Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/14/ridiculous-high-speed-save-by.html
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ooof. that’s is terrifying.
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Wow… just wow.
I got goosebumps (for real) watching that.
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That would scare the crap out of me even with four wheels!
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Just another example confirming what I heard in a moto-racing documentary; the narrator described the riders as a combination of olympic athlete and fighter pilot.
Isle of man, oh, man!
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I love the essential Speed Racer-y ness of the the Isle of Man TT – beautiful sceneries, amazing vehicles, and the near certainty someone’s going to die.
And nutjobs.
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I don’t know enough about motorcycles to be suitably horrified or impressed, but I loved this from the announcer:
James is a heck of a rider but that is no one’s business!
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Then let’s see them try it on the ledge of a high rise…
Actually, let’s not. 
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Me too.
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Skillz.
Live to race another day!
Mad props to the save, if it was me I would have parked the bike, grabbed a Sharpie from the crowd and signed my helmet Mike Hailwood and gave it the first kid I saw, then peel off my leathers and sign them Joey Dunlop and dive naked into the Irish Sea and never ride a bike again… I guess I am a quitter - lol.
I believe the death toll this year was 3 riders, which I believe is about average. (I did not hear if any spectators were killed this year.) I love the TT, but it seems so bloody un-British…
I just hope I can make a pilgrimage there before it all ends.
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Hard to see how you can justify racing motorbikes without a runoff area. I wonder how they pay their insurance bill.
Tradition. The IoM TT runs along narrow streets in built-up areas, and always has; it isn’t possible to make it safe without destroying the island.
People regularly die during the TT (3 this year, 4 last year, 250 in total) and everyone involved is very aware of that. It’s an independent event, not part of the GP series, and the riders all know what they’re getting into when they sign up.
I can’t honestly think of any comparable competition, in the west anyway. It seems nuts that the operators start an event knowing that people are going to die. There is plenty of dangerous stuff out there. The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is one of them but death is neither accepted or normal in that event.
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While we’re at it, a relaxed lap of Australia’s silliest (in a good way) racetrack:
With all those crazy racers, no wonder the local cats have all lost their tails.
The Dakar Rally? I remember when Charlie Boorman was doing it for a television series, he was talking to someone one morning (I think it might have been Andy Caldecott) and when Charlie finished the stage he found out that he had crashed and died.
F1 also used to be like that and I still wonder about NASCAR.
I used to watch the TT highlights, Carlisle is in the same television region as the Isle of Man so they always reported on it.
At least he’s holding on to something.
Oh wait. It that a selfie stick?
