Lee Stanaway Racing

A snap shot 📸of thoughts and feelings from Pit crew and team at the Manx Grand Prix races. 🏁🇮🇲

These guys have seen me laugh, stress, worry, cry (both happy and nervous tears) have comforted me and fed watered and all a round supported me.

So on this page I have posted a fair bit about what if feels like to race on the Mountain Course, but what about the people who make it happen, without any one of these folk the job is buggered and everyone has their role to play.

It’s all light hearted with lots of fun and laughter until Gary Thompsons voice cracks out of the tannoy across the paddock “Attention paddock, attention paddock” 🔈

Put your brew down, pull your boots tighter, it’s now game time. ☕️

Below you will read testimonies about the thoughts and feeling of the crew that spent 14 days in August 2025 to help me achieve my dream.

Thank you so much to all of you, what you sacrificed and did for me I can never repay!
🔧🛠️

Gemma:💍

Watching Lee out there on the road had my stomach in knots- sheer nerves and excitement all rolled into one. I spent what felt like most of time on the island staring at that grandstand board with all the pretty twinkly lights, just praying for the little green one next to his number to pop up so I knew he was safely through Cronk-Y- Mona and on his way back to us. When it finally did, I made sure to do my best and biggest interpretive dance each time so the pit crew would spot me and know to get ready for him. Honestly, I’m just glad I got to be a tiny cog in the big machine that helps him race. Proud doesn’t even cover it, although I still wish he was playing tiddlywinks instead of flinging himself at the scenery!

Joe: ⛽️

Leading up to this felt strange , wasn’t excited to really looking forward to the mgp even though it was a significant year , new team to the year before and didn’t know what to expect after previous experience , I didn’t need to worry as the whole team clicked straight away, practice went well that helped with nerves .. got to the day I always hate in practice the Thursday , as although didn’t tell Lee why that day bothered me but that was we had an incident 11 years previous, I kept my cool as best I can but as astute as Lee is he could tell something was wrong .. anyways after that we got to closer to race day and practiced the pit and that was when something clicked and I was excited .. but the bit that really got me was seeing lees face when he completed the race and yes you could say it got emotional … roll on next year with the same team.

John Mullin: 🛠️☕️

My experience being part of a motorcycle racing team during The Manx Grand Prix.

All I did to join a team was to ask. I put my request on a Manx Grand Prix website.
That was it I had replies plus lots of nice encouraging words from dozens of biker fans. I felt like it was the correct thing to do with comments like "Sprit of the event" being used.
I should point out that my family moto is "The answer is yes. Now what's the question"
This type of positivity is evident in all the Lee Stanaway racing team members.
Sixteen laps with no breakdown. An average speed of 104 miles per hour is hard evidence to that.

The thing that surprised me the most was the total sharing of skills and information with Lee's team.
It's as if we are all cogs and gears in a larger machine who's timing marks are set correctly. Also the tea to oxygen ratio is correct.

Lee's meditation methods for getting himself into "The Zone" really surprised me. However it worked very very well. So much so that I shall be discussing meditation as a topic with family and friends.
I will also be buying a singing bowl . This item which probably originated in Tibet aids the process.

My wife Linda was also part of the team. I think at first she may have been apprehensive. However she did come along and helped Gemma Lee's wife with teas and feeding the team. She felt very welcome.
I asked her for some words about the team and event.
Her reply was " I'm proud of them. Like a mother is proud of her son. I have a similar feeling towards the team"
Linda would sit in the team tent amongst the tools, smells and general racing bike stuff with her knitting. Knit one, purl one. Meanwhile the team in the next tent would be reving the bo****ks off their engine. It did amuse me.
Also there is a possibility that the clicking of the needles could have a calming therapeutic effect.