But he did ensure his wife was also in the Isle of Man with him, just in case the worst scenario happened.
"If fear comes into it then you can't do it," Shorter said.
"I've got two young kids, a wife and a mortgage. But when you turn up at the TT you just get absorbed in it and it didn't once cross my mind that I might be in trouble. When the helmet goes on, you're off."
Shorter and Buckley began the event in 24th place on the K7 Suzuki powered BLR chassis riding for Carl Cox Motorsport F1 Sidecar racing team. After race one, they jumped up to 16th and then in the final run they set the new record in finishing 11th, winning two bronze replica trophies and keeping pace with the leaders for most of the race.
Shorter says breaking the speed record and far exceeding pre-race expectations is a career high.
"It doesn't get any bigger and it is a pretty cool feeling to be part of the team that achieved that goal. We were one off top-10 but that's next year."
Following the Isle of Man success, Shorter and Buckley entered two rounds of the FIM World championship.
With limited track knowledge and against much newer and more expensive machinery, they had two excellent top-10 finishes in Croatia and Hungary.
Global brand manager for Carl Cox Motor Sport Gavin Sokolich, who also lives in Tauranga, says the Kiwis got major coverage on television in Britain and six pages of coverage in the official Isle of Man programme, with a circulation of four million copies.
"We are already forward planning our return to the TT for next year," Sokolich said.
"We have nothing but the utmost faith in the natural ability of both Colin and Robbie. The result they pulled off for us this year was absolutely outstanding. For us to go in and pre-qualify at 41 and come out with a 16th and 11th place finish overall is not achieved by any team any year."