“IT’S A PRIVILEGE”: NICK JEFFERIES TURNS BACK THE CLOCK FOR 1996 REWIND PARADE
The 1996 Rewind Parade at the 2026 Classic TT not only provided a chance for fans to relive the sights and sounds of a bygone era, but also an opportunity for those who were racing to step back 30 years and let the memories come flooding back.
For Nick Jefferies, the 1996 TT was a memorable time, not least because he formed one third of a formidable Honda lineup that also featured the dominant Phillip McCallen and the great Joey Dunlop. There was to be no beating McCallen that year, and the Honda trio completed a clean sweep of the podium in the week-closing Senior TT, but it would be the opening Formula One TT where Jefferies would score his best result of the week, following McCallen home to complete a Honda 1-2 ahead of the Ducati of Michael Rutter.
Phillip McCallen, Joey Dunlop and Nick Jefferies on the podium.
That race started in conditions that the more recent TT fans would find hard to believe, as “damp patches” would be the understatement of the century, with literal puddles still in places around the Mountain Course and riders opting to run intermediate tyres for the first two laps.
“It marginally changed the way we approached the race, but you rode to the conditions, it was as simple as that,” explained Jefferies, when asked how a rider approached racing a track as large as the TT course in less-than-ideal conditions. “We were all used to riding on wet roads. I remember riding in awful conditions - the 1987 Senior it lashed down for the entire race. I had a wet front and an intermediate rear and I had the bike sideways at Greeba Castle. I crashed big style in 1990 when I’d set off on slicks but by the time I was at Braddan Bridge it was hammering down. I was in sixth gear on the way to Crosby and still spinning the back wheel!”
By the time the riders had returned to the Grandstand, however, the track had begun to dry, and was in perfect slick conditions by the time the riders returned for their pitstops at the end of lap two. Dunlop tried to get the jump on his rivals by diving for the pits at the end of lap one with the aim of switching to the preferred tyre. Unfortunately, the Honda team were unprepared, and Dunlop left the pits (not in the best of moods, understandably) having effectively served a self-imposed stop-and-go penalty. Having lost at least 30 seconds in the pits, Dunlop fell out of contention and Honda’s hopes of silverware lay firmly in the hands of McCallen and Jefferies.
With conditions improving across the track, the vast majority of riders now had to complete an entire tour of the near-bone dry 37.73-mile circuit on intermediate tyres, which any rider of the era will tell you was no small feat.
“The bike was so squirrely,” continued Jefferies. “You’d try to put the power down gently and it would just be breaking away. The tyres were getting very hot and they didn't have the same grip. The way they’re riding today on modern slicks they’re throwing them in far harder than we were ever able to do. I’m not suggesting for a minute that we could match what they’re doing, but with the tyre compounds today, they wouldn’t even think of going out on intermediates. We were used to going out with a choice of tyres, so we were used to it - but we weren’t doing 135mph, either!”
Jefferies would cling on to the back of McCallen for the remainder of the race, following him across the line and securing his seventh runner-up spot at the TT. This week, Jefferies returns to the bike he rode that day, and while 30 years may have passed since, the emotions still run strong through the 1993 Formula One TT winner’s veins.
Jefferies returns to the Mountain Course for the Classic TT Rewind Parade
“I think it will take it back a bit,” said Jefferies, when asked how it felt to be stepping back onto the bike at the top of Bray Hill 30 years later. “I sent a picture to my girls of the bike and the track, and their own memories came back after all those years of watching as children. From being born to the age of 15 they came over to watch, so to see the pictures again was special. Sadly they weren’t able to come over, but they wanted to come here with their children so they could see their grandad on a race bike.
“It won’t be the same but I’m not saying I won’t be nervous! It’s a pretty powerful race bike - I ride a bike every day but I don’t ride a race bike every day, and I don’t bend like I do because I’ve got a new knee. I’m 74 years old. I wasn’t young back then, I was 44 in 1996, not a spring chicken!”
Even though it is ‘just’ a parade lap, Jefferies also pointed out that the nerves and the feelings as a rider sits at the startline looking down towards St Ninian’s Crossroads remain, and it’s a buzz that almost nothing else can replicate.
Nick Jefferies rides his 1996 Honda during the 2026 Rewind Parade
“It’s a great privilege,” he said. “It was a wonderful thing to do and I’m very proud of it, and every replica I’ve got proudly sits in a chest and is a great memory every time I see them. I did 99 races around here across a 42 year period, but walking in leathers, up that ramp with the mechanic and onto the startline is daunting, there’s no doubt about that.
“I looked down Bray Hill and thought about all of those laps - 99 races and hundreds of practice sessions. I usually had four or five bikes, so I’d be putting about 20 laps in practice each time, plus around 20 laps in the race - it’s a lot, and every time you pushed the bike up Glencrutchery Road it was definitely daunting. I raced since 1975, and even by the 1990s I was so desperate to ride the bike down Glencrutchery Road so much it was hurting in my stomach. That’s not to say I wasn’t nervous, but I was so keen to get back on the bike. I play golf today and still ride trials bikes and I get a bit of a buzz from both, but it’s nothing like taking your bike up to the start line at the Isle of Man.”
The 1996 TT also holds particular significance for Jefferies in that it was the year his nephew David made his debut alongside John McGuinness, with the two going on to forge a strong friendship and close rivalry on the roads, the two boasting 31 TT victories between them.
“It was his debut year, and he rode my 600 in the Senior race,” remembers Jefferies. “I came back in after following him around in practice and said to his mother “I can’t teach him much” and told his dad “yeah, he’s going to be good!”. I went to talk to John [McGuinness] earlier, and they’d definitely be enjoying John’s celebrations if he was still here today.”
