Motorcycle Racers: The TT ( Tourist Trophy) Are they crazy?

[DGTCrazy]

Held in Europe on a 37 mile track, 180 MPH speeds, over 220 dead since it started ( 3 this year)?

WHY?

[jbd3]

Held in Europe on a 37 mile track, 180 MPH speeds, over 220 dead since it started ( 3 this year)?

WHY?


Track?

It's on a freaking ROAD!

[Trickstaaah]

One of the classic motorsport races. More romance in one day of the TT than a whole season of F1, IMHO.

(And yes, they are crazy.)

[BlaXander]

Crazy? Yes.

Why? Cos it's fun? Thrill-chasing?

[otterhound]

No , they are not crazy .
They are simply driven by forces that you will never understand .

[Trickstaaah]

No , they are not crazy .
They are simply driven by forces that you will never understand .

That's what all the crazy people say. :bonk

(I'll add that while I'm not a racer, there is something about riding that non-riders just don't get. It's such a rush, even at sane speeds and on tame roads.)

[DucRyder]

People who smoke cigarettes are crazy... TT riders just wanna win the race... Perfectly normal.

It's held on the Isle of Man.

[Melj]

Held in Europe on a 37 mile track, 180 MPH speeds, over 220 dead since it started ( 3 this year)?

WHY?

'Because it's there' .

Fortunately the naysayers have been unable to stop it thus far.

It is voluntary, you know.

:cool:

[Blue Light]

I was fascinated by it as a kid, and always wanted to see it someday.
It was dangerous enough on old Norton 500 singles with skinny tires. (Oops. Make that "tyres.")
But when the hellaciously fast multis began ripping it up... whoah. That's an extra dimension of craziness.
Even 20 years ago I had a tape of Joey Dunlop doing a lap around the Isle of Man with a bike-mounted camera. So you could see what he saw, and what he saw was barely nothing as bike shot into damp, dewy corners flanked by picket fences. All while averaging WELL over 100 mph. The tape made me light-headed with fear.

I don't see how they do it. As well, I don't see how people can climb Mount Everest.

[RCM78]

Well, I am a racer and I say they're crazy!!! Way too many riders die in TT racing. Motorcycle racing on closed course race tracks is dangerous enough.

[niersbach]

I was fascinated by it as a kid, and always wanted to see it someday.
It was dangerous enough on old Norton 500 singles with skinny tires. (Oops. Make that "tyres.")
But when the hellaciously fast multis began ripping it up... whoah. That's an extra dimension of craziness.
Even 20 years ago I had a tape of Joey Dunlop doing a lap around the Isle of Man with a bike-mounted camera. So you could see what he saw, and what he saw was barely nothing as bike shot into damp, dewy corners flanked by picket fences. All while averaging WELL over 100 mph. The tape made me light-headed with fear.

I don't see how they do it. As well, I don't see how people can climb Mount Everest.

The best part was when Joey shot into the pits, immediately ripped off his helmet, and grabbed a ciggerette and started smoking while they fueled up his bike!! LOLOL Ohhh the days of old!! When people did what they wanted vice what was politically correct...Joey flat out ROCKED to the beat of his own drum!!

[Jahn]

Track?

It's on a freaking ROAD!

yeah - yikes!

BtAD2uyISKI

[Structo]

Yeah scary and that bike is only 250cc!

[Mudder]

Not crazy, supremely confident.

[MVrider]

"Only" 250cc's? That thing's got more HP than most of the bloated antiques that rumble along the highways these days. And weighs only 1/3 as much.

[jbd3]

Not crazy, supremely confident.

And the difference is?....

I'm being facetious, but it's a fine distinction. I've done my share of closed-course racing, and fallen off my share of motorcycles, and I wouldn't in a hundred years race on a proper roads course.

But at the same time, I'm really glad that there are guys out there who will--I feel like IoM continuing is a glorious testament to a life well beyond the sort of cost/benefit analysis that drives most people's days, mine included, especially as I get older, and my supreme confidence is gradually replaced by my not wanting to get dismembered.

It's only a matter of time before it gets legislated out of existence... Ten years, maybe? But as an earlier poster observed, nobody is making those guys do that. I would be glad to be proven wrong in my pessimism about the IoM's longevity.

[fetishfrog]

I feel like IoM continuing is a glorious testament to a life well beyond the sort of cost/benefit analysis that drives most people's days, mine included, especial

This is really the driving force behind most great adventure, and the TT is a grand one indeed. Hopefully it remains, because it needs to remain.

