What a fabulous ride at Aragon, at last he's tamed the Ducati and in the wet too. We'll see some more podiums and first places next year.
now I understand a bit about bike racing, I get the thrill of speed and competiveness and the desire to be first, I absolutly understand the need for getting the knee down and scraping the tarmac when cornering, but whats the putting the leg and sliding the foot along the floor on the approach to a corner about??? if they 'dropped' the bike at that moment it would rip their leg right behind their head,
I love speed too. I had an F3 Merlyn with a 1 litre Cosworth "screamer" engine that gave me lots of fun and many exciting dices, but I spun it at Oulton Park on someone else's oil and it was badly mangled, I wasn't hurt but my wallet was and I had to give it up. I don't know why the trailing leg helps unless a bit of extra wind resistance adds to the braking performance, I see they're using elbow pads too. I just saw some '50s and '60s clips on YouTube and what a difference in technique.
nobody does the trailing leg thing at the isle of Man TT races, or at least I've never seen anyone doing it, I'm only guess ing here but, if you wanted wind resistance breaking would't it make more sence to stick out the leg on the otherside of the bike, so if you dropped the bike your leg would still be on your side and not up your back?
I've never seen it at the IoM either, maybe because they go so close to walls and posts that there's no room and maybe the thought of falling off doesn't occur to leg out boys. The effect of wind resistance by sticking a leg out on the inside side just before a corner tends to turn the bike into the corner and help it round, just a theory of mine. What I don't understand is why the film people put cameras on the backs of the bikes looking forward, it only gives a view of the rider's bum and nothing else, I would have thought mounting a camera in the fairing would give more interesting shots.
I agree Harry, I've often thought who wants to look at the bikers bum, but it does show how much work the rider does shifting over to move his wieght and controlling the bike, thats another thing they do better at the Isle of man, they have front mounted cameras,rear,side and fairing mounted cameras looking at the riders expressions and actions, also road cameras situated at the kerbs paricularly bray hill where the bike is flat out as it hits the bottom of Bray hill and bottoms the suspension before climbing up the other side, most of the top riders have cameras on board now, not so long ago the riders refused the cameras as they thought them bad luck, when you watch the old videos with Joey Dulop doing the course with a camera strapped to his tank and it covers nearly the whole tank, you can see how technology has come on,
Maybe the reason they don't do it at the TT, is their not ppussys, slowing down for corners. Seriously though road racing and circuit racing are completely different, the corners on circuits are much tighter, so they need to scrub off speed faster, this leg out thing is the latest fad is doing so, it's a bit like so and so does it so I will.
I can see what you're saying there Phil, they're useing the foot to slow the bike just enough to get into the apex and avoiding using too much front brake which could lock the wheel, that does make a bit of sense , it reminds me of when i was a lad, we could never afford new bikes so we made them from old bikes and pram bits, brakes were a luxury so we used our feet to slow us down and stop, mum used to go mad at how my shoes wore out faster than she could glue new soles on,
When I was about 10 or11 we lived near a hill with a long narrow path going up/down it, at the bottom there was a tunnel under the railway. One day someone found a scrap motorbike without an engine or brakes and we used to push it up the path and ride it down. Fortunately we never met anyone walking up otherwise there would have been a helluva crash. Alongside the path there was a steep grassy slope and we used to slide down it on sheets of cardboard. One day we got a big cardboard box to take apart for sheets but someone had the idea to get in the box, close the top and slide down, he started quite well and got going quite fast but halfway down a corner dug in and he went end over end like Houdini over Niagara Falls, the box burst apart and he finished up rolling down the rest of the way. I've not been to the IoM for a few years but I watch it all on the TV and I have great respect for Michael Dunlop, Bruce Ansty, John McGuinness and the others, those forward camera shots make me wonder how they can think fast enough and they must never, ever think about the consequences of crashing. I saw the clip of Conor Cummins crash on the mountain and I think it would have put me off for life. I'll go over to Ireland to see the NW200 one day, that and the IoM.....phewww
you gotta LOVE guy martin too, he's always a bugs whisker from a title but lucks just not on his side, he had a bad crash too about 3 years ago,the same year as conor Cummins, both of them came back without any fears of it happening again, I don't know whether that's bravery,stupidity or they have another dimension that we can't see, but its a hell of a thing they do, 37 miles on B roads in 17 minutes, from where i live its like going to Blackpool on the B roads, a journey which would take me using the M6 40 minutes, Its incredible, and the Irish NW200, jeeeeeez that's much the same but they all start at the same time and its mayham,
That is fast! i bet the onlookers are dissapointed they only get to see the rider for a fraction of a second.
not so Jitender, the thrill of the riders passing by at 200mph is something to experiance , you hear the approach you know its coming you feel the air rushing there's little visual sensation, but the sound, the smell,the feel of a bike going past your face at 200 miles per hour is something else, it looks good on camera, but to be there is,,,,well i dunno what it is, but if you never do it, you'll never know, and one day it will get banned, the HSE will have barriers and all the spectators will be in concrete bunkers wearing hard hats,hi vis vests,gloves and ear defenders, the bikes will have to have staberlisers and electric eco friendly engines with no carbon footprint, so do it now, go feel life in the fast lane,
Jeees Tom, thanks for the link. I really like Guy Martin, he's one of the old style racers, hellish good humour and just loves his racing. Yes, he always seems to just miss out although he did OK at the TT this year. I watched the TT races from most corners, but my favourite was Creg ny baa. I used to camp in the field next to the pub along with loads of other enthusiasts - fantastic atmosphere and fun in the evenings after a few drinks.
Creg is a good viewing point, spent the day there in 2012, then had a fantastic fish & chips there this year. .
Wasn't that The Raven at Ballaugh Bridge. You old enough to remember that film????, first released 1936.
everybody in Wigan loves George, he's from Wigan y'know we have a statue of him in the new shopping arcade,
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