The human being has always pushed the envelope into and beyond the realms of danger. This is the seventh of various weekend postings displaying how restless Man is with the mundane and how he purposely crosses the threshold into danger willingly — and sometimes unwillingly.
This is the Isle of Man TT (tourist trophy) race for motorcycles, in which it is not unheard-of to reach 160+ mph on bumpy country lanes. Official website is here. Please note the dangerous chassis shifts encountered when riders don’t come down completely parallel to the road after having crested hills and acquired air.
The video is, again, best viewed in full screen and with headphones plugged into your confuser. Mine are either Bose or Sennheiser.
As you can clearly see, there is a nasty penalty to be paid for failing to stay on course. It’s full faces and clip-ons and tear-offs and fully padded and braced leathers. It’s youth and micro-second reactions and adrenaline and mandatory High Visual Horizon. It’s fires and spraying champagne and back-braces and asphalt friction cutting through your leathers and past your skin to the bone. It’s winner and loser. And the difference might be no more than one-degree of separation.
BZ
P.S.
Thanks, Chris!
WOW, and yes that is TRULY microsecond raction times and one hellva penalty for not making the right decision…
Either Speed, or HD Theater (now Velocity) carried all the races.
Extraordinary.
You don’t have to be a motorcycle buff to see the skill, danger, and courage of these riders.
I’m lookin’ forward to next year.
NFO: but isn’t it just fascinating to watch? I find myself truly riveted by POV racing, either two or four wheeled.
Greybeard: I have Speed channel, but I never noticed the TT being featured. I’ll have to look for it. What I REALLY enjoy is F1 racing, or rally.
BZ
That rag doll physics you see when they come off the bikes is telling. You don’t get over a crash like that, even if you survive.
That, unfortunately, is quite true.
BZ