[DamianP]

More fun than a Dumble:

The Gooseneck, 1990 Manx Grand Prix.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/mouldynudger/IMG_4939.jpg

[Hwoltage]

Fastest lap for 2007, on board a Honda 1000 with Guy Martin.

Hold the **** on:

QVXc29ZgutI

DFUYIH2Ttzk

[imonabuss]

People testing the limits of what they can do. Some never understand. I raced professionally at the highest level, and yet this race was too much for me. By the time I reached the point of having the TT invite me (being from the US with little money meant the TT was just financially out of reach), they wanted me to run the Senior TT. I wisely declined. It takes years to learn a course like this, and years to learn how to ride similar course (Ulster, etc). The way to learn is on a small bike first, not a 180+ mph bike.

But the feeling of racing a motorcycle in control at the limit is something almost impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't done so. It is sensual in an amazing way...slow motion dancing to a strange cosmic flow, with intense physical effort. You truly reach a level of zen that is sublime.

[MadFrank]

"I've lost my spleen.... but I didn't need it anyway"!

-Nzq2GorVH4&feature=related

Tough guy's. :omg

[Hwoltage]

"I've lost my spleen.... but I didn't need it anyway"!

-Nzq2GorVH4&feature=related

Tough guy's. :omg

So lets see, that was lungs, kidneys, spleen, right leg, left leg, left clavicle and right arm. Sounds like a good time to retire.

[Chris Scott]

At my peak as a rider, it never even crossed my mind to go to the Island.

...I mean, it crossed my mind, but I knew that however well I may (or may not) have done, I haven't anything on Joey Dunlop, so it pretty much ended right there.

I have, and likely always will have, the highest respect for people that do well at the Island - it is the ultimate achievement in roadracing imo.

[Trickstaaah]

I feel like IoM continuing is a glorious testament to a life well beyond the sort of cost/benefit analysis that drives most people's days, mine included

Quoted for truth. As odd as it may sound, I'd bet that most (if not all) of these guys are not just racing for money ...

People testing the limits of what they can do. Some never understand.

[snip]

But the feeling of racing a motorcycle in control at the limit is something almost impossible to explain to anyone who hasn't done so. It is sensual in an amazing way...slow motion dancing to a strange cosmic flow, with intense physical effort. You truly reach a level of zen that is sublime.

... and that's what they're racing for, that feeling of rising above oneself, of attaining some kind of connection with something. Guitarists will talk about getting into a zone where "the music takes over," when they don't have to think about what they're playing and the guitar seems to play itself, and the guitarist feels like he (or she) is just a channel for something coming from higher or beyond themselves. I'll bet that's exactly what these guys feel. Heck, I get that feeling on my 44-year-old 150cc two-stroke Vespa!

[Hwoltage]

If you listen to the commentary of the video I posted, at some point he describes how, after several days of riding at speed, your brain is functioning at such a high rate of frequency that you can study the faces of people in the crowd as you go by at 190mph. I have a buddy who raced pro-class supercross for many years and he described the feeling as just being out for a sunday drive once you get to that point. To other people it doesn't even look possible and to the rider it's like la-de-****ing-daa.

[jbd3]

Fastest lap for 2007, on board a Honda 1000 with Guy Martin.

Hold the **** on:

QVXc29ZgutI

DFUYIH2Ttzk

Guy Martin writes for Performance Bike, right? He has testicles like cast-iron skillets.

What's so amazing is how cerebral those guys are about something so inherently batshit... Like how they could describe to you every single corner on that course from memory.

[jbd3]

If you listen to the commentary of the video I posted, at some point he describes how, after several days of riding at speed, your brain is functioning at such a high rate of frequency that you can study the faces of people in the crowd as you go by at 190mph. I have a buddy who raced pro-class supercross for many years and he described the feeling as just being out for a sunday drive once you get to that point. To other people it doesn't even look possible and to the rider it's like la-de-****ing-daa.

The worst part is when you're driving home from the track--your sense of speed is so miscalibrated, you find yourself trying to take corners in residential neighborhoods at 70 mph in your p.o.s. Dodge Ram van, and you don't give it a second thought...

