Isle of Man TT outright lap record holder Peter Hickman was left frustrated at the Classic TT after failing to register a finish on the iconic Wiz Racing Norton WRS588.

The 14-time TT winner said the team changed “literally everything” on the rotary machine, but the English rider retired from the Formula One race on Sunday and withdrew in the pits after the second lap in Tuesday’s Senior Classic race.

“It was ever so slightly better on lap one, which is why I continued,” Hickman said, speaking to Manx Radio.

“But it progressively just gets worse and worse. It keeps misfiring.

placeholder image — Peter Hickman failed to finish a race on the Wiz Racing Norton 588 at the Classic TT. (Photo credit: Isle of Man TT)

“I couldn’t even get into top gear in the end; it was getting so bad.

“We have changed everything you can think of.

“When I say everything, it’s nearly a new bike, and it’s still doing exactly the same thing.

“We’ve even tried different fuels, we’ve tried different oils, fuel pumps, ECUs, wiring looms, carburettors, different engines, different triggers, different coils. Literally, different everything.

“It just keeps doing the same thing, which is really disappointing for the team and obviously for everyone who wants to hear it come round here,”

Hickman, who set the fastest ever lap around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course at 136.358mph on the FHO Racing BMW M1000RR Superstock machine in 2023.

“We’ve had so many people come round the awning this last week and say how much they wanted to hear it and see it go round.

“So, we tried to do everything we could. We were even on the dyno until 10 o’clock last night trying to get the thing to do what we want it to do. But we’re all fresh out of ideas.”

Hickman lapped at 118.756mph from a standing start in the Senior race.

Michael Dunlop, who won the race for a double on the Team Classic Suzuki GSX-R750 after also dominating the Formula One race, set the fastest ever lap by a Norton rotary machine in 2025 at 123.505mph, surpassing the legendary Steve Hislop’s benchmark which the Scot achieved during his famous 1992 Senior TT battle with Carl Fogarty on the ‘White Charger’ machine.

Dunlop shattered Bruce Anstey’s 2017 lap record by 13 seconds on his way to victory in the Formula One race, setting a new mark of 129.078mph on the Suzuki.

The Formula One and Senior Classic TT races were cancelled last year.