Foggy's still got the passion

"I'd better get that," says the four-times World Superbike champion, before disappearing into the hallway to greet the fourth visitor to his Mellor hideaway that particular morning.

A muffled conversation then ensues before I suddenly find myself transported to the Fogarty driveway where I help the Blackburn bullet to underload two hefty new motocross bikes from the back of a pickup truck which has just arrived with its precious cargo direct from Cardiff.

For a second or two Foggy stands transfixed, admiring the two machines in all their glory.

Then an affectionate pat of the fuel tank and a twist of the throttle later, he suddenly becomes aware of the people around him again.

"Awesome, aren't they?" he finally purrs with a flash of those famous piercing eyes, like an excited child on Christmas morning.

It's at that point it becomes abundantly clear that Britain's most successful motorbike racer ever has lost none of his passion when it comes to matters of the two-wheeled variety.

And that can only spell one thing for the rest of the Superbike world as the sport's greatest legend plots a triumphant return to the pit-lane as head of Foggy Petronas Racing later this season -- trouble.

For when Foggy rode off into the sunset two years ago, his rivals expelled a collective sigh of relief, assuming they'd seen the back of him forever.

But Fogarty has never been one to go quietly.

So when the chance arose to form his own racing team, the opportunity proved simply too good to miss.

And now three months before he unleashes the Foggy FP1 on his unsuspecting adversaries, he's Hell bent on making those sceptics who have dared to question the project eat copious amounts of humble pie.

"A lot of people want to see me fail because I've been so outspoken over the years and so good at what I do," said Foggy.

"So many bike magazines have been negative about what we have set out to achieve.

"They've wheeled out some old GP legend who says the whole thing will fail but, as far as I'm concerned, all this negativity is just jealousy.

"At the end of the day, it just makes me even more determined to prove everyone wrong."

Like his reason for retiring from the sport in the first place, Foggy's decision to return as head of his own team also happened by accident.

Nigel Bosworth, a long-time friend of the Blackburn ace, was the first to float the idea after masterminding a similar project with former GP legend Kenny Roberts.

Initially, Foggy was indifferent to the venture.

However, once the seed was planted it soon began to germinate and things began to move at a lightning pace thereafter.

"I never wanted to run my own team," confessed Foggy.

"When I was racing, I just focused on going out and winning races and that was it.

"So whenever anyone mentioned the idea of being a team manager or anything I'd just say 'you must be joking' because I wasn't interested in it at all.

"But around the time I retired, Boz came up to me and said 'why don't you start your own team?' and that's when the seed was planted."

Originally, the plan was for Foggy to form his own Ducati World Superbike team but the lack of sponsorship proved a stumbling block.

Then a chance conversation with Malaysian businessman David Wong suddenly opened the door to a possible link up with Petronas -- one of the largest companies on the planet.

The Malaysian oil giants had already been funding the development of a new 989cc triple engine called the GP1 with their Swiss-based joint venture firm Sauber Petronas Engineering with a view to a MotoGP entry.

But the mouthwatering prospect of a link-up with Foggy soon persuaded them to switch to World Superbikes instead after Foggy's finance director Murray Treece and the team's marketing and PR director Neil Bramwell negotiated a whopping five year deal reported to be worth around $40 million -- the richest in the sport's history.

It meant, however, the severing of his long and successful association with Ducati -- a task he found hard to perform.

"I must admit I never thought Petronas would go for it at all," said Foggy.

"Obviously, I was hoping something would happen because I wasn't happy at Ducati.

"I was working for them in an ambassador's role where I just turned up at races and events and signed a few autographs.

"But I was bored out of my head. It wasn't what I wanted to do. I was in the way more than anything.

"So when I finally had to make the call to Ducati, the first person I wanted to speak to was David Tardozzi, my team manager.

"There was a quiver in my voice as I tried to speak to him but he just said 'if that's what you want to do then go for it because I can see you're not happy here.'

"So he spoke to the bosses at Ducati and they agreed to release me from my contract a couple of weeks later."

From that point on, Foggy focused all his energies on putting together his new team. That plan, to design and build a bike from scratch in time to compete in this year's World series, might sound simple enough.

But such a project normally takes the best part of three years to put into practice -- not the seven months he's attempting to do it in.

And just to make matters worse, the Foggy FP1 will only be allowed on the grid if the first 75 of the 150 road versions -- the first of the planned thousands of bikes to be produced -- are completed by the end of June.

The whole project, to build the race bike, set up the team and create a new brand of motorcycle, is unprecedented in the industry.

Team manager Nigel Bosworth immediately set about the task of conquering a huge engineering mountain by employing a hand-picked team of engineers and mechanics.

Swiss company, Suter Racing Technology, were then employed to develop the engine.

And British-based outfit Fabrications Techniques were handed the challenge of creating a chassis. Foggy himself, in the meantime, played a leading part in the overall design of the machine, paying particular attention to its overall appearance -- and MSX will be charged with the task of recreating that look in the road bike version once it hits the streets.

"The design of this bike and the appearance of it is exactly as I've chosen it," said Foggy.

"I know what looks ugly on the road and I know what looks beautiful.

"There's two or three bikes from Ducati and MG Augusta which are sharp and sexy-looking and that's the image I want.

"I don't want this big horrible thing that looks like something from the early 80s.

"Yes, it's got to be fast, it's got to perform and it's got to go out and win races but, at the same time, it's got to look well because people have got to want to buy it for the road.

"So if this thing's horrible then blame me."

While the rest of the team have been working on the machine, Foggy has also been busy recruiting riders.

Young Brit James Haydon was the first to sign up and he was then joined by former WSB champion Troy Corser.

As things stand, testing will begin in early May and if things go well then both could make their Foggy Petronas Racing debuts at Laguna Seca on July 14 at the halfway point in the season. The sceptics won't hold their breath, insisting it's impossible a new manufacturer can think about racing so early.

But then Carl Fogarty has spent most of his life proving the doubters wrong and he's in the mood to give Petronas a major return on their investment.

"Even now, I still don't really realise just how big all this is myself," said Foggy.

"Of course former riders have gone into managing their own teams before but this is different because it's not just about running a racing team, it's about creating a new bike from scratch and then having it named after me. So in the same breath as a Honda and Suzuki, you'll soon have the Foggy FP1 which is massive and I don't think people really understand quite how big that is.

"When you start to see things coming together like the workshops and the offices it really hits home.

"But I just thought if I don't do this then I'll end up regretting it for the rest of my life because this is a massive opportunity.

"This has never happened to anyone before in British motorcycle racing history.

"It's a once in a lifetime deal that I want to get right and Petronas want to get right. They don't want to see it fail and I'll personally make sure it doesn't."

About Petronas. . .

PETRONAS, short for Petroleum Nasional Berhad, is the national petroleum corporation of Malaysia and is fully-owned by the Malaysian government.

The corporation, ranked among the largest 500 corporations of the world, has over 100 subsidiaries and associates, operating in 26 countries spread all over the world.

Their relationship with Foggy dates back to 1992 when Carl competed in the Malaysian championship for the Petronas Sprinta team.

Since then they have kept in touch with the four-times World Superbike champion until he retired from racing in 2000.

Then, when he indicated his desire to set up his own racing team, the Malaysian giants stepped forward with the offer of sponsorship and hence the Foggy Petronas Racing Team was formed.