Ivan Lintin has risked his life to win two Isle of Man TT races but still works a 50-hour week on top of being a part-time fire fighter
Bardney star has reached the pinnacle of one of the world's most dangerous events twice despite fitting all his training around his day job of being a maintenance fitter
GOTHAM CITY has Batman, Metropolis is the home of Superman and the Lincolnshire village of Bardney is served and protected by Ivan Lintin.
By day 33-year-old speed freak Lintin is a maintenance fitter, who grafts 50 hours a week.
But that’s just his cover for the daredevil life he leads as a two-time Isle of Man TT winner and retained fireman.
Since its formation in 1907 the TT has cost the lives of 255 people, but those tragedies weren't just in the early years when safety measures and medicine were lacking.
The 2003 event was summed up by revered American magazine Sports Illustrated as “38 Miles of Terror. A test of nerves and speed that may be sports most dangerous event”.
Unlike Lewis Hamilton’s F1 life, there is little money on offer, fame is more local than global and the gorgeous pit girls spraying champagne are glaringly absent.
But all the glamour and adulation would not suit Lintin , who won’t even entertain the idea of hero status when asked about his choice to combine work, racing and fighting fires for his remote village.
Ahead of racing at the Macau Grand Prix on November 17, Lintin said: “I work two weeks of days and two weeks of nights and that is altered about.
“My training regime will go around work. I might work 7am-4pm and then go to the gym for an hour session and then home to eat and prepare for the next day, that’s four days a week.
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“I work a 50-hour week at my main job and I am also a retained fireman, so we have a drill night once a week and that keeps you busy.
“Racing and firefighting sort of happened at the same time for me, my mate used to come racing with me and was a retained firefighter and he sold it as a good laugh, with ten of us on station and great camaraderie.
“But mainly you do it for the village.
"I live in a village of only around 2,000 people and we are 15 minutes from any other fire station so if anything was to happen in Bardney, a house fire could be 15 minutes away, at best, from any real help.
“It’s rewarding, the training is good and you know when your alarm goes off in your pocket that someone needs you and that in itself is quite rewarding.
“As the racing has got busier it has got more difficult for me to juggle it but the fire service really supports me with time off in the season and then I give extra back when I am free in the winter.
“You would never call yourself a hero but we all do what we can. All ten of us fit as much in around our lives.
“We have a joiner, landscape gardeners and people who are full-time fathers and still do it.
“Everyone gives up what they can and everyone in the village knows we can be there in five to seven minutes.
“I can drive a fire engine, I can do everything apart from be in charge of it. They do let me drive and I am quicker than some of the lads but an 18-ton fire engine is a bit different to a 200hp super-bike.”
If burning rubber in the world’s most dangerous race and putting out fires in a sleepy village sound a world apart, Lintin can reveal the two actually marry quite well.
Even after two TT wins he can still be brought back to Earth with a speed bump, especially when he is charged with hosing down his own steaming bike.
With a giggle, Lintin reveals: “At the classic TT this year in the Isle of Man my bike blew up and ironically caught fire.
“I had to run back to a marshal post, grab a fire extinguisher and put my own fire out.
“It was a bit odd, one minute I am doing 180mph and the next I was hosing down my own burning bike.”
Lintin’s steady rise up the oil-slick pole of professional racing has been slower than most of his competitors but it has built in him an unshakable love for his sport which was sparked by his dad.
There have been Sunday afternoons when he has beaten rivals down or off the podium but, while they contemplate which exotic holiday destination to best lick their wounds, Lintin has headed back to work.
Now, with an established name and growing group of sponsors, life is a little easier for the speed lover and he is grateful to be in a position to reward the friends and family who helped him along.
He said: “The hunger for success drives me because I don’t have many second chances.
“I used to prepare my own bikes and travel with them but now I have reached a level where they are prepared for me and I have help with mechanics. But you still want to reward them.
“They are doing everything for me so I want to reward them with success, that drives you.
“You also want to beat the professionals because it does leave a little chip on your shoulder.
“I would not say there is any snobbery in racing, it’s quite a close family - hierarchy might be the wrong word - but there is a gap. And it’s difficult to get into that upper level of road racing.
“It wasn’t until winning the TT and earning my stripes that I got there and that is what everyone is striving for. We all want it as a career or to at least pay less for our hobby.”
It’s a hobby that costs more than just money - lives and bodies are put on the line in every practice lap and race and the Macau GP is no different.
Even after experiencing the scary effects of the heat and humidity on his first visit, Lintin got back on the bike after a quick break and an explanation of what was happening to him.
And during November, while we’re shivering back home and filling our faces ahead of Christmas, he’ll be close to boiling point and shedding weight in the searing China heat.
He explained: “Macau is a special event because it is so hot and so humid, you are looking at 30 degrees and 90 per cent humidity.
“When I went the first time I did six laps and had to stop with dizziness.
“I thought I had something wrong with me and had a breather but after another six laps I was dizzy again.
“That is one of the biggest challenges but it’s only a short race.
“You come out of your hotel at 6am, the sweat is already pouring off and then we get to the track and sit on a 90 degree motorbike in a cowhide leather suit and helmet.”
Lintin may not quite be a superhero then, but he’s certainly got the courage, community spirit and the skin-tight outfit to come pretty close.
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