We had a chance to chat with Troy Corser at the launch of BMW's 2010 SBK challenge at the Sport Classic centre in Munich. We've known Troy for a long, long time, and he's not really changed much. A few more lines perhaps, but still the same relaxed, easy to get on with guy as he's always been. Which for someone with two World Championships under his belt is pretty cool. There's no doubt that he's had some wilderness years in the time he's been on the grid, but my God has he had some good ones, too...

Just to get a quick recap on his career, since starting in SBK as a fresh-faced twenty four year old in 1995 with Power Horse Ducati, finishing second in his debut season behind Carl Fogarty. 1996 saw him go one better, beating a strong field to become the youngest ever World Champion. He repeated the championship nine years later, taking the GSX-R 1000K5 to a crushing victory after a couple of pretty bleak years on the Foggy Petronas FP1 that seemed to provide as much of a challenge to its riders as the rest of the field. But since his debut, other than his first year on the FP1 and last year, his first on the new BMW, he's finished in the top five eight times. From his 331 races (so 166 meetings, presumably) he's scored an unprecedented 42 pole positions, 128 podiums and 33 wins. Having been the youngest World Champion he's now aiming to be the oldest after spending a year as little more than a development rider on the new BMW S1000RR.

So Troy, how are you?

I'm good, actually. I've had a good break, been away, had some fun and now I'm back and ready to work. I'm feeling much better than I was at the end of the season, and I'm really looking forward to getting started.

Last season was hard, then?

For sure it gets difficult when you're riding around wondering where you'll finish rather than chasing for the front. I mean, the bike was pretty good but we had a lot of work to do to make it a real contender. We'd go out and between sessions everything would get changed. It was difficult to know how it would behave, you know? Even though we were usually going in the right sort of direction. And I guess I lost my focus a bit. I got a bit lazy and wasn't as motivated as I could have been.

Could you have got better results, then?

No, I don't think so. If we could have got the results then I'd have been better motivated.

Was it like the FPR days with a bike that was trying to kill you?

No, nothing like that. The FPR had you wondering when it was going to stop, seize, blow up or whatever. There's never been any worries like that with the BMW. It's just that the handling might be slightly different or the power delivery would have changed.

So what's changed for this season?

What's changed? The bike, for a start. It's much, much better and I really feel that this season we're going racing rather than developing the bike. I'm focused again, training properly and I'm hungry to win. I said before that I was the youngest World Champion. Well I want to be the oldest, too!

What's your training regime like?

I do an hour and a half cycling then an hour and a half in the gym and then another hour and a half cycle. That's every day, or pretty much so anyway.

Do you find it harder as you get older?

No, it's easier because you can feel the results more! When I was younger I was just fit anyway, and didn't have to work at it so hard so it was easy to get distracted. Now I really feel the difference, even if I just miss a couple of days because we're away or something.

Do you ride on the road at all?

I have a road license, but normally all I do is go riding with some mates. And not on sportsbikes either. We take Harleys or something like that and just go for a cruise in the mountains and hang out. Off road is different - I ride off road as much as I can. It's easier at home in Australia, of course, because it's like there, straight outside the house. In the UK it's a lot harder because you have to go somewhere first.

Back to the bike, then. How is it better?

Well there are lots of changes from last year. Nothing huge, because the bike was pretty good to start with anyway, it's just about that last edge to make it really competitive. The main changes have been with power delivery.

OK. How do you get on with a German company compared to Italian or Japanese?

They're very efficient! (Laughs). No, seriously, they are serious about their racing and they are very logical and rational about how they do things. But there's a lot of passion there, too. They may be a bit better controlled but their hearts are still in it as much as anyone else. The big thing is when you want to ask a question. Y'know - can we do this? Here you'll get a straight yes or no. It may not be the answer you want but it'll be honest and you know where you stand. With other teams you might find that either you don't get an answer at all or the answer changes depending on what they think you want to hear, and has nothing to do with what actually happens! (Laughs again)

So you're happy here?

Yes, I like the team. They're professional, they work hard and they're nice people. Now they've given me a bike I can go racing with I'm happier still.

So you're looking forward to Philip Island?

Yeah, I am. As an Australian it's great to feel the support from the crowd there, but it's a truly great circuit as well. It's fast, yes, but it's very safe and you're pretty confident that you can go into a corner at speed and even if you go down you're gonna walk away. That's important. It's always there in the back of your mind. Some of the newer tracks, they're tighter and more technical but they're not so good to ride. Philip Island is one of the last great circuits.

Well let's hope it goes well for you there. One last thing. What will you do when you stop racing ?

We've got the farm in Australia, so maybe something with that. But I'd still want to be around bikes. Not running a team, though, I don't want to have to wear a tie and do that stuff. Maybe development riding, testing, perhaps even coaching.

That's an interesting idea. On that note, then, thank you for your time, good luck and see you in Portugal.

No problem. See you there.

SB

Editor's note. Between doing this interview and posting it here, we were saddened to hear that Troy's father died suddenly on 14th February. A great guy, he'll be sorely missed and we wish the family the very best.