Caught doing 205mph!

[Mon Ami Mate]

www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-09-21-speeder_x.htm

20 years old, no licence or insurance!

[jeremyadamson]

Oof. Me thinks this guy will be spending some time in one of the pentagon's luxury hotels.....

J.

[Cooperman]

Good job he wasn't in a hurry then!!!!!!!!

[Marki]

"Kathy Swanson of the state Office of Traffic Safety said unless Tilley was wearing the kind of protective gear professional motorcycle racers wear, he was courting death at 200 mph. "


No shit Sherlock

[philthy]

200mph is very easy to say, and very hard to do. Unless this bike is tuned nicely, I doubt it. Plenty of room for error clicking a stopwatch in less than five seconds.
Sensationalism at it's best, no doubt he was going fast, but 200MPH!!!!
BTW, how fast do light aircraft fly?
Phil

[TheExcession]

philthy said:

200mph is very easy to say, and very hard to do. Unless this bike is tuned nicely, I doubt it. Plenty of room for error clicking a stopwatch in less than five seconds. Sensationalism at it's best, no doubt he was going fast, but 200MPH!!!! BTW, how fast do light aircraft fly? Phil

I remember an article in Bike magazine from many years ago when they put a ZZR1100 up against a Cesna (I think).

The commentary from the rider went along the lines of "I was holding pace with the plane and even beginning to gain alittle when I noticed it wasn't on the ground any more. One look forward confirmed my greatest fears, we were out of runway! One touch on the front brake and the wheel locked, the bike disappeared from under me..."


Apparently he walked away from the incident with only a few bruises, the bike was remarkable unscathed too, broken mirror and some chaffing to the fairing.

IIRC the bike hit a top speed of about 182 mph.

ohh how we did chortle...

best
Ex


>> Edited by TheExcession on Wednesday 22 September 16:08

[aww999]

I've seen videos of guys road racing in the states and some of the roads out there make our runways look like B-roads. 5 mile+ visibility with no junctions or other traffic, perfect opportunity to wind it out. The video of the twin-turbo Viper vs a pack of modded Busas springs to mind, awesome stuff! No denying this is very fast and there are risks involved, but only for the rider concerned if this road was anything like the ones I'm thinking of.

[philthy]

Ahem..........
I onced chased a copter full of military types towards an army base. I'd slowed down because I heard the chopper "popping". Whats the first thought that goes thrrough your head at those sort of speeds?.....yeah, nine nine is above me. After sighing a breath of relief, I opened her up again. Seeing the loadie hanging out of the door, getting his mate to "come and look at whats catching us" amused me no end.
This was of course "abroad" where it was perfectly legal.
And of course the copter was doing less than 70...........
Phil

[Mr E]

philthy said:

200mph is very easy to say, and very hard to do. Unless this bike is tuned nicely, I doubt it. Plenty of room for error clicking a stopwatch in less than five seconds. Sensationalism at it's best, no doubt he was going fast, but 200MPH!!!! BTW, how fast do light aircraft fly? Phil

This is a valid point. Paralax errors and human reaction times could skew that figure significantly.

What's clear is that the bike wasn't hanging about.

[Mad Dave]

It would take huge mods to achieve that speed surely? Also, the remarks about protective gear are bullshit - surely the gear protects racers at that speed because of a distinct lack of road furniture - coming off on the road at 200mph is going to hurt, big time, regardless of protective gear!

[Cooperman]

I have a buddy in the States who is into serious air racing. What he does make this seem quite tame. He just did a lap at Reno National Air Races at 349.6 mph in his Sports Class 2/3rd replica Mustang at an altitude of between 50ft and 100ft.
Maybe we should all try flying - my old Tiger Moth used to cruise at 65 knots and that's faster than we can drive on UK roads.

[philthy]

Cooperman, you've done something I long to do.
OK I've left the ground occasionaly (A350 Semington , but not for long enough.
Phil

[bryan35]

Old Flying Haggis at the TT's clocked 190mph on a bike.
He had a camera on the front as well.
Apparently the technique to driving on country roads at that speed is to 'aim for the grey bit between the green bits'

The friction moment must be almost horizontal on a bike at that speed!

[towman]

Cooperman said:

Reno National Air Races

Went a couple of years ago - awesome sight. Beats motorsport as a spectacle.

Steve

[xxplod]

The Piper PA38 that I fly can do about 100mph. 200 mph can be achieved by a small single engined piston plane, but it would have to be quite a powerful one. I'd gues with an engine of 250hp plus. Modern twins can exceed 200mph, but you need quite big wallet to afford to fly one for pleasure.

[IOLAIRE]

It's been a few years since I did any biking in this country but I would find that hard to believe from a Honda 1000. But if this guy tuned it to do this the Honda works team should bail him and give him a job!!
How many of you bikers think that's possible?

[supraman2954]

What shocks me was that he let himself be caught, he must have known that his future is pretty much buggered at that point.

If he really was doing +200MPH on an empty road, plod can't catch him unless they positioned their cars to try and kill him, which they don't (do they?).

[rsvmilly]

supraman2954 said:

What shocks me was that he let himself be caught, he must have known that his future is pretty much buggered at that point. If he really was doing +200MPH on an empty road, plod can't catch him unless they positioned their cars to try and kill him, which they don't (do they?).

I don't know. Watching these ubiquitous American pusuit shows, the cops seem pretty quick to run the criminals off the road.

[rsvmilly]

Cooperman, my dad learned to fly in a Tiger Moth. Don't still have it do you?

[Streetcop]

My Father had the record for shooting down the most German planes in one single day...

Trouble was, the year was 1964 and he was sentenced to life imprisonment...

Street