He was a rider who was "aiming for daylight between the green bits", according to one of his fans. Steve Hislop, nicknamed Hizzy, was killed in a helicopter crash in his native Scotland last Wednesday.
Twice British superbike champion and 11-time Isle of Man TT winner, Hislop was "a flawed genius who loved riding a bike and was always totally committed to what he was doing", said his former Yamaha team manager Rob McElnea in a BBC interview.
Steve Hislop took his first TT win in 1987, on a Yamaha in a Formula 2 race. He was the first rider to lap the circuit at 120mph in 1989. He finally took the Senior and Formula 1 titles in his last races at the Isle of Man in 1994.
The Scot scooped the British Superbike title twice - once in 1995 and in 2002, but the 41-year-old rider also had his share of accidents. In 2000 he broke his neck racing at Brands Hatch; a year later he collided with John Reynolds at Rockingham, breaking a leg, ankle and collarbone and costing him the title. He recovered from his injuries, however, to win the superbike title in 2002 but was then dropped by the MonsterMob Ducati team. He joined the Virgin Mobile Yamaha team, but left earlier this month and was set to join team ETI Ducati.
The racer's life, unfortunately, was not free of tragedy. Hislop's father, himself a racer who encouraged the young Steve to take up racing, died when his son was just 17 years old. In an interview last month, Hislop lamented: "The people who were closest to me died when I was really young - I was 17 when my dad died in my arms after a heart attack. I was devastated. Without him there was no way I'd have had the amazing life I've had - it was he who got me interested in bikes."
Tragedy struck again in 1982 when his brother Garry was killed.
Steve Hislop's tragic death has shocked the motorbike community. As one fan who paid tribute to him put it, he was "the epitome of true grit and determination. A tragic loss to the biking world."
Hilton Hinks, Irish National Champion in both the Superbike and Supersport Championships, remembers Hislop performing in Cartegana in Spain in 2002: "He was racing a 250cc works Honda bike. He hadn't ridden a 250cc in at least nine years and this is the difference between driving a combined harvester and a car. After three to four laps he was up to full speed. It was amazing he was so focused. He had pure raw talent."
Four-time World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty said: "Steve was my main rival when I raced on the road circuit for three or four years and we were quite good mates in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steve could have won the TT every year but, to give him credit, he quit road racing to concentrate on the short circuits."
Billy Nutt, clerk of courses for the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix, says: "It's a big loss. Steve was getting to the end of his career but he still had a lot to give and he had vast experience. He was particularly helpful and encouraging to young riders."
ETI Ducati team manager Alistair Flanagan says: "Steve will never be forgotten - he was an ambassador for the sport."
Hislop was alone flying his helicopter when it crashed on farmland near Hawick in the Scottish Borders. His two sons, Aaron (five) and Connor (four), survive him.