Isle of Man TT 2024 Starts June 1st - Take a Ride with Last Years Record Breaker

One thing is pretty much certain about the Isle of Man TT , not all the riders attending the event will go home alive , the greatest test of skill and bravery in the world of motorcycling starts next Saturday and as a former Biker these guys never cease to amaze me.

Last year Peter Hickman on his BMW M 1000 RR rode the 37.73-mile TT Mountain Course in 16:36 minutes achieving an average speed of 136 mph and the new lap record , Peter recorded video of his lap to show us mere mortals what that entails , if you're a person of nervous disposition you perhaps shouldn't watch this but if you've ever ridden a motorcycle you definitely should.

Stunning lap.

With the fatalities last year attention has once again turned to safety but the TT attracts coopetitors because it isn't safe and it's the ultimate test of motorcycling ability , nerve and courage ..... leave the TT alone !

a reply to: gortex

Yeah, Isle of Man is definitely one of the craziest shows on Earth, that's for sure!

I was doing some research on this last year and didn't realize that they have to build bikes specifically for this race, a regular super-bike is not not set up to run this course. And, they can only run at Isle of Man, and nowhere else. I think they have to lengthen the rear of the frame and do some other suspension stuff to the bikes to make them stable enough to run at Isle of Man. A bike set up to run there will be completely unstable on a normal superbike course. Has something to do with keeping the front end of the bike down.

Also, I watched a video a while back where one guy ran straight into that pub at 7:02 on the video. He hit it at full WOT, never even let up. Hit the building so hard the bike just vaporized, and they said that the only thing which kept the guy's body intact was his leather riding suit. He was just jelly after hitting the wall. There were reports it was either suicide or a medical issue (i.e. heart attack, etc). If I'm not mistaken the owners of the structure said the impact broke the foundation wall to the building. It was just gruesome to watch, and the worst part was how you hear this coming, screaming up in the background, and then BLAM-O...followed by perfect silence. It happens so fast you can barely even see it, and then just instant silence. That silence was the worst part as an observer.

edit - I'm pretty sure it was the one at 7:02 in the video, but it might possibly have been the one at 3:13. I know it was a left-hander coming off the straight. There wasn't a piece of that bike bigger than your fist remaining, and it fragged a bunch of spectators in all directions too.

The other thing which always surprises me at IoM is how much contact there is. These guys trade paint almost as much as the NASCAR boys do, but on a bike. When you see 3-4 of them bunched up together, someone is knocking into someone else on almost every curve. You'd think, at those speeds, any contact at all would send a rider down, but not there. It's survival of the fittest!