For this week’s MXP Chatter, we sat down for a chat with one of the most interesting individuals in our industry. Matthew Bannon has been around the track for several years and can usually be found hanging around the GDR Honda paddock. However, during the week he’s busy running the ultra-successful Bristol Coachworks, located in Ingersoll, Ontario. We caught up with Matthew to see how his winter is going, as well as find out what Bristol Coachworks can offer to the average moto family.
MXP: Hey Matt, We know that you’re more of a summer person. But, how have you been enjoying winter thus far?
MB: Hey Palms! I’m really enjoying the winter this year. This is the first time in recent memory that we’ve had a bit of an old school, traditional winter, and I’ll take that any day of the week over massive temperature swings, rain, sleet, freezing rain, -30 and then plus 15 the following day. 100% though, I’m looking forward to the start of spring and then moving on to those long summer days.
I agree, anything is better than last winter for sure. Over the past several years, you’ve attended many races and usually you’re hanging around the GDR Honda paddock. How did you meet Derek Schuster and the GDR crew?
I believe it was back in 2008, I actually met Frank first at an event in Woodstock and then Derek a month or so later. From there, it was one of those friendships that we just hit it off and became best buddies. It’s pretty funny because at the time I was huge into snowmobiling and I wasn’t an off-road guy at all, and he was the exact opposite. He thought I was a nut-job for being a snowmobiler and he was spending more time on bikes. Fast forward to today and it’s a complete role reversal, I spend a lot of time on two- wheels and he’s been more about that snowmobile life. We did have one crossover year where we knocked out some good mileage together on the sleds! Let’s just say meeting Derek sent my life down a bit of a different path that I certainly was not expecting to be involved in MX to this extent, let alone be at virtually every race for the past several years. I even made my pro wrenching debut at an AMA national with Dylan!
That is a cool story. What is about going to races that you enjoy so much?
I’ve been a gearhead all my life so any chance I have to put myself in that environment, I’m pumped. I had ZERO involvement in dirt bikes whatsoever growing up, but MX came into my world when I met Derek, and since 2011 it’s become a huge part of my life . From 2011 to 2020, the majority of my free time, weeknights and weekends was devoted to the team and the sport. I’m huge on team dynamic, personal growth and watching people develop through the various stages of their career and personal life. I think back to the days of Topher Ingalls, Nate Bles, and travelling with them across Canada. I spent a ton of time with Tyler Medaglia, and to this day still laugh about some of those memories. Colton [Facciotti], I knew him as “Mr. Serious”, but spending time with him over the years during the week and travelling to races I really enjoyed seeing the other side of him that a lot probably haven’t seen. More recently with Dylan and his GDR career starting off a little rough, but getting it figured out and turning into the guy we see now has been amazing. It’s the memories, experiences and watching these guys succeed that brings me back, but more importantly it’s seeing the growth and development in each of them which I love the most.
As you just mentioned, you’ve been fortunate over the past few seasons to watch top riders like Colton Facciotti, Ryder McNabb, and Dylan Wright up close. Obviously, their personalities are different, but what similarities do you see in them?
That’s a big list of names for sure, we’ve had so much unbelievable talent come through the team, and they’re all great people. Before I dive into this, I have to add Tdags (Tyler Medaglia) into this list! Similarities, easy, they are all elite athletes, and they all share that raw desire to put the work in during the week to ensure they are ready for the weekends. Dedication, discipline, commitment, and raw natural talent are all things that come to mind. More importantly though, I think they are all unbelievable role models and great people in all aspects of their life. I caught them all at various parts of their career which was also super cool. Each of them is very unique in their own way but, they all flip the switch on race day and get down to it. It took a little getting used to it because my friendships with them during the week and on travel days was one way, and then on race day their seriousness and laser-like focus kicked in. Truthfully, it took me a little while to adapt to their race-day personalities in order to provide each of them the most value however I could.
It’s certainly interesting to see an athlete transform themselves to someone else on the day of competition. Okay onto business. Tell us a little about Bristol Coachworks and how everything got started?
