Huh?

[stomachmonkey]

[sand_man]

^^^Yeah I think I remember seeing that posted on one of our Pelican MotoGP threads a while back! Hilarious!

[Neilk]

So is that basically like Lewis Hamilton driving a regular 911 while everyone around him has a GT3RS that they don't know what do with?

[flipper35]

Interesting handle bars and he looks tall on that bike.

[VINMAN]

Pretty impressive!

[sammyg2]

A speedway rider, on a speedway bike, on a 1/4 mile speedway track, racing against bikes designed for other types of tracks (road-race, dirt track).

Watching those road race bikes on that short track is like watching an F1 car go around streets of willow.

[GH85Carrera]

I was watching the show on NBC called Drive. One of the writers was in Germany and went go-cart racing against a 6 year kid. The kid was way faster. He said it was very weird getting cornering and late braking tips from a kid too young to use real scissors.

[sand_man]

His overall "form" and that dang football player meets axe murderer suit makes it even sweeter!!! If Herman Munster were a speedway racer...

[ckissick]

Pee Wee Herman got a motorbike!

[sammyg2]

Dunno if anyone has ever tried to ride a real short-track speedway bike, but they are pure evil with a capital E.

500cc single cylinder 4 stroke, with crazy high compression ratio, burning alcohol and direct drive (no transmission). They weigh about 170 pounds wet.

The ultimate in torque.

I tried riding a jawa once at saddleback mountain on the old TT track.
Flipped it once which was not hard to do. Incredible torque and instant throttle response and gearing from hell.

I got it going in a straight line easy enough but could not control the slide at all.

Finally learned the trick, a bike like that must be ridden in anger. You gotta be hard on the throttle to keep the tire spinning to maintain the slide.
I eventually got it to slide a little but was never smooth.
Did I mention they can do 80 mph in a slide and have no brakes?

It looked kinda like this one:

[wdfifteen]

^^
I was in a grocery store parking lot and saw a trailer with a couple of bikes similar to that. They were more sparse - really looked like heavy duty bicycles with small engines. No fenders, a higher frame, no suspension, and no fairing on the wheels. They were clearly meant for racing, and I wondered what kind of racing they were for.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Dunno if anyone has ever tried to ride a real short-track speedway bike, but they are pure evil with a capital E.

500cc single cylinder 4 stroke, with crazy high compression ratio, burning alcohol and direct drive (no transmission). They weigh about 170 pounds wet.

The ultimate in torque.

I tried riding a jawa once at saddleback mountain on the old TT track.
Flipped it once which was not hard to do. Incredible torque and instant throttle response and gearing from hell.

I got it going in a straight line easy enough but could not control the slide at all.

Finally learned the trick, a bike like that must be ridden in anger. You gotta be hard on the throttle to keep the tire spinning to maintain the slide.
I eventually got it to slide a little but was never smooth.

It looked kinda like this one:

Yeah, I tried riding a buddy's speedway bike back in the early '80's when I was still stupid enough to think I could. These things reward full commitment and punish fear with an uncommon ruthlessness. There are no half measures, or carefully feeling them out, inching your way up on it. No way. The only way not to get hurt is to ride it like you stole it from the first twist of the throttle. Anything less and it will just flick you like a booger... "Next..."

[911boost]

The handlebars on the one in the video make it look hard enough to ride..... coupled with Sammy and Jeff's thoughts, fffffffff that!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Yeah, I tried riding a buddy's speedway bike back in the early '80's when I was still stupid enough to think I could. These things reward full commitment and punish fear with an uncommon ruthlessness. There are no half measures, or carefully feeling them out, inching your way up on it. No way. The only way not to get hurt is to ride it like you stole it from the first twist of the throttle. Anything less and it will just flick you like a booger... "Next..."

LOL I bet you still looked better at it than I did.
Afterward when I got to the pits my friends were calling me spaz. but at a tad over 6'2" it really wasn't made for someone my size. That was my excuse that they laughed at.
But your description is spot on, it's almost like the rider needs to dominate the bike.

I remember the days when Bruce Penhall was racing at costa mesa every weekend, he made it seem so darn easy.

[sammyg2]

[sammyg2]

This is from costa mesa, it's am 1/8th mile track so the speeds are way down, but it's very technical.
Skill and technique wins.
I was there than night:

[sammyg2]

Told ya these bikes ARE EVIL:

[John Rogers]

To throw in my two cents...….HP and hi revs impress the girls, but torque wins the races!

[looneybin]

And to REALLY make it fun
Put studs in the tires and do it on ice

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by looneybin

And to REALLY make it fun
Put studs in the tires and do it on ice

That there's just crazy talk mister!