From the movie Grand Prix "Whenever I see a really horrible crash I put my foot down HARD because I know the others will be lifting" Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport. It's always been dangerous. As long as there are men willing to take these risks, we should let them. No one was forced to ride bike at 200 MPH in the aisle of Man. They wanted to. NOW, if it were three spectators killed, I'd feel the opposite. I don't think anyone goes to a sporting event with the idea they may not come home alive.
F1 is still dangerous. If you look at Alonso's crash a few years ago he was darned lucky not to be seriously injured. Jules lost his life in what has to be considered just a freak accident and some poor track placement of a vehicle. When you look at Dale Earnheart's fatal crash, it looks no different than any other crash in Nascar. In fact, it looks tame. But it wasn't. Racing is dangerous. The human body has its limitations. What we hope for each week is no one is seriously hurt but all the time we know -- it can happen at any time. And so do the drivers.
To appreciate the TT races, you need to actually come and experience the atmosphere, big party atmosphere at night , bikers are a real friendly lot, police try to be very fair althrough we do get those with less talent than brains who think they can go quick on the mountain, they tend to see our hospital
Modern day gladiators and not much has changed since the lack of safety from early racing as you will still die when hitting unmovable objects. Remember when the early racers all had a good chance of dying on the track? Well it's the same here in modern times. Not to get too political, it will be banded one day. This is about the most brutal crash I have seen recorded during the TT. A fast, tragic, needless death. https://youtu.be/UtqQM8xhiVg Of the 250 or so that have died here, it would be interesting to see a map of the course showing where these occurred. I'm guessing they're in clusters.
+1000 I had this conversation with my therapist over my back injury (extreme sports) that will need therapy until I do to keep me functional. He asked me if I ever regreted the things I did. I said "No way. When I'm on my death bed, the last thing I want to be thinking is I wish I would have done that."
I saw that one a few years ago and didn't see it coming at all. I randomly came across a crash earlier today that was titled a TT crash but per comments it was from another track in Ireland....rider was Simon something. The crash happens off camera, you hear it, see the bike and then you see something blur past and smash into the wall. I freeze framed it and it's Simons limp body sliding past at a very high speed. Again from the comments people were telling the poster to take the video down as the family had been fighting to keep it off line. That may have been equally as brutal to watch as the moto fatality I witnessed first hand.
The local radio web site has a piece saying the present New York times is running an article about the TT, i hope it is balanced coverage
This year there were no spectators killed on the open road, althrough a few visited the hospital. The weather was not very good so that kept a lot of bikes off the circuit.
Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold much hope for balanced coverage of any issue with the ultra liberally-biased NYT.
Bringing politics into the issue certainly is going no where. Think the Mods would agree. However, bringing the business aspect into the issue must certainly be mentioned. These events, no matter where they are or how they are sanctioned, must be insured. This is much of the reason why we've seen great circuits watered down so much over the years. Once circuit insurers saw cars taking off and flipping off the track at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, for example, insurers went to great lengths to be sure that crowded spectator areas were protected with higher catch fencing, keeping photographers out of certain areas, etc. At Sebring, they moved the parking access across from the pits back perhaps ten or fifteen yards and erected high fences. This, it seems, wasn't enough as when NASCAR took over the Sebring lease, they also erected Speedway type catch fencing on top of both pit walls further restricting viewing for spectators. All this, despite the fact that no incidents involving cars or flying parts ever got into this area ever. When we see an event such as the TT where there are multiple fatalities annually, it would seem that the organizers would be risking a great deal of liability in the instances of riders and spectators being killed. These were headlines that were common from racing's beginnings up to the 1980s but not so much today. None of this reflects well on racing in general as the vast amount of public doesn't know one race from another. On a circuit as vast at the Isle of Man, it would be a monumental task to make the facility 100% safe and as noted, motorcycle racing is perhaps the most dangerous form of racing. So, the question is, how does this event keep going in light of what will certainly become public backlash in light of the multiple fatalities? BHW
I refuse to race at the Pittsburg Vintage race because of all of the light poles and other objects you can hit at half the speed these guys are going. Big kudo's to those riders who have bigger coconuts than most of us!
Simple. The general public doesn't know anything about it. I'd bet a ton of people on this forum have never even heard of it and they're all supposed to be car/racing fans. Racing fans have no problem with the circuit. All the riders know the risk and they chose to do it regardless. If we're going to cease activity based on death, then why are people still allowed to climb dangerous mountains? How many wing suit fliers have died? Hasn't hurt Red Bull sales. The danger is part of the attraction for the audience. People who don't like dangerous things, usually aren't aware of them.
The numerous casualties at the TT haven't brought any backlash. The TT is dangerous; everybody knows that. That's what makes it exiting and attractive. Riders from all over the world come to the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland to participate in REAL road racing. Every years there are fatalities; that comes with the nature of these races. You cannot compare road racing with circuit racing. Period. The TT is run on the Isle of Man that has its own rules, apart from British regulations.
Not wanting to trivialise your many thoughtful posts, this news article brought a smile today. Real Danger Mouse dices with death as motorbikes speed past at 193km/h - NZ Herald
