Holy mother of....acceleration

I might be late in the game seeing this vid (May 2014) but damn that rider is super human not to mention the bike!

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Undoubtedly the bike and John are very special, especially as he was riding with a broken wrist during the TT races this year.

The onboard footage from Bruce Ansty's 132.298mph lap is something extraordinary! it makes all other TT laps look like a stroll in the park! How he can maintain the required level of concentration for 6 laps/226 miles is super human!

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Incredible.

What I love about the Zero TT is the progression:

2010 : 96.820 mph
2011 : 99.604 mph + 2.784 mph
2012 : 104.056 mph + 4.452 mph
2013 : 109.675 mph + 5.619 mph
2014 : 117.366 mph + 7.691 mph

2015 : 127mph ? + 10 mph ?

Can't wait for the next few years of results.......

How do those guys even manage those turns? I can't see them fast enough ahead. They must memorize that whole island track?

I believe so.

I read the autobiography of another road racer (inc. the Isle of Man), Guy Martin, and describes several road circuits from memory. Some phrases stick in mind like "then into a 180mph blind right-hander". Also comments about kissing kerbs on the apex with the tyres, or grazing walls or kerbs with a shoulder or knee whilst cornering at these kinds of speeds.

It's tempting to imagine these riders are slightly unhinged, or just have enormous brass balls, but mostly they are in full control, with the occasional calculated risk/pushing their luck if really gunning for a win. Guy Martin said the only time he's ever been scared on two wheels was on a pushbike (112mph on Pendine Sands drafting a racing truck)!

I'm going to roll with 'enormous brass balls'. That explains most of it. I will remain forever in awe

To me, riding like that is making way too many assumptions. Let a tree drop a leafy little branch on the wrong spot, or an animal appear by surprise on the route, and these guys' last thought will be, "oops!" (if they even have time to think that).

I cannot think of any other "sport" where you know that you are putting your life on the line every time you race or practice... ( base jumping maybe ?) These guys know that when they race the IOM, they will end the week with at least one less mate to go out for a beer with.
To me, the real surprise is that they are not just young 18yr old adrenalin junkies, many of these racers are mature guys with families...that is hard to understand.
The road racers make the likes of Rossi and Hayden etc, the MotoGP riders, look like soft pussys with their smooth tracks, wide run offs, and gravel traps !!

Real life TRON light-cycles. And just as deadly.

I remember some incidents from previous years, the air ambulance helicopter landed to air lift an injured rider away to Nobles hospital this scared a horse that jumped the fence onto the track, a rider hit the horse and was killed.
Another time only 2 years ago I think, a rider went down and a female marshal ran straight into the track to attend him right into the path of anther bike which killed her and the rider.


On Bruce Ansty's new record lap this year he made 2 mistakes, I think the first was at Creg-ne-bae where he missed the apex and went very wide very nearly hitting the bales on the pub wall on the outside then about 2 miles further down the mountain at signpost corner just after the 200mph+ fastest stretches he went straight on instead of turning right, the lap could have been a 133mph if he had not lost a few seconds on each of those turns. Signpost is a blind entry, you start braking before you go over the crest and see the turn, I have done the same and gone straight on there myself!! Maybe he was suffering with brake problems, it was his 6th lap! Coming down the mountain can boil the brakes of normal bikes, I found that out the scary way!!
Back in 1990 I built and tuned a bike that raced there and pit crewed for him, I wasn't the rider, it came in in 10th place in the newcomers race and finished both the lightweight and junior races. 1000+ miles of practice and racing in 2 weeks. Another bike I built for the same lad won a british championship.

Racing is one the few sports that requires two balls.

It amazes me how hard the bikes are being pushed, how close to the line of control they really are. Steering wobbles on every corner, catching air on every little bump. They aren't riding around the track, they are feeling the inconsistencies and using muscle memory and learned coordination to keep rubber down. There is no time for decisions, the body must ride without waiting on the mind.

Grey beard said:

Racing is one the few sports that requires two balls.

Click to expand...

I'd like to think it requires more than 2. Heck, I know a lot of 2-balled dudes (myself included) that wouldn't touch this.

I think these guys are just skilled in a way we regular folk just can't comprehend, and so conclude they're being reckless and just getting lucky. When something goes wrong, like the front wheel tucking in a high speed corner, the difference between recovering and carrying on like nothing happened and a huge, deadly crash is so slight, but these guys can do it most of the time. Guy Martin mentions having time to usually try three different things to regain control in the ~1 second available time in that sort of situations.

I don't mean to keep mentioning Martin - I know there are lots of very talented riders, but he's the only whose book I have read and can therefore quote

Tench, it sounds like you know more about this subject than most and congratulations in your achievements in what I am given to understand is a very challenging and stressful activity

30 years ago I thought I could ride, I was quite quick! but recently I spent 2 years spannering for the british supermoto champ, he was part of the uk 3 man team for the des nations and also rode in the World supermoto series, we had some great fun! He won the uk and came 10th in the worlds while I was with him. Seeing Sam ride showed me I was never any good! he could destroy a new set of tyres in 20 minutes! I have seen him destroy bikes in about the same time! it was very demanding giving him a bike that could withstand being ridden to within an inch of its life! When a rider can lap within a hundredth of a second every lap and go faster or slower with a slight change in tyre pressure you know they are pushing to the limit. I was not in the same ball park!!

Sam retired a couple of years ago, he has taken over his dads engineering business and machines my bike parts now! One of the lads that died at this years TT raced in the British super sport class alongside Sam for several years. We have both known a few that have gone that way.

On the grid at Autodromo di Franciacorta in Brecia Italy.
Sadly our team captain Mick who is standing on the other side of the bike is no longer with us either, he was brilliant at watching Sam ride and knowing what adjustments to make, I just had to give him a solid bike that would go the distance! Seeing him beat the Chambons and VDB was awesome!!

Thanks for sharing