![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/p0nnhs7z.jpg\")
<\/p>\n6. He retired from racing because he got bored \u2013 and boredom can be fatal<\/p>\n
When Guy\u2019s attention started to drift during races, that\u2019s when he knew it was time to pack it in. \u201cI was riding round on these motorbike races thinking, \u2018What am I going to have for my tea? What’s happening at work?\u2019 When it’s not scaring you, I think we have a problem. Because if you\u2019re not scared, then your mind starts to wander and that’s when things can go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Guy Martin in the Desert Island Discs studio.\n <\/p>\n
When it’s not scaring you, I think we have a problem. Because if you\u2019re not scared, then your mind starts to wander and that’s when things can go wrong.<\/p>\n
Guy explains how boredom led him to retire from racing.<\/p>\n
Following a crash at the Ulster Grand Prix in 2015 Guy broke eight vertebrae, his hand, his ankle and punctured a lung. As he lay in hospital, he thought: \u201cThere\u2019s more to life than racing motorbikes, right? If I wasn’t fully committed to doing it, I shouldn’t really be doing it because something like this would happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a mindset: \u201cYou don’t mind crashing if it’s for a win, but crashing through a lack of concentration, I\u2019d have a job living with that.\u201d That\u2019s when he knew it was time for something new.<\/p>\n
7. He blames an imaginary chimp called Brian for his need for speed<\/p>\n
Guy credits the psychiatrist Steve Peters’s book The Chimp Paradox with helping him understand the impulsive part of his brain. The book introduces the concept of the \u2018Chimp\u2019 as the emotional, impulsive part of our brain, contrasted with the \u2018Human\u2019 part, which is rational and logical. Professor Peters believes harnessing the chimp helps to improve performance and achieve success and happiness.<\/p>\n
Guy has named his inner chimp Brian and says he looks like Ben Kingsley from the film Sexy Beast. \u201cThat\u2019s how (Brian) talks to me, pointing at me and telling me exactly how things are going to be done\u2026 Do not mess with Brian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quieting this inner chimp involves long, miserable, multi-week rides on a pedal bike. \u201cThe only way to deal with the chimp is to sit on a push bike and suffer for a couple of weeks at a time.\u201d His wife Sharon has learned to read the signs. \u201cShe knows that’s not Guy, that’s Brian.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. Being a TV presenter does not come naturally to him<\/p>\n
Despite being the face of many popular TV programmes since 2011, Guy is adamant he is not a natural presenter. \u201cI can’t talk to a camera,\u201d he says. \u201cI just can\u2019t do it because there\u2019s nothing there.\u201d At one point, the crew tried fixing up a system with a mirror, so that it would look like he was addressing the camera. In the end, they gave up and now Guy just talks to the director. \u201cWe just stuck to doing it the same way for the past 17 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
9. Talking about his wife makes him unexpectedly emotional<\/p>\n
Guy married his partner Sharon in 2025, and dedicates his final disc choice, U2\u2019s With or Without You, to her. \u201cShe\u2019s everything,\u201d he tells Lauren. \u201cShe deals with me. She\u2019s brilliant.\u201d As he recalls playing the song at their wedding, he starts to well up. \u201cI didn’t realise I\u2019d get that emotional when I started talking about Sharon,\u201d he explains. \u201cOur family, we don’t cry, we don’t show emotion. But I\u2019ve just done that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked when he\u2019s happiest, he replies: \u201cGoing out with Shazza and [his daughter] Dot for Sunday dinner. I can imagine Sharon wouldn’t expect me to say that. She’d say, \u2018when you’re in your shed\u2019. I don’t think it is. I love to sit and have Sunday dinner and watch the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"6. He retired from racing because he got bored \u2013 and boredom can be fatal When Guy\u2019s attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-613626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}