One of the things that has presented the steepest learning curve for a life-long car only enthusiast is figuring our the madness that is motorcycle land speed racing. There's a massive array of classes, engines, and chassis that riders use. Entertainment value from 50cc all the way up to the big, hairy turbo bikes is high and with each meet I find myself learning a little more about these neat machines. In this video we ride along with Joe Heffernan with the awesomely named FoilHat Racing crew as he rips down to the fastest 500cc mile pass ever at a shade above 185mph.
The most interesting thing about this video is watching Heffernan deal with a crossing headwind at speed. Having seen many motorcycles come through the traps with some "lean", it is a completely different thing to actually see what that looks like from the driver's perspective. Wow does it look creepy! Joe kept the throttle pinned wide open on this run and you can actually see the digital dash reporting the RPM and speed of the motorcycle as it streaks down course.
This is a fun rider's eye view of what it is like to tackle the course on a motorcycle!
