“Your guys in your team are like your brothers” Behind the Dream: Emanuel
Episode Two, Season Two of ‘Behind the Dream’ explores the story and work of Emanuel Buchner. Joining the team alongside Dani Pedrosa, ‘Manu’ is the current mechanic and truck driver for Joan Mir and brings a wealth of knowledge and fatherly calm to the Repsol Honda Team.
Often seen on TV, Emanuel ‘Manu’ Buchner has become a stalwart of the Repsol Honda Team after a youth spent chasing the racing dream in his home of Germany. A classic story of a youth spent around motorcycles, Emanuel raced for ten years in Germany’s ADAC series: “I started racing as a co-pilot in sidecars for two seasons to fill the gap. After that I changed and I raced with a production bike, a 125. The very first race we had was in the Nürburgring and one friend of mine promised me; OK, if you win this race I will buy you a bungee jump. After two laps I was leading but then I had some contact. But the chance was not so bad that I could win the first race.”
Now with a wealth of experience under his belt, Emanuel brings a fatherly calm and guidance to his side of the Repsol Honda Team garage. Starting with Pedrosa, he has worked with Jorge Lorenzo, Alex Marquez, Pol Espargaro and now Joan Mir and his passion remains the same. “I am here since quite a long time now and still I love it. It’s still one of the best teams in world with many unbelievable, unique riders. When everything grows together from zero, you can build something and this was very nice. But these guys [in the team] are so good, so professional. I’m super glad and super happy to work with these guys because they are fantastic. You know your guys in your team like your brother or your family members. It’s super difficult to find very skilled guys plus being super nice characters. I’m one lucky person, having the best people around.”
Hunting the adrenaline of racing would stay with Manu for the rest of his life. “When I stopped racing it was really hard for me because racing was my life,” the Freystadt native reflected. “But now we are a kind of show business. You have after party depression, like musicians or rockstars have after the concert. There’s an adrenaline rush and then the adrenaline goes and you drop. This is why you have to pack fast, because you have to use this adrenaline to get everything done quick. When you have a good result, you fly home. If you have a shit result, you drive home!” Emanuel is the only mechanic in the Repsol Honda Team who still combines his work as a mechanic with regularly driving the trucks between European races.
His love for bikes doesn’t stop at the track, Manu resorted a Honda CB550F shortly after joining the team. “I looked on the internet for a really old, completely destroyed Honda. Then I started to take it apart and I chose this colour, the orange Repsol colour. It came out like a café racer, like a retro café racer bike.” The renewed CB550F now takes pride of place in his garage and he gets out for rides to the ice cream shop as much as possible between races.
The full episode is available on the Honda Racing Corporation YouTube page, along with all previous seasons and episodes of Behind the Dream.
