some regular names there and Inwas wrong about Rae, didn’t think he did other racing but he’s in 3rd in team with Haslam. Brad Ray pushing on too https://www.fimewc.com/live-timing/
F*cking wow! Best on board footage I think I’ve ever seen. Just shows how violent it is to ride one of these top superbikes at world class race pace.
It's awesome, and very very very humid... Endurance racers are a breed apart, they make F1, WSB and MGP riders look like spoilt little children. The mental endurance is staggering, and you have to be able to go faster than fast for a full race distance, get off, rehydrate, get back on, go balls out fast again, and repeat. The battle for them is getting enough fluid through them before the next stint, it's not uncommon for a second set of leathers to be hitched to a blower so they can change as theirs will be wringing wet. Did I mention how humid it is? The bikes themselves are engineering marvels as well. They're designed to have lots of sacrificial break points. Endurance teams don't have the money of MGP or WSB, even Yamaha endurance or SERT backed teams. Saving the frame and engine is paramount, once that's gone it's game over, pack up and go home. Everything is engineered to be hot swappable, so the bars will be easy break with bar assemblies in their entirety on the shelf in the garage waiting to be swapped - one bolt at the bar, clutch slave/ caliper dry breaks and QD throttle cables. The captive engineering on the swingarms is a work of art as well, so much so that it's just as quick to swap out a wheel on a bifurcated arm as it is on an SSA now. The front end also has lots of trick stuff like calipers that swing free of the tyre when you unload the axle pin. Cut back front mudguards for the win as well to allow for tyre swap outs. Three good points of impact on the frame incase it goes down to save the chassis, and you engineer in decent hard wearing energy absorbing alloys rather than the fragile stuff WSB and MGP stuff is crafted from. Survival takes precedence over weight in this case. You almost engineer the bike with a crash survival cell mentality. And that's before we've got into the realms of ultra trick quick release cylinder heads and engine mounting strategies. I know a guy that's heavily involved in endurance racing, truly inspirational listening to him talking about the machines. He did suzuka this year, and yes... it was still stupidly humid!
oh and when I finally am in the position to build the 999, it'll be endurance inspired Oh and suzuka - classic works racers with single offset lamp are very cool
I cannot wait for this! ^ Endurance lookers are mega and I cannot agree more. a SERT-inspired GSX-R would be a thing of beauty to own and every so often I enjoy a small reverie about this. Illuminated race numbers... oof.
I do look at the QR stuff for wheels, and baulk at the price. Seems mega expensive for what is a couple of billet brackets
