Conditions Very Iffy, but They're Going Anyway

Curmudgeon wrote: That it is. But it's also why people do it year after year. Can't have one without the other, if you get my drift.

Yes, I get the point, with risk comes reward. When those guys get off their bikes they can truly say they have lived. Similar to that of those who go to Space. The risk vs. reward is high on both ends.

As others have said, I don't think I could do it myself but damn I like to watch it. Circuit racing is cool but this takes it to a whole new level. The fact that these guys do it with a leather suit and a carbon fibre helmet between them and catastrophy is amazing.

How do they fit all of those massive cajones onto a small island?

If anybody's interested in watching a documentary with interviews with the riders check out "A Dangerous Addiction".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=p7KlmCthT68&feature=endscreen

sadly, this about the only "true" motorsport left. This video shows why the guys on 2 wheels and the isle of man are the best of the best.

In reply to NickF40:

I certainly dig it, even if it does give me pause.

I don't understand, though, why you'd say it's the only (or nearly only) "true" motorsport left? What is it about this (apart from the courses and their elevated level of danger) which makes this any more real or true than other forms (and I'd consider many forms of auto and motorcycle racing quite real)?

REminds of the crazy stuff me and some of my buddies got away with on the twisties in NW Arkansas and SW Missouri.

Also reminds me of a wreck I was in where one of my buddies wasn't so lucky.

After I wrecked at the track and walked away, I put the bike back together and sold it and considered it a good run. These guys are straight nuts.

Jay_W wrote: Racers in other motorsports look at rally drivers and say we're crazy. But us rallydrivers look at them fellers that run the TT and say they are the absolute craziest batE36M3 nutcases on wheels. I spect that if you can do a lap of the Isle at those speeds and live, you are probably one of the most skilled in all of motorsports as well...

Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

I watch that video and think:

1. Those guys are awesome.

2. I really need to think about rally in some form

3. I'm a wuss and won't make it off the couch.

SVreX wrote: Pucker factor. I just lost a sofa cushion.

LOL! and I need to clean the keyboard!

ransom wrote: I don't understand, though, why you'd say it's the only (or nearly only) "true" motorsport left? What is it about this (apart from the courses and their elevated level of danger) which makes this any more real or true than other forms (and I'd consider many forms of auto and motorcycle racing quite real)?

The elevated danger and the high likelihood that a mistake will be fatal. Sort of like F1 in the 50's and 60's when so many drivers died.

I was curious about the fireball crash early in the video, but wasn't able to find anything. I can't imagine that ended well.

collapsed.

And all this time I thought ninjas were from Japan

In reply to Ian F:

Fair enough.

I'm torn about whether I can accept elevated danger as an argument that something is purer or truer.

The stakes are higher, but why should a life hanging in the balance make it more a race than another contest of tuning, riding/driving, etc...

Perhaps it does. Maybe I'm just resistant to all other racing being lessened by the existence of such a mad and hairy branch of the family tree...

Since driving the Nordschleife (at a rather modest pace, admittedly), riding a lap of the Mountain course has been a frequent thought (again, no intention of trying it in competition, at least not beyond a sparsely populated tiny-bike class of the Manx GP)...

Mumble mumble. "True" is tricky when it comes to subjective matters.

Maybe real truth is found on this side when you survive some banzai E36 M3 and your brain tells your body that was a bad idea . Or you start having out of body experiences.

True. The eyes narrow, the heart quickens, and you than God for living, even if you don't believe in him.