[Hwoltage]

The worst part is when you're driving home from the track--your sense of speed is so miscalibrated, you find yourself trying to take corners in residential neighborhoods at 70 mph in your p.o.s. Dodge Ram van, and you don't give it a second thought...

haha I can imagine.

[otterhound]

Finally , some real insight .
They are racing to win . Attaining that place where you "zone out" is nothing more than a side benefit , it is not the goal . I have been there .
Yes , your mind does "speed up" , because it must in order to do what you are doing . Time/space does not compress , your awareness expands to the point where you are more alive at those moments than most will ever be in the culmination of an entire lifetime .
These two aspects are a large part of what I found so compelling about roadracing because I would become so totally focused on one thing that nothing else was capable of penetrating that barrier during that period of time . Call it Zen or whatever you will , but it is a truly wonderful place to be even if you only are there once in a lifetime .
I am fortunate enough to have experienced this place during other activities in my life . Playing a guitar , having sex and oddly enough , while building my first acoustic guitar . I want more .
I wish all of you the best of luck in your quests and may the TT live on forever .

[Jahn]

Reminds me of that Animatrix movie where the guy gets such a serious runner's high that it snaps him out of the Matrix. So in the zone that you break out of "reality." yikes.

[Lublin]

Yeah scary and that bike is only 250cc!
I'm guessing these are 250 two strokes which can be stupid fast when tuned correctly.

[T.Wesley]

Held in Europe on a 37 mile track, 180 MPH speeds, over 220 dead since it started ( 3 this year)?

WHY?
It's racing.

People die racing NASCAR. Yet that's still on TV every weekend.

The people that get involved in the TT know the risks.

--chiba

[otterhound]

Reminds me of that Animatrix movie where the guy gets such a serious runner's high that it snaps him out of the Matrix. So in the zone that you break out of "reality." yikes.
Sorry , it's not like that for me . When I am in "the zone" , I become totally focused on one thing only . Singularity could be a close description . Have you ever truly done one thing only ? It is a purity of consciousness and awareness at a particular moment in time . To quote some lyrics from a heavy metal type band that I am not so fond of " Nothing else matters " when in that state of mind .
It is not a video game . It is very real . If you are ever fortunate enough to get to that place , regardless of what you are doing , you will understand what I am trying to describe .
Good luck , my friend .

[DGTCrazy]

It's racing.

People die racing NASCAR. Yet that's still on TV every weekend.

The people that get involved in the TT know the risks.

--chiba



Only 19 NASCAR racers have dies since 1971 FWIW.

[imonabuss]

Yes, total focus at a 200 bpm heartrate for an extended time, especially at the Island or the Daytona 200. Nothing in the world like it. It is to win, but you can be in that zone racing for tenth at the highest level. I guess the win is with yourself - taking your mind and body to a new state. When the race is over and people come up to talk with you it is very difficult to communicate for a while.

[imonabuss]

BTW, I cannot get there in a race car. The level of effort, physical and mental, is so intense because you are physically throwing the bike around and are at such high risk. Maybe it is like running from a lion? I hear the NASCAR drivers carrying on a calm conversation during a race, and I know they are not in that zone. And I like NASCAR and very much respect the drivers. I'm just sayin'....

[Hwoltage]

So what you're saying is, it's worth the risk. :D

[DamianP]

So what you're saying is, it's worth the risk. :D


For me, certainly.

[saxophonist56]

they are not all 250's! i don't think it's any crazier than braving the streets around here on two wheels. four wheels it's bad enough.

[otterhound]

So what you're saying is, it's worth the risk. :D
I have no desire to go to my grave lamenting what " I could have done " . Damn right it is worth it .
Because of the chicane , this doesn't happen any more , but you haven't lived until you have accelerated through the right hand kink in the back straight at Road America at 160 MPH+ .
It just isn't for everyone .
Do what you love while you are alive because this ain't no dress rehearsal .

[imonabuss]

Amen it is worth it! The memories are burned in for all time. Turning on the back wheel through the corkscrew at Laguna Seca. Going around the outside in the carousel at Road America with knee on the ground and shoulder on the inside guy's fairing. Braking into the the chicane at Daytona with the rear wheel floating in the air. I can still get my pulse rate up just re-running a race in my head.

[oldtelefart]

I rode around that track in 1975 on a road-legal Honda 750, at legal speeds. (Outside of the towns, the Isle of Man has no speed limits.) Yes, the people who race there are totally f*****g mad! But, I think they are more alive doing it than most of the rest of us.