Simon Warren Melbray Racing MV Agusta

Welcome to our ‘Five Minutes With…’ series, where we sit down with the riders, racers and team managers who depend on Venhill products to keep their machines performing at their peak. This time we caught up with Simon Warren at Melbray Laycock Racing, who burst onto the Mountain Course with serious intent, in their first TT campaign last year. For 2026 the team has joined forces with Irish road-racing legend Eddie Laycock, signed Mike Browne to ride the Paton S1R at the TT. We sat down with team principal Simon to find out what it takes to get to the TT start line.

For anyone new to road racing, can you introduce Melbray Racing and the classes you compete in?

We are a very, very small family-owned team, based in Horsham, West Sussex. We're primarily a road racing team; our main focus is the IOM TT and the classic TT in August, but this year we're doing a few other bits and pieces. We’re doing the Goodwood Revival. And we are also maybe doing the Southern 100 this year.

And who’s riding for you this year?

We've got Mike Browne riding for us this year. Mike’s a phenomenal rider. He won the Senior Classic TT last year, won at Armoy and the Southern 100, and he's ridden in the Supertwin class too.

What’s your background, how did you get into racing?

That's a long story. In 1967 when I was born, my father worked at a BSA dealership in Guildford called Minear and Bruce, then in the 1970s he moved to Honda, so I've always been surrounded by bikes. My dad never actually learned to drive until he was in his 40s, so we always had motorcycles. 

Every day after school and in the holidays, we’d hang around his mate's bike shop fixing and messing about with bikes. I ended up with a weekend job there.

I started road racing when I was 16 on 50cc, then 80 and 125 I did that until I was about 21. I had a gap, but eventually went back and did a bit of motocross and enduro in my early 30s. Then my son came along and he started schoolboy scrambling.

You’re running a Paton S1R at the TT this year. Why the Paton?

When I used to watch the TT, I stayed in a cottage in Kirkmichael, right on the track - I’d sit in the front garden and see the bikes coming through. The bike that stood out more than absolutely anything was the Paton, mostly because of the noise of it; I could hear it from when it arrived in Kirk Michael. I was on the ferry back home, after a classic TT with Dom, and we got talking about the Paton, and he said: “If you buy one, I'll ride it.” We did a bit of hunting around and ended up getting the bike that Dom and Mike Browne had both ridden before, which belonged to a chap called Graeme Hanna. We knew it was a competitive package, and it had done hardly any work, apart from the Isle of Man. It came with a second engine and loads of other spares, spare everything. 

 
We took it to the TT last year, really only hoping for a top 10, because there's such a massive jump up from the Classic to the actual TT. The classic does have a steep learning curve, but everything's a bit more relaxed, and we had a less pressured frame of mind. For the TT, it matters more, so we agreed with Dom that even though we’re competent enough, we didn't want to work on the bike. So we supplied the bike, and the infrastructure around it, Dominic, his dad and a couple of close friends prepared the bike. We were up against some really good riders, real good teams, and we got Paton’s first ever second and first. In our first year at the TT Dom came fifth and third place in the super twin class so in our first two years of competing on the Isle of Man, we had one podium per year.

This year we’re working with Eddie Laycock - so the team is now Melbray Laycock Racing. Obviously Eddie’s a two-times TT winner,  he won the Northwest five times, and he also did the 500 Grand Prix at the same time as people like Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey. He’s a legend, I can't express enough how great that guy is. He has a vast amount of experience.

Venhill supply Melbray with cables and brake hoses. How did that relationship start, and what difference does that level of control quality make at TT pace?

The Venhill connection came from me restoring bikes. I’ve restored a lot of, mostly race, bikes and I’ve just always used Venhill for my cables. Anybody that knows me will confirm that I'm very impatient. So if I want something, I want it done yesterday, and they just always delivered for me. I told them we were entering the Classic TT, and they made us a set of cables for the Manx and for the Honda. It kind of grew from there really.

With road racing there's no runoff, so your brakes and your control cables are super important. To be honest, if Venhill didn't support us, we would still use their cables and hoses, because I personally think they are the best.


What will a successful TT 2026 look like for Melbray Laycock Racing?

If everybody comes back safe, to be honest. I would love a podium, that would be amazing, but there is no pressure on anybody, we haven't any kind of expectations. We’ve prepped really, really hard to make sure things are 100%. Eddie and I have spoken every single day for the last year, about every little thing: from the seat to the sort of windscreen we’re going to use, and what sort of hand grips will be on it.
Really though, no matter how hard you work, or how much you prep, the stars have got to be aligned. The field is so competitive now.

And finally, any advice for anyone watching the TT this year and thinking they’d like to be on the team side of the fence one day?

I would say 90% of the riders are non-professional, and they've all got their other jobs so a great way to get involved is just to help out a rider. Even if it's giving 50 quid towards some fuel or a tyre or getting involved with the team - it’s all going to help. Once you feel part of a team, it makes the whole thing more exciting. The Isle of Man and the TT are both magical, and the more you can get involved with it, the more magical it gets.

You can keep up to date with Melbray Laycock Racing on Instagram

Melbray Laycock Racing trust Venhill motorcycle cables and braided brake hoses to keep their machines performing at the very top level of road racing. Browse our complete range of motorcycle brake and clutch lines and control cables to give your machine the same race-proven components.