Fogarty reveals his winning ways

Blackburn bike racing legend Carl Fogarty revealed what made him the very best in his sport as he talked winning with the county’s business community as part of Lancashire Day celebrations.

The seven-time motorcycling world champion explained the part his personal drive played, but also stressed the importance of having the right team around him, something he believed was equally relevant for business.

He said: “When things are not going so well you need people around you who can give you that kick up the backside to sort yourself out and get your act together.

Carl, who is known to his fans as ‘Foggy’ and who still lives in Lancashire, was also the 2014 winner of the TV reality show I’m A Celebrity.

He said his ambition from an early age was always to be the best on a bike and added: “I was very driven, very determined, I guess arrogant in some ways.”

He told the online audience at today’s Lancashire Business Day event: “Once I got the right bike and the right team, I believed nobody was going to beat me.

“You have got to work hard to get it right. If I didn’t do my homework on Friday and Saturday, Sunday’s race day wouldn’t go very well.

“I just love winning. Crossing that line, listening to the national anthem on the podium, looking at the fans, I get goosebumps now thinking about it.

“That is what it was all about to me, not the money, but that moment when you’ve crossed the line and you’ve won. There is no better feeling in the world. It is amazing.”

He retired from racing in 2000 with four World Superbike Championships among his many honours, but said he still had that “competitive edge” and that had helped him during his time in the jungle in the hit ITV show.

That competitive streak came out during the challenges he had to undertake to win food for his fellow camp members, although he added that viewers saw another side of him as a “team player”.

Carl was one of a number of guests at the event, hosted by Lancashire Business View, which looked at the themes of aspiration and celebration. CG Professional was the headline sponsor.

Steve Fogg, who chairs the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP), spoke of the challenges facing the county as a result of the Covid pandemic and the work being done to support businesses in hard-hit sectors such as aerospace and advanced manufacturing.

He told the online audience that there were opportunities for Lancashire in areas such as the emerging green economy.

Steve said it was vitally important that business voices were heard when decisions were being made and Lancashire had to shout harder to get the message to those in power that the North did not stop at Manchester.

He said: “We have got to get more active in the media and get more active in Whitehall and Westminster.”

A number of speakers took part in panel discussions around the topics. They included Dave Walker, managing director of +24 Marketing; Melissa Conlon, commercial director of AMRC North West; Iain Round, partner at Beever and Struthers and Karen Buchanan, Burnley College principal.

They were joined at the event by Stacey Turner, founder and managing partner of CG Professional; Julien Parven, director of partner business and marketing at Daisy Communications; Jamie Grimshaw, investment executive at FW Capital; Annette Weekes, managing director of PDS Engineering and Tony Attard, chief executive of Panaz and chair of Marketing Lancashire.

Simon Entwistle, twice named Lancashire Tourism Superstar, gave the traditional Lancashire proclamation.

Michael Finningan, chief executive of i2i, also gave his take on the pandemic and Lancashire’s response to it, urging Lancastrians to keep “digging in”.

To watch this event in full, click here.

Throughout the week Lancashire Business View has hosted a series of Breakfasts Blasts have been taking place every morning this week looking at a range of issues of importance to the county’s business community.

Lancashire Business Week is also backed by patrons AMRC North West, Beever and Struthers, Burnley.co.uk, Burnley College, Community Foundation for Lancashire, FW Capital, IN4.0 Group, Lancashire 2025 and PDS Engineering. Utiligroup is a supporter. The media partners are Downtown in Business, Lancaster and District Chamber of Commerce and lovelocalnetworking.