Jeff Balazs Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 Hey All; I don't know if any of you are interested but the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races are on this week. In my opinion this is the greatest motor racing event in the world. If you have never watched it check it out. Amazing stuff. Yesterday an electric powered motorcycle did a 37 mile lap of the Isle at an average speed of just under 120 mph. Today is the Senior TT and it will be brilliant! Jeff Quote
mattimuss Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 I love watching IOM racing. You have to have some huge, brass ones to take part in that insanity! When I was young, and slightly dumber, I used to race. My dream was to run the IOM. Oh well, guess I can still put it on my "bucket list"... Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 My dream was to run the IOM. Oh well, guess I can still put it on my "bucket list"... and they will probably ship you home...in that bucket....get one with a lid... few good events still out there... Quote
Don Coatney Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 In my youth I did a lot of TT (Tavern to Tavern) racing. Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 12, 2015 Report Posted June 12, 2015 all my adventures were TT (tim terrific) Quote
Mlindblom Posted June 13, 2015 Report Posted June 13, 2015 My two year old has been glued to the tv when it's on. I think it's a good sign that I sold the motorcycle for the plymouth. Quote
61farnham Posted June 15, 2015 Report Posted June 15, 2015 Best road racing event on the planet. My bosses son is good friends with James Hillier who was racing for the Quattro Plant Kawasaki Team, he got himself 3 podiums with his best being a 2nd in the Senior TT with a fastest lap of 132.5 mph only 0.3 off the lap record, large brass ones are definitely required. Quote
greg g Posted June 15, 2015 Report Posted June 15, 2015 I caught some of the super bike stuff. Some pretty amazing riding and some lurid crashes and slides. I think the side car guys are completely, certifiable, industrial strength bonkers!!!!!! 2 Quote
Jeff Balazs Posted June 16, 2015 Author Report Posted June 16, 2015 Glad some of you enjoyed this event. IOM TT is a true spectacle and I love the course and the history & tradition that makes it so special. Oddly enough a few of the Sidecar racers don't actually have huge brass ones. At least two women raced this year. One as the passenger in her Dad's outfit and another as the pilot of a rig. Gotta love that! Jeff Quote
Ulu Posted June 16, 2015 Report Posted June 16, 2015 Hillier hits way over 200 MPH at IOM... Watch the digital speedo jump from 150 to 200 faster than you can say it. 1 Quote
Dave72dt Posted June 16, 2015 Report Posted June 16, 2015 I suffered through a couple minutes of it the other night and then turned the channel. Sorry guys, just can't get into the bikes! Quote
Jeff Balazs Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Posted June 17, 2015 I am sorry too, but honestly your loss Dave For some of us bikes will always be more exciting. Here is one of my all time favorites. The first of the true superbikes........ and circa 1939. The supercharged watercooled AJS 500 DOHC V-4. Equipped with a Zoeller supercharger, anodized magnesium casings and wire wound pistons. It's racing career was cut short by WW2 but in that brief period it was the first bike to lap a road race course at over 100 mph. Jeff Quote
Todd B Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 I have always driven Harleys and my bagger tops out at 95 MPH. A few years ago a friend stopped in with a crotch rocket and I asked him if I could take it for a spin. I have never driven anything from a snowmobile, boat, car or truck that I haven't had to see how fast it goes. WELL, I speed shifted the first three gears of his bike and the front tire just floated above the ground. I was going for fourth and looked down to see I was doing 130 MPH. I suddenly backed off and turned around at the corner. Did it one more time, and again chickened out at 130. I still had 2 more gears to go but couldn't do it. Watching these videos made my hair stand up. I now think I have very little balls. These guys are insane. Thanks for sharing!!! 1 Quote
Todd B Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 I asked my wife to check, yep, very little 1 Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) it is not the fact that they are small...it is the fact you wish to keep them properly bagged and secured......I loved the first three gears in my bike...and would place me right in that need for speed realm at which time I would back it off and go into overdrive...I gave up my bikes two years ago..figured I was so far ahead of the game not to push it anymore... Edited June 17, 2015 by Plymouthy Adams Quote
