I’ve watched entirely too many laps of that course- and I still couldn’t remember half the corners.
There was an article the other day talking about what a terrible boxer Muhammed Ali was- how he broke all sorts of basic rules of boxing because he was just so good that he could… this is like that.
It might as well be magic.
I ought to go do a lap of the Isle of Man on my R90s and a lap of Nurnburgring in the Vanagon. I’d get legendarily slow times.
Unlikely to be any slower than James May’s lap on his electric meccano bike…
There’s a great video of the fastest ever electric bike lap, averaging 119mph:
All those turns leaned over with the wall just next to your head… not sure I got the nerves for that.
I’m pretty sure he drove on the wall at one point…
Two earlier this week.
Impressive.
Not to nitpick but at no time i saw him “blowing past other riders like they were stationary obstacles.”
Having read that, i thought i would have seen something like what happened in the famous RUF CTR Yellowbird Nurburgring lap (of which i cannot find a decent quality video anymore).
Subaru also beat the auto record at 17:35
That course looks terrifying at those speeds.
Anxiously awaiting the full video of that lap.
Kinda cheating there- because Subaru is the only “car sponsor” or whatever, nobody else gets to take a shot at this with four wheels. Plenty of other cars out there that’d crush that Subie.
Just a thought - the Nurburgring takes, what, 8 minutes now for the fastest? This course is twice that - on roads that usually are not open for speed practice.
The memory and intuition this must bring out in the riders. The TT course really does favour the more natural riders; it’s tough to see how you could remember all that!
I know a couple of people who’ve ridden it at race speed. They described it as grinning wildly, with flies splatting on your teeth.
Holy. Fucken. Shit. That was fast.
This, a hundred times over. I saw some markings on the road surface here and there, but that’s because I’m watching the video in a comfy chair, and not going like a rocket on two wheels (and every now and again, one wheel).
I guess, but do not know for sure, that the course is cleaned of sand and debris before the race, but even so, at the speed those folks are riding it wouldn’t take much for things to go awry.
Hey now. You just settle down over there, futureless. 
Wonder what kind of time he could put down if he didn’t have to negotiate other riders.
Yeah, think I saw a couple distortions there due to time dilation as he neared lightspeed.
For example, at the 1:01 mark, I’m pretty sure that’s Hemingway and Shoeless Joe Jackson.
I really really hope he was using Dunlop tires on his motorcycle.
His lap time of 133.392 mph is staggering.
I’m sure he could do the Kessler run in less than 12 parsecs.
What exactly is the parallel between the rider in the video and Ali breaking rules of boxing? Is the rider starting to take wrong turns but correcting himself in time? I’ve watched the whole thing before but not this time - too ADD-inducing.
He’s coaxing more out of the bike than anyone else before ever has. He’s broken new ground- he’s managed to get closer to the absolute limits of machine and physics than anyone ever before. He’s literally re-positioned the goalposts.
There’s no way to do a perfect lap at Isle of Man- it’s just too long and there are too many variables. Which means it’s about getting close and being able to correct whatever mistakes quickly and perfectly- mistakes that have killed others.
It’s not the exact same as watching Ali do his thing- but it’s a similar feeling of watching greatness at some other level happen in real time.
An unimproved course. Routine fatalities. Ridiculous scenery. Is there any racing event more Speed Racer-y than the Isle of Man TT?
All that’s missing is the Mammoth Car.
