TT Isle of Man Street Race
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“Dress for the fall” ?
No way …..
1999 Moto Guzzi – Bassa
Back when there was a cable channel that was mostly motor racing sports, and I still had cable, I would watch things like the Isle of Man TT. As has been remarked, they do an amazing job of editing and camera pointing to keep the wheelbarrows out of sight. “Wheelbarrows?” “Yes, for the drivers to carry their enormous steel b***s in.”
I was never able to decide which part scared me more, inside the town where a mistake put you into the stone walls, our out in the country where speeds were up over 150mph and you could see them getting a little loose over the bumps. I did see one crash where two riders rubbed tires and both went down, the drivers both slid and tumbled for quite some distance, and one of them missed taking a tree right in the rib cage at 100mph+ by about 2 feet. His bike wasn’t so lucky, and gave a vivid demonstration of how much kinetic energy is involved in an accident at those speeds.
The Isle of Man TT is one of the most intense racing events anywhere in the world. I have enjoyed it for many years. What should also be noted is this is the month of May, which means Indianapolis. I watched all 6 hours of practice today and down the straights, these guys were doing 223 – 224 MPH, averaging over 231 MPH lap times. Daly’s team reported a 224.4 MPH top speed but no trap caught it so . . . .
One interesting thing is the Indy league has turned up the turbo boost for this event giving the drivers 90 more HP than what they usually have.
I have never seen a group of rookies come off this track not only doing so well, but a lot of them were saying that this test day was the most insane thing they have ever done in an Indy car. I go to the Indy races every year in PDX and will be there again in September.
Speed is life . . .
Sorry, the top speeds were 243 – 244 mph in the traps, average lap speed was 231 – 232 MPH. . . My bad. But, the drivers compared their experience to flying a plane around the track.
My first thought was “that was terrifying, they’re insane” so I looked it up.
Yep:
“In 2016, 5 riders died on the course during official practices or races.[54][55][9][56] There were six fatalities among competitors in the 1970 Isle of Man TT, making it the deadliest year in the history of the event.”
Since 1909 there have been 151 fatalities.
I was once riding my GoldWing (2008, 1.8 L) on I-94 in NoDak when I saw some headlights coming up behind me. I was doing 75 on cruise-control, and when I checked the mirror a second time they were a LOT closer than they should have been. It turned out to be a BMW and when he slashed past me I caught a glimpse of a radar detector on the dash. I kicked off the cruise and wicked up the bike.
I was doing 120 when I finally started to catch up, and then settled in behind him about a quarter-mile back doing 110. You could watch the gas gauge visibly drip as I followed him for half-an-hour. I saw his brake lights flash on, and he pulled into the right lane. All I had to do was back off the throttle and let the wind slow me down. Sure enough, over on the other side of the divide, came a trooper. I waited ’till he was ‘way back in my mirror and then leaned out to the left lane to follow the Beamer again…too late, over the horizon and out of sight. Just as well, I needed to fill up my tank since I only got about 25 MPG for that stretch.
It’s the fastest I’ve ever had any bike going, and every worm-turd on the pavement felt huge. The ‘Wing loved it, though, and the engine got very, very smooth feeling above 100.
That’s only 2/3’s as fast as these maniacs are going, and (in ND) pretty much in a straight line. I can’t even imagine doing 180 MPH on a twisty road, with spectators leaning out and the occasional sheep, dog or cat wandering across the road. The bike camera footage is terrifying since I can’t see for spit in the darkness underneath some of those tree-covered roads. I’ll leave it to the professionals.
” with spectators leaning out and the occasional sheep, dog or cat wandering across the road. ”
Exactly where my mind went. There must be some very strict rules about animals being secured during practices and race day.
Its the street coarse and the up close perspective that sets this event off. Its very different on a wide open track.
Many years ago I had a classic Honda 750 in line 4, a beautiful bike which I wish I still had today (Along with several other pieces of classic machinery. A 1966 4.2 Jaguar XKE being one of them.)
And before you knew it you were doing 100 mph. 180? No thank you.
I too am terrified about those speeds, not much room for indecision and mistakes.
These guys would be taken out with a simple bird hit – truly impressive
Speed Is Life, but acceleration gets the job done. Been driving the Mazda around the local roads. Have to be cool, because you are driving through places people live, but there are opportunities . . .
How do they sit on those bikes with such massive balls?
I’ve never gotten over about 130 (speedo pegged at 120, so not entirely sure; the oncoming cop just gave me a thumbs-down – he never would have caught up if he had turned around).
The air resistance is insane. Even at legitimate speeds (say 90 in an 85 zone) one cannot sit up without a death grip to keep from being pushed off. I can only imagine what it’s like at 180 and over.
That was a 600cc Yamaha (and I was 20). I never found out how fast the 1200cc Honda went (that speedo went to 150). I accidentally did a wheelie at 70mph, once. It was very happy barely turning over at 90; plenty of RPM to downshift and keep accelerating, but I was old when I owned that one so I never pushed it.
Insanity with narration: https://youtu.be/5uwp2atrSgw