Jeff Balazs Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Posted June 17, 2015 I have always driven Harleys and my bagger tops out at 95 MPH. A few years ago a friend stopped in with a crotch rocket and I asked him if I could take it for a spin. I have never driven anything from a snowmobile, boat, car or truck that I haven't had to see how fast it goes. WELL, I speed shifted the first three gears of his bike and the front tire just floated above the ground. I was going for fourth and looked down to see I was doing 130 MPH. I suddenly backed off and turned around at the corner. Did it one more time, and again chickened out at 130. I still had 2 more gears to go but couldn't do it. Watching these videos made my hair stand up. I now think I have very little balls. These guys are insane. Thanks for sharing!!! Speed like that is a young mans game. I am too far past it to do anything like that these days. But I have fond memories of my old Commando and the ride to the Colorado river on an empty Rice Road. Watching the boy's rocket off the jumps at IOM reminded me of catching air on those amazing desert whoopty dos. And to think all I had on was flip flops, a pair of shorts and a tank top...... OMG the 70's really were a crazy time. Jeff Quote
Don Coatney Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 I recall once on my Norton cresting a small hill at 80MPH at full throttle and pulling a wheelie. On my Honda 750CB I would take unsuspecting ladies I was dating for a ride. At about 100MPH I would have them look over my shoulder at the speedometer. It was pleasurable to feel them hang on tighter. I sold my last motorcycle in 1993. I figured that 25 years of riding without a crash was enough. Quote
greg g Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 two kinds of people ride motorcycles, those who have already crashed, and those who are about to. That was 20 years ago, the about to odds have changed to much in favor of the idiots for me to venture on the road on two wheels and a motor. Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 my friend rides...has wrecked more times than I care to imagine..he still rides...he laid in the hospital one time for about 10 days and did not know who what when or where...still rides...I cannot justify it myself...to many distracted drivers on the highways these days..matter of fact last time we rode together I was to meet him at TWO in north Georgia for the cruise home..he laid it down in a curve that morning...my wife quit riding her bike earlier and that took most of the fun out of riding for me.. .today, out of most riders...only about 3 out of ten seem to display any regard to safety or rules of the road... Quote
Ulu Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 I'm on my 7th motorcycle. All Jap or Italian marques though. No HDs or Brit machines yet. I'm no Iron Butt, but I've been a bike commuter, gone across July deserts, over the Rockies in a December snowstorm, over the High Sierra in a May lightning storm, and down the freeway with the throttle pinned as often as possible. I've been off the low side, the high side, off the back, over the bars, and upside down on a hill climb with the bike on top of me. Never did an endo.... Also I never broke anything or had any serious roadrash. Mainly that's just luck. Hell we never even wore helmets unless it was cold out. But I love the evil things and always will. I had a bike that did almost 140 once & I remember racing my friend's 454 Chevy, all of us drunk, with my future wife on the bike, beating me on the back with her fists yelling, "Slow down!" I remember riding until I fell asleep on the bike while going 60. Sobriety was always optional & In those days I was INSANE! Now I have a cushy chrome-plated touring bike that barely does 110 & weighs a ton, so no racing around like some 1% anymore for me. Also sobriety is the rule now, and I note also that I haven't had a "get off" in about 40 years now. My sister posing on my 3rd bike, a '71 Yamaha 180. Current bike, a 2004 Kawi Nomad 1500cc Quote
Ulu Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) Oh, man...here's a photo from the old hippy days. that KZ900 was my 4th bike. Of course I taught my daughters to ride early on. Edited June 17, 2015 by Ulu Quote
T120 Posted June 17, 2015 Report Posted June 17, 2015 Oh, man...here's a photo from the old hippy days. that KZ900 was my 4th bike. Of course I taught my daughters to ride early on. KZ9.jpg ...Good man. Quote
Jeff Balazs Posted June 18, 2015 Author Report Posted June 18, 2015 Ok since we have gone in other directions.....a slighty younger version of me on my mighty Maico 400 GP circa 1974 or 1975. Topped out at around 70 and it got there real quick. Jeff 1 Quote
Ulu Posted June 18, 2015 Report Posted June 18, 2015 Wow...Back then a Maico was like an exotic to me. I used to see a few, living on an air force base. the Puch, the Ossa, the Bultacos...The Jawa was one I lusted after. Also the Suzi X6 Hustler which I actually got to ride & shoulda bought for $150. Nowdays I'm sorta dreaming about a KTM... 1 Quote
Todd B Posted June 18, 2015 Report Posted June 18, 2015 I broke my neck in a very drunken state crash 8 years ago and I still drive, now I am smarter. I cant say its from crashing, I think age woke me up more. I still think the guys who run the Isle race are nuts. In my prime I don't think I would have pushed it that hard.. Its on my bucket list to go there and watch. Quote
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