Professional racers, a cut above?

[Tim85]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoX8irfbBA&fe...

Watch from 3 mins in. If you can do that on a bike for fun then your a cut above the rest! Peter hickman on a trackday

[MC Bodge]

LoonR1 said:

MC Bodge said:

Good grief, Joe Burns is quick. Braking harder and carrying much more speed than the rest.

Which bike are you riding?

Exactly, the camera still doesn't show just how quick and sideways the bike is. I'm on an S1000.

That 675 does quite well, but your bike clears off down the straight.

As an armchair observer, it also appears that the normal folks don't tip their bikes over anywhere near as quickly as the racers. This is in-keeping with what Twist of the Wrist 2 says about leaning the bike over fast.

It must take some bravery at the speed that Joe burns is travelling at though.

[gwm]

It's got to be the lack of fear. Practice I'd say anyone could be good, but the top racers either have an inherent knowledge of how much they can push it, or don't have the fear that they might crash.

[MC Bodge]

gwm said:

It's got to be the lack of fear. Practice I'd say anyone could be good, but the top racers either have an inherent knowledge of how much they can push it, or don't have the fear that they might crash.

It will be a combination of the two.

Top racers will have found (and exceeded) the limit and been able to ride consistently close to it. Most people will not be able maintain 'close to the limit' consistently enough to stay on the bike whilst riding extremely fast.

[curlie467]

Tim85 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdoX8irfbBA&fe...

Watch from 3 mins in. If you can do that on a bike for fun then your a cut above the rest! Peter hickman on a trackday

Enjoyed that!

[SteelerSE]

I remember a program about Damon Hill once and I think that a lot of this is about the way that these guys are wired. Damon Hill said that he has to go to that extra level (and beyond) to get the adrenalin rush that normal people do. For some people that comes from winning but for many they just don't have that buzz until they're genuinely on the edge.

If you watch the Speed with Guy Martin program all he wants to do is go fast. He's aware that it will hurt if comes off but is adamant that there's no fear of it, though he did acknowledge that if he had kids that might slow him down.

I'm sure practice and the opportunity are big factors but for that x factor for the top guys I think that it's something they're born with that allows them/forces them to go further than most people either could or would.