The real short version of this story is: I started the primary business alongside my business partner at the time in 2010. Our core focus is on bus sales (MacNab Transit), but most people around the MX scene know me from Bristol Coachworks. Bristol is essentially everything that goes on shop related and is behind all of projects which people have seen the last few years. As part of that side of the operation we have a large commercial body and paint shop as well. We have one of the larger booths in Ontario at 55ft long, so we can do repairs, paint work to all sorts of vehicles including motor homes, RV’s, trailers and commercial vehicles etc. There’s also not a lot of places that do RV windshield installs so that is something we also look after here in-house. All of these services can be direct to customer or we work with insurance companies as well. Without getting into a ton of detail, we can handle structural, fiberglass, electrical work, paint and interiors. The only thing we do not do is mechanical work (brake jobs, oil changes etc). But relating it to the MX world, if any of the MXP readers have commercial fleet vehicles, trailers, RV’s etc and need work done or want upgrades or upfitting we can likely handle it!
Well, we’ve witnessed some of the awesome work you guys have done over the past several years. We think back to Ryder McNabb’s Sprinter Van, the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Sprinter, you’ve had some pretty cool moto projects going on?
It’s always awesome when you can combine your passion with your career. Because of the amazing talent we have here at the shop we have the capacity to take on a lot of really cool and unique projects. Both of those projects were a lot of fun to work on and we are very thankful to the McNabb’s and Huber’s to allow us to be a part of those. Those types of projects are a lot of work from the planning phase right through to executing the project but there is a huge sense of pride for myself and all the team here to see the final product.
The most recent is the Priority Thor GASGAS trailer that you’re currently working on. This is a large project and really you’re starting from scratch, as the trailer is brand new. When you’re working on projects like this, what is the most challenging aspect of it?
Without a doubt, the pre-planning phase and trying to account for everything to ensure the functionality is exactly what the client is after. To a fault, I’m a little obsessive over detail, so when we take on a project like this I’m continually trying to analyze how to make it better to ensure the client’s experience is amazing. I try to put myself in their shoes and understand what the usage is going to be so we can perfect each detail. This sounds like a great thing but let’s just say it can make production a little complicated and can slow things down as myself or some of the team come up with ideas mid-project.
It’s great to see people like Peter [Knoop] investing so heavily into our sport. His team is going to be very strong this year! So, the main part of your business is buses and vans, and obviously you do the occasional moto build. Not everyone in the motocross world has a bus, a Sprinter Van, or even a big trailer, do you have a part of the business that might interest the average moto family?
It’s been great to get to know Peter over the last few months and I’ve known Justin Roney for many years now. It’s really cool to see what they have going on and absolutely, guys like Peter with that burning passion for all things moto are great for the sport! As for the second half of that question the answer is yes, absolutely. What I encourage people to do is just reach out and run any projects by us or if they have any questions let us know.
That sounds amazing! If someone out there wanted to get some work done, what is the best way to reach out to you?
Give us a shout on our main line at 519-485-4287 or hit up our website(s) at www.bristolcoachworks.com. Technically our body and paint shop is branded as Bri-Mac (www.brimac.ca) but for the sake of the Canadian MX scene we are already sort of known in that world so we are trying not to make it too confusing!
Hopefully Spring will be here before we know it and we’ll all be out riding at Gopher Dunes. What are your plans for 2025? Will you be able to make it out to more races? Isn’t the GDR Honda Team perfect with you as a fill-in Team Manager?
My time as team manager or fill-in manager I think are behind me unless there is a very unique circumstance! I’ve really scaled back my involvement over the last 4 years as I focus on my own business. I still am actively involved with Derek behind the scenes, we talk moto non-stop, but I only make it to a couple races a year. The days of GDR being a young start-up company are over and Derek and staff have taken things to a new level and I’m extremely proud seeing what’s developed over the last 14-15 years. If people knew where this all came from, the absolute chaos of the early years and the things that had to be overcome…well let’s just say it would make an amazing book. Most start-up companies fail, not because the concept isn’t good but because the owners lose their nerves and give up too early. GDR is a prime example of what it takes to succeed. With that being said, everyone on the team are great friends of mine and as soon as race bike builds commence I get bitten by the race bug.
Outside of GDR, my main focus for 2025 is without a doubt my business, personal development and I’m all about life experiences and spending time with my friends and family. I’m challenging myself this year and “competing” in my first off-road rally race, the NORRA Mexican 1000 which is a full-on roadbook navigation rally. Three of my best buddies will be a part of it, one other riding and two running support and it’s going to be a great adventure. I’ve got a couple other bucket list items related to this so we will see where it goes!
That sounds amazing Matt, I’ve heard that event in Mexico is challenging, but a lot of fun at the same time. Good luck and please let us know how it goes. Thank you for your time Matt and keep up the great work!
I really appreciate it Palms, thanks so much and I really appreciate all the effort you are putting in with the MXP project, it’s fantastic for the industry!
