Opinions - The similarity between motorcycle racers and fighter pi...

Imagine yourself enclosed in a bubble cabin, cramped up on all sides and hardly place to move your head around, let alone your body. In front of you is an array of instruments, all beeping and showing various pieces of information. Everything outside of you is a deep blue and there are no boundaries anywhere. All of this, from within the enclosed bubble is somewhat crazy to behold, and yet, magnificent at the same time.

Now imagine all this, while hurtling through the sky at atleast Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. Everything is a blur at these speeds, but for you, inside your glass bubble, it is all in slow motion. The slightest input to the joystick, makes monumental shifts in scenery and feel, and yet, everything feels under control. An easy feeling.

And imagine a dogfight. Nerves tensing, hearts pounding maybe, yet the mind works calmly and methodically. It is a time when quick reactions are for losers. Response is vital. Not reactions. A ‘response’ is more thought-out. It’s takes into account information from our conscious and unconscious mind, balancing it all and weighing everything up. A response considers the longer-term events

Fighter pilots plan their emergencies long before it ever happens. It is how their brains have to work to ensure they survive to fly another day.

Now, motorcycle racers are somewhat similar. Because motorcycle racing is more battle sport, and riders have to be smart enough to think their way through the track layout, determine where they will make their pass so it can stick. Of course, the initial reactions if another racer passes you is to pass straight back at the very next corner, but more often the overtake will come a couple of corners further, because it is all about holding the line when you make the pass. This is a response to an external event and is well thought of. Racers plan their moves long before the move happens. It is how their brains work to ensure they win again.

A motorcycle is very similar to an aircraft, with very similar dynamics. Motorcycle racing at a very high level is basically flying on the ground. A motorcycle comes in, pitches into a corner, gets to 60 degrees of lean, there's two gravities going down through the tyre. That's exactly the same as of any aircraft when it pitches into a turn, and there's two gravities working against the wing, trying to tear it off.

It is actually no surprise that many of the early motorcycle racing pioneers were fighter pilots and aces from the second world war.

Making very few mistakes is one of the defining qualities of a motorcycle racer. They have a strong sense of self-preservation and an over-weaning confidence in their own ability. They are human then, but human of a rare type. Motorcycle racers have extraordinary hand-eye coordination, their cool heads in a fight, the combination of extreme discipline, dedication, training and testing, and the willingness to risk it all when the moment demands it.

Motorcycle racers are similar to fighter pilots. It is as simple as that.

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