In the Superstock race you gained close to ten seconds on John McGuinness on the final lap to overtake him and finish 10th. Was that som💃ething you could have imagined going into the event?

Peter Hickman:
Obviously John wasn't very well. We all know that he wasn't at his peak performance by any means b⭕ut even so to beat the 'King of the Mountain' around there was something a little bit special and unexpected.

mahbx.com:
Despite your final lap time are there areas you feel you can improve on around the mountain circuit🍬?

Peter Hickman:
There are still loads. Looking back I know there are a lot of areas that I can go faster. Even looking back on the last lap I can see there are a lot of places where I could make time up. I was trying not to🍌 rush. I just wanted to keep riding in my comfort zone and that's exactly how I felt for the whole two weeks.

mahbx.com:
𓂃Considering your good record in BSB and the fact you've finished inside the top 10 in a WSBK race were you surprised by the lack of options available to you this year? Or is it something you've come to expect?

Peter Hickman:
Obviously I was gutted no to be there. I don't really know how to describe the way I felt not being there. I've been in Superbikes since '06 so it's hard to return after not being there. But with motorsport it isn't always about how fast riders are. A lot can be down to budget and I wasn't able to raise the budget that was required. I'm at work anyway, have a lot of thing♚s going on and was concentrating on the TT. Because I didn't have a Superbike ride all my focus was on the TT and that's why I was able to put in so much homework and do so many laps.

mahbx.com:
Looking ahead to th🍸e rest of the year, are you due to race in Macau?

Peter Hickman:
Yes, I hope so. The plan is to be racing in Macau. The ♓Ulster is a possibility but I don't know yet. It c🎉ould be with them [Ice Valley Racing] but I'm also talking to some other teams as well.

mahbx.com:
W🍬ill a Superbike assault on the roads be your aim in 2015?

Peter Hickman:
I hopℱe so. I'd like to run a 'Stocker', Superbike and Supersport as well. I haven't really looked too much at it this year but that would be the plan at some poin🌜t.

mahbx.com:
Thanks for your time Peter.

Peter Hickman:
Thanks a lot.