November 7, 2007

The world's biggest balls

So imagine you are in a WRC car, tarmac rally, maybe Col de Turini or even better Corsica. Cliffs on one side, rock walls on the other you are probably averaging 50mph.

Now take away the car, the safety equipment and two wheels, raise the average speed to almost 130 mph and add sections where the road is lined with posts and barbed wire. That's the Isle of Man TT, the most awesome race event on the planet.

We talk a lot about the Nürburgring but for the last 100 years the TT's 37 mile course has been making the "Green Hell" seem like child's play. We have two videos, one is an overview from BBC coverage of the 2007 TT and the second is almost a complete lap onboard, with telemetry. It is a bit fuzzy however you can clearly see the speedo and it is terrifying. See if you can last the 15 minutes or so and then think that these guys do that six times, with practically any error meaning certain death. It takes a distinct lack of imagination and huge balls.

You can purchase DVDs and downloads of the TT from Duke Video



4 comments:

  1. Those guys are totally, absolutely insane!

    If you liked that, check this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQS3ngyUEY

    Basically, the same guys running elbow to elbow on another ( much shorter compared to TT) "road" course. The lack of protection for the drivers from the "natural" obstacles is amazing... they are stuck in the 60's!

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  2. Something I did not realize is that the TT used to be part of the regular motorcycle championship calendar (what now is MotoGP) until 1975. It was taken off the calendar mostly because Giacomo Agostini refused to race there after the death of another rider in 72.

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  3. I was at a wedding last night and was talking w/ a guy about cars and whatnot. He then said "you know who's crazy? the guys who race on this little island near England. can't remember the name."

    "Isle of Man TT, my brother."

    Thank you axisofoversteer.

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  4. Axis of Oversteer....now more educational!

    :o)

    ReplyDelete

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