Brutal week with 3 dead in the last 2 days. These guys are immensly...
Brutal week with 3 dead in the last 2 days. These guys are immensly brave.https://www.motorsport.com/roadracing/news/alan-bonner-killed-in-tt-qualifying-crash-915356/
I'm not even sure where I learned about the TT, but have always had an infatuation with it. Even after witnessing a moto fatality a few years back I still love watching it. Maybe it's because these guys do it for the pure love of it and from interviews I've seen over the years they'd quit riding if they tried to make the race "safer". These guys live on the edge and know the consequences and I respect the hell out them. I hope to visit one day. I do find it interesting that I don't think I heard one mention of Lambert yesterday and I'm watching this evening and still nothing.
Contrary to my post last night, they did acknowledge the 3 deaths this year at the end of the program which was nice.
It's certifiably nucking' futs, but it's also, I think, the purest form of racing there is. BRAVE riders, for sure. Condolences. CW
The TT is a throwback to the days when cars raced on road circuits with few safety concessions. Consider the in-car footage of Spa from the movie "Grand Prix", for instance.
At TT if you come off yourelikely to hit a a curb followed by a stone wall. Serious injury to death are the most probably outcomes. A throwback to when sex was safe and racing dangerous.
A few years ago, I ran across this graphic of the TT circuit done to scale. It is so immense that most of the major international racing circuits (including Le Mans and Nurburgring) comfortably fit into it. BHW Image Unavailable, Please Login
Michael Dunlop was clocked at over 190 mph on Sulby Straight today, not hanging about. You will find some good on bike footage on u tube under IOM TT 2017. Course is about 1/2 mile from my house
I'm surprised the drivers can get comfortable on the bike, because those guys have the biggest cojones on the planet.
I'm sorry. I can no longer support watching this race. Three deaths in one year, that's way over the top.
That's the nature of the beast; the TT is pure road racing, not circuit racing!! No run-off area, no gravel trap, no air barrier, racing at 200mph alongside wall, lamp posts, and street furniture, jumping over bridges, crossing tramlines, that's the TT, the most prestigious road race of all. The TT is dangerous and takes no prisoner; make one mistake and it could be fatal. Compared to that, circuit racing looks pansy...
I used to prepare a race car for an ex 500cc GP bike racer, he retired from bikes and moved to cars. He told us he competed once in the TT but it frightened him too much to go back for a second time.
The electric TT Zero bikes are doing 120mph average laps and the super bikes are doing around the 134 mph average. Over 200 mph in places. Not for the feint hearted
But you supported it before......? ..... despite the 6 fatalities in 1951 and the 5 in '52 or the 6 in 1978? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Snaefell_Mountain_Course_fatalities Each is a tremendous loss, but it is an event that pits the bravest riders against the course. Humans make mistakes and pay a heavy price sometimes. Life without risk is no life at all. Of course, while the TT gets most of the attention, it is part of a larger series of road racing, which includes the Northwest 200, Cookstown and the Ulster GP, so it is not a singular outlier in speed or danger. I admire the skill and risks these men and women take.
I have watched the TT on and off since the late '60s. As I get older useless death appalls me. All these people who died presumably were loved by friends and family. I doubt their loved ones are so cavalier about it. Nobody loves dying.
Of course not, but to the riders, it is not useless. One could take the position that living a safe life to old age is just as useless. Each of us make our own choices as to acceptable risk. At the end of ones life, most regret what they did NOT do, over what they DID.
I dunno. F1 used to be this dangerous, but not anymore. And, trust me, I regret more of what I did than what I didn't do.