Having broken his own lap record on the first lap, he totally smashed it on the second and, with a sensational lap of 131.578mph he moved clear – but the retirement put paid to any hopes of claiming the race for a fifth consecutive year.

After a 30-minute delay, the race got underway at 1.30pm and John signalled his intentions when he led by 2.42seconds at Glen Helen, nine miles into the race.

He continued to stretch his advantage and an opening lap of 130.953mph was a new lap record but teammate Steve Plater was still pushing him hard.

John upped the ante on the second lap and his lead was increasing rapidly. Indeed, with a new outright lap record of 17m12.30s, 131.578mph his lead rocketed up to just under 15 seconds.

A pitstop of just 40 seconds saw the rear wheel changed and a full tank of fuel taken and another four seconds was added to his lead on the third lap.

John was now controlling the race from the front but as he exited Parliament Square for the fourth time, the chain snapped as he changed into second gear and his race was over.

McGuinness said: "I tried hard on the third lap also and when the lead went up to almost 20 seconds I thought things were looking good but as I clicked up to second gear coming out of Ramsey, the chain just broke and to say I'm gutted would be an understatement."