Spyderco Forums

It's that time of year again...

If you like Motorsport, check out any TT footage you can find. It's borderline insane motorcycle road racing.

I do love watching those races. I used to daydream about traveling there and hanging out alongside the course.

I'm currently trying to arrange getting there in 2017 but the ferries are booked up already!!

Wow. I assume booked ferries means there's no way you'd find a place to stay. Unless island residents rent tent space in their yard.

https://youtu.be/5nlzxR6lN7Q

Fastest ever lap, by Michael Dunlop ... the conditions are perfect this year.

Amazing. I would think those guys have the full course memorized as well.

Thanx Chris,

That was great. Old man Honda always looked forward to that race. I live on a twisty mountain paved road that's 30 miles long. Sold my last bikes when I was 65 (Wife & Doctor pressure :o ), but I still get whiplash when they go by.

sal

I have a lot of respect for the guys who do this race. There's racing, and then there's Moto GP. I drag race now and then, and it's dangerous. But, I have a car wrapped around me that will hopefully take most of the crash. The margin of error for those guys is practically a light switch that goes from "alive" to "grease spot".

:eek: Five fatalities this year ......

https://youtu.be/P2PYw2_fTEw

Watch this film and just wonder at how - and why - Michael Dunlop (who won Friday's Senior TT) does it.

There are "sporting heroes". And there are sporting heroes.

ChrisinHove wrote::eek: Five fatalities this year ......

Holy Moley.

I remember hearing about Joey Dunlop dying. I'd just started paying attention to motorcycle racing and caught something on SPEED TV or another sport channel and being amazed at what he was doing.

Two words:

"Joey" "Dunlop"

Something like 246 fatalities in a hundred years. The big factories will not allow their sponsored MotoGP riders to compete because it is so dangerous. Rossi and some of the others took a parade lap a year or two ago.

The British TV coverage is much different than here. No serious or fatal accidents are broadcast. In fact fatalities are not even mentioned until after the race is over and the champagne has flowed.

A purpose built, time-attack Subaru WRX STI set a new record, for cars.
Still not as fast as Michael Dunlop !
http://www.motormag.com.au/news/1606/su ... tt-record/

ChrisinHove wrote:It's that time of year again...

If you like Motorsport, check out any TT footage you can find. It's borderline insane motorcycle road racing.

"Borderline"???

The riders who race IOM and Irish GP are straight up nut-jobs! ...amazingly skilled nut-jobs though.

What's impressive is that- in most racetracks and races apart from rallies and on the IOM- they put spectators 1000 yards away from the track, behind chicken-wire to keep them safe.....In the TT- they put a bit of rope across the side road at thigh height with a sign that says "Warning- Racing" on it....Because if you don't know better maybe you shouldn't be on the Isle Of Man at all :D

Oh, and there's a couple of the railway bridges where they paint the sticky-out stones white so the riders can see not to hit their heads on them as they go through. Safety first.

The movie, Road, narrated by Liam Neeson, is a great documentary about motorcycle road racing and the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy). The winningest rider in the TT was Joey Dunlop, who died road racing, albeit in Estonia. His brother, Robert, died in the TT. Robert had two sons, Michael and William. They are still racing after losing their father and their uncle.

Another documentary on TV a few years ago was about John McGuinnes who is closing in on Joey's record. He is the same age as my son, but they have something else in common. When they were three years old, they had Indian Mini-Buffalo motorcycles made by ItalJet. Fortunately, my son lost interest in motorcycles.

When my grandson was three, I reminded my son that he was that age when I gave him the little Indian. My son looked at his son, looked at me and said, " What were you thinking ! "

Gail and I wouldn't let Eric ride bikes on pavement. Just dirt. (She didn't care much for my solo rides over the our twisty mountain road).

Now Eric moves quickly on pavement over our mountain, but on four wheels.

sal

Our sons have better judgment than we do.