Speed with Guy Martin

Guy Martin wants to beat the 25-year-old speed record for a human-powered boat. It means pedalling a specially-built boat along a 100-metre course at an average speed of 21mph: a speed normally reserved for expensive speedboats or racing yachts. It's Guy's most physically and technically challenging record attempt yet, so he employs the services of two Olympic legends: Sir Chris Hoy trains Guy like an Olympic cyclist, and Sir Ben Ainslie hands over the helm of one of his multi-million-pound America's Cup yachts to demonstrate the cutting-edge technology of hydrofoils: underwater wings that help a boat fly across water. Guy then builds two different machines that use hydrofoils: a carbon-fibre catamaran made with help from the University of Lincoln, and a canoe fitted with a giant aeroplane propeller, assembled in his own back garden.

The inside story of Guy Martin's fastest and most dangerous speed challenge to date: his recent attempt to become the fastest man on two wheels and break the motorcycle land speed record. The existing record is 376mph; to beat it Guy has to master a special one-off machine. The 1000-horsepower Triumph Rocket Streamliner, likened to a fighter jet without wings, uses two engines, has parachutes for brakes and is steered in a lying down position with two joysticks. The programme follows Guy through every step of the project, from his job interview in Portland, Oregon, to the 'fastest place on Earth': the iconic Bonneville Salt Flats in Nevada, where this daredevil has to learn how to ride all over again, using training wheel stabilisers.

Guy Martin built his racing reputation on two wheels, but now he's switching to four, to take part in his first ever Formula 1 race, as he goes head to head with 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button around Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. Guy is driving a classic 1983 Williams F1 car: an FW08c, the first Formula 1 car that Ayrton Senna ever drove, and now the first that Guy has ever driven as well. For six months, Guy worked with the Williams Heritage Division to restore his car from museum piece to full racing condition. And under the direction of former F1 driver Karun Chandhok, Guy has learned how to drive Formula 1 style, starting out in a Vauxhall Astra on a Leicestershire airfield and building up to his appointment with Jenson Button at Silverstone, on British Grand Prix weekend. And although Jenson has thousands of competitive F1 laps under his belt, he's also heading into the unknown, as he's driving an experimental prototype Williams from the 1980s: an F1 car with six wheels.