The folllowing comments and video was sent to me by my good friend from Florida, the President of the Lamborghini Club:

"This is an Isle of Man camera video done really well. It lasts about five minutes.

This is the last true motorcycle road race in the world. Each lap is 37.75 miles long with over 200 turns. And the record for a single lap is over 130 MPH. There are straight sections where the bikes hit over 200 MPH.

It Is hard to imagine such riding speeds but they do it every year at the end of May and have been doing so since 1907. There have been over 240 rider fatalities in the history of the event but it is bigger than ever today. Two riders were killed during the 2012 events.

The helmet cam video over the last minute or so of the clip is
breathtaking. This event makes car racers look like a bunch of wussies.Even Sir Jackie Stewart is amazed by what he is seeing in the video. BTW, former Formula One World Champion John Surtees won this event before he switched from motorcycles to race cars."

Here's the video, Talley Ho lads: That's A Man's Corner

Albert's comments here:
Not sure of making "car racers look like a bunch of wussies" though; I had raced the best superbike riders from the SF Bay Area many times over the scenic mountain crest highway that separates the Bay Area from the Pacific ocean and never lost a race to a biker. I was either in my much modded Mustang or later in my also heavily modded twin Turbo RX-7. Police and Fire were usually present on weekend days, never to interfere with the racers but, to pick up the pieces of bikers running off the road into the woods of the canyon. Sure, that was 25 years ago and the Superbikes were not as Super as today's but, it was still a heck of a roadrace nearly every weekend. Those were the times... :-)

Enjoy the superb video,

Albert

 

And they do it in the rain too.

 

Man. 240 deaths, its a lot. though...not sure if I will appreciate the race due to this..honestly its like sending people to death for me...sorry I really did not want break any feelings.

 

Yeah... I don't know, I'm kind of with jagxk2008. For me, I think the price these guys pay for crashing actually makes it harder for me to enjoy. Obviously the skills on display are incredible, but something about all the deaths over the years really dampens my enthusiasm.

Maybe I'm nuts, but my perspective changed a few years ago when I was watching the X Games live, and saw Josh Brown crash ( ). I was 100% sure as they cut to commercial that I had just watched somebody die on live TV. Fortunately he wound up being ok, but after that I didn't feel the same about watching the X Games... they kept inventing new ways to do more and more dangerous things, and at some point they moved from "somebody could really hurt themselves doing this" to "someone is definitely going to die, eventually". And eventually, someone did... backflipping a snowmobile. People are always going to do crazy things, and that's fine really. I just don't like feeling as if I'm encouraging it. Would the kid who died have been trying to backflip a snowmobile, had the lights and cameras not been on? Maybe, maybe not.

 

A few years ago the Isle of Man government used to sponsor the Three Hills Challenge, a hill climb over three days with a different hill each day. I competed twice with my then car, a Nissan Skyline R33. I won my class and also beat quite a few competitors from the Ferrari Club and the GT40 Club. Unfortunately they don't do it any more as I would love to try it with the XKR.

 

"To race is to live. But those who died while racing knew, perhaps, how to live more than all others."
~ Juan Fangio

Indeed, that is a lot of deaths. One thing not to forget, however. Participants all know the risks and they decide that the risks are worth it. I raced cars for decades and had 3 people die in separate accidents on the track in my racing group while I was present, racing. Never occurred to me, or to most, to quit racing or stop having those races.

I have come to very close to dying in auto racing accidents, in a windsurfing accident, in a whitewater kayaking accident and even closer in a skiing accident where I was in critical condition for 2 weeks. Yet, the last thing in my mind would be to quit these hobbies and play it safe for the rest of my life. I don't see that as a life I would want to live. No, as a matter of fact, I feel incredibly fortunate for having experienced, and continue to experience, the thrill and the rewards of those activities. Honestly, when I was in the process of dying in that whitewater accident, my only thoughts of sorrow were for my wife who would have had to deal with the surviving. I was fine dying; no regrets!

Albert

 

I concur.

 

I don't think that the comment was so much related to which machine was simply "faster." Was your car racing experience really as precarious and on the ragged edge as what you saw in the video? Seems unlikely considering twice the tires and a couple tons of steel surrounding you. But maybe. If so, my hat's off to you. I had no idea.

Excellent video, by the way.

 

Just watched this excellent video...thrilling! Danger is part of the appeal of many hobbies and sports, that's part of what draws some to them, and certainly to those that compete at this level. They're doing what they love and are passionate about. Track lapping days satisfy my need for speed and thrills, and the ever-present danger is definitely part of it.

Bruce

 

No, I must say that my racing experience was not as precarious as seen in the video. Much of my time was spent in GT-class race cars that had decent protective rollbars around the drivers. Yet, I still managed to get into trouble, such as being pushed into the concrete wall by an other racer, head-on at 80+ MPH at Laguna Seca or, having my race car catch on fire 4 different times, burning to the ground twice. That is one instance where a closed race car can be more dangerous than a bike; you fall free of a crashed bike but, you can be easily trapped in a burning, crumpled, closed racecar with no doors or easy access to get out.

Being in an open wheeled formula car for a few years was the closest to the risks of bike racing. Not much chassis to protect you in crashes while you are going generally significantly faster than bikes through the corners given your extra chassis and wing downforce.

My crew chief was an ex-GP F1 rider and he never stopped to amaze me with his stories regarding many of the tracks we raced at. He kept pointing out where and how he fell, what part of the wall or track he ended up hitting and, miracles of all, still being alive. No, I always considered motor bike racing to be more risky than car racing and had no desire to pursue it particularly after 3 separate "hard landings" on my once street bike. While I seem to live for risks, I don't care to be seen as the likely next organ donor.

So, are car racers "wussies" compared to bike racers? I hardly think so. Both have to live and drive on the very edge, both have to have the nerves to fully bury the accelerator, against every fibre of you body's and brain's survival instinct, while approaching the head-on concrete barrier walls of a hairpin turn at 140MPH, for if you loose that nerve and start braking just a few milliseconds before the cars behind you, you will get passed in an instant. Both have to accept the very real possibilities and probabilities that something, like your brake, WILL fail sooner or later, and when it does as you are flying towards that concrete barrier of the hairpin....????

Albert