When Guy Martin met the Hesketh 24

It was a slightly overcast day when the Gun Hill crew drove up North to document the meeting of Guy Martin and the Hesketh 24. Arriving at Moody International to meet up before travelling to a secret location to bring the Hesketh face to face with his Merlin engine, we were greeted by a smiling, if slightly shy Guy Martin who took us into his truck workshop for a quick tour. It was evident that this was his natural habitat as he started recounting stories of various things shooting across the workshop when he fired them up!

The Rolls Royce Merlin engine sat proudly on its trailer waiting for us to arrive

A quick peek into the Hesketh van and we were on our way. 20 minutes later after a trip along some country lanes we arrived at a farm and there, in front of some big barn doors, was the enormous Merlin Engine. While the Hesketh crew set about unloading the bike, Guy took us on a walk about of the farm. Several pigs, a dirt bike track that Guy uses for practice and a lot of mud later we returned to the main area in front of the shed and Guy began his proper look over of the bike.

The team admire the resident pigs!

Guy Martin prepares to give the Hesketh 24 a thorough going over

Guy studied the Hesketh 24, quietly considering every detail, paying particular interest to the engineering and asking designer and creator Paul Sleeman questions along the way. He seemed particularly interested in how large the engine was as Paul explained that this particular bike was housing a 2.3l S&S X Wedge but the production models would have a modest 2l engine instead. Initial look over complete, it was time to start the Hesketh up and boy does she roar! Guy's smile widened as she revved into life and as he looked over the now running engine he expressed his approval.

The Hesketh 24 comes face to face with the Rolls Royce Merlin engine

Guy Martin gave the Hesketh 24 the thumbs up and suggested we try firing up the Merlin. Sadly for us, the Rolls Royce giant wasn't going to play ball today so we posed the Hesketh and the Merlin together instead for a few special shots.

Our chief photographer Boo Hunnisett was let loose on Guy's Merlin and composed some of her signature detail shots - see the gallery below.