Commento del Pilota: David Jeffries on the Isle of Man TT

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This Commento del Pilota is delivered by the late David Jeffries.  A man of immense talent, Jeffries held the absolute lap record for the Isle of Man TT, and won the overall event nine times. 

In this commento, Jeffries details one lap of the Isle of Man TT course, a distance of 37.75 miles.  As you listen to his voice, imagine the cognitive power it takes to navigate this route at triple-digit speeds: you're taking an outrageously powerful machine to and beyond the limit while also anticipating what the conditions will be around the next corner, all based on your memory of the circuit, informed intuition based on miles of racing experience, and pure feel for the road.  As I look at this video, I couldn't imagine maintaining control of his motorcycle for even the first 30 seconds, let alone the almost twenty minutes it takes to complete a single lap.  Then imagine doing it for successive laps on end. 

Racing like this isn't about a crazy guy letting it rip on a bike.  What we see here is something akin to a highly-trained and exquisitely practiced concert pianist taking us through a Rachmaninoff sonato seamlessly, all from memory and without a single technical error or lapse of expression.  To go on a lap with Jeffries is to understand flow and its importance.  His life is on the line every foot and every second, and in the running, he is living.

Respect.

Comments

[Gen Kanai]

I've never been to the IoM TT, and would love to go someday, but there's no question that the IoM is a very dangerous course. Jeffries died doing what he loved, but as a result of human error (sadly not his own.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Jefferies

"Between 1907 and 2007 there have been 224 deaths during official practices or races on the Snaefell Mountain Course (this number includes the riders killed during Manx Grand Prix and the Clubman TT races)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_TT#Description

[Diego]

Thanks for those links, Gen. I'm glad to see that a Wikipedia page is being built up for Jeffries now.

I also wanted to thank Gareth for pointing me to this video in the first place.