On the Road

Did you know that speed regulating strips are dangerous?

Yep, you know the kind, those more numerous, shorter versions of the ’sleeping policeman’ (more like a sleeping Gordon Sumner I say. Inside joke, prizes for guessing.) that make you talk funny:

“Hey Jim, what kind of fa-uh-uh-uh-uh-ah-ah…”

Evidence? Last Sunday’s MotoGP race at Donington Park, England, the race winner being not Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo or Valentino Rossi but the second Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso. It was raining lightly at, as it so often is in England, but not so heavy as to warrant rain tyres i.e. a rider’s worst nightmare.

Lorenzo and Toni Elias were challenging for the lead at one point in time but were taken down by white lines on the track kerbing.

Advanced riding clinics often tell riders to avoid these white lines because they’re far more slippery than concrete. And with two postcard-sized patches being all the contact a bike has with the road, losing traction even for a split second is disastrous.

It also highlights another factor about circuit racing (take note wannabe motorcycle street racers): it’s safer than riding on the street. Rossi himself has said he doesn’t dare hop on a scooter and pop down to the shops for stuff because on the road, a rider has far less control over other factors than he would on a circuit. And Rossi echoes the sentiments of other top-level bike racers. They might do 290km/h in a race, but not even 0km/h on the road!

Watch the line Vale!

And avoiding white lines isn’t just advice for bikers either. In wet conditions (or even dry ones) sometimes all that’s needed for a complete loss of traction is an initial upset – which white lines can provide.

But while white lines are a possible danger, speeding will put in a lot more trouble than you can get out of a lot quicker than they can, so above all, ride or drive with a cool head and stay safe.

Tags: Donington, MotoGP, Rossi, safety, traction, white lines

I actually didn’t plan to write about Formula One again but the unexpected victory of Mark Webber I simply had to mention. I’ve always preferred to support underdogs, those whom circumstances rather than skill let down – Kimi Raikkonen before his ‘07 championship was another.

130 GPs is a long time to wait for victory (a new record too, if I’m not wrong) and Webber fully deserves it. Watching him overcome a drive-through penalty and have a little luck fall his way via people impeding Barrichello had me off my seat for the first time this season.

On the subject of firsts though, I also want to talk about my first urban spin in a plug-in electric vehicle, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV – you can read more about it in this weekend’s Speed pages.

It’s basically a version of the Mitsubishi i city car powered by a big lithium ion battery, recharged by plugging into a wall socket. Nifty. Find out more about it here (along with cute paper craft models for the deft of hand).

While I’ve tried out fuel-cell and plug-in electric vehicles before, I’ve never done so in real life conditions or for anything longer than a spin around the block.

I don’t want to repeat too much of what I said, but the bottom line is the i-MiEV is great fun to drive despite the fact that the batteries run out very quickly (it took me only 70km to go from 3/4 til a recharge reminded popped up, quoted range is 160km).

Complete non-pollution aside, my mind couldn’t stop thinking what if I got stranded by the road with no juice left since you can’t siphon a charge like gasoline.

Problems like these (and how flat-dwellers will charge their EVs) is what the recently set-up government task force is working on.

But even with those surmounted, some argue that EVs merely shift the load from burning fuel on the spot to power stations – if electricity isn’t cleanly produced then it’s still polluting in the end.

Until mankind masters cold fusion or something, there won’t be a magic bullet for energy issues. So despite the appeal of EVs, petrol-heads needn’t worry as the internal combustion engine will be around as part of future mobility options for a long time to come.

Tags: electric cars, i, Mitsubishi MiEV, Webber

Of course there never is really any resolution to arguments like these. It’s like arguing whether Schumacher or Senna was the better world champ – there might never be a definitive answer but getting there is half the fun.

But here are my two reasons as to why two-wheels are better than four:

1. Skill is required to survive

To put it rather brutally, in order to enjoy a long and safe riding career you need to have lots of luck and lots of skill because if you don’t, you’ll have to give up riding, whether by choice (scare the bejeezus out of yourself) or circumstance (accident, or death).

Everyone runs out of luck sooner or later, while most people get more skilled the more they ride. Skill lets you avoid the accidents you can anticipate, which is 95 percent of them. Luck (and safety gear) lets you survive the ones you can’t.

So by way of survival of the fittest, the average biker is inherently more skilled than the average driver.

2. Bikers usually want to improve

Read any motorcycle magazines lately?

If you do, you’ll notice tag lines like these: ‘Ride better today’, ‘Better cornering in 10 easy steps’, ‘Ride like Rossi – we show you how’. This isn’t just for racing bravado, most motorcyclists are aware of point number one, and actively try to improve their skills. When’s the last time you tried to actively improve your driving skills?

I could go on but I’m aiming to keep this post short. The important thing to take away though, is that driving and riding are both skills that can be improved daily by applying yourself no matter who you are or what you drive.

Try it. It could save your life, or someone else’s some day.

But to lay rest to the argument, Senna was the better champion and getting there is more always more fun on a bike.

Tags: motorcycling, road safety, skills