LEWIS HAMILTON’S two-wheeled aspirations are no secret, he’s been ambassador to Italian brand MV Agusta for some time now and has even had special edition bikes produced in his name.
And as reported on Visordown last week, he even went as far as a test with the Cresent World Superbike Team, aboard what is alleged to have been a full-fat, 200+bhp, WSBK spec machine.
Well now, Michael van der Mark, who was on track with Hamilton has spoken to motosport.com about how he tried to get Hamilton to “go a bit slower” as the five-time champ had all the speed and, apparently, no style.
He went on to say, “Lewis already did two track days on his bike [before this test] and the people of his team were a little bit concerned because of his speed.
“He was very fast, but he didn’t have a riding style. He had lots of lean angle, so the initiative came a bit from his team that he'd get a few tips from professionals.
“On the first day, I was only trying to make him go a bit slower. I had to stop him, he’s not afraid at all and he tried to take corners as fast as with his car.”
When pushed on how competitive Hamilton would be if he made a full-time switch to bike racing, the 2018 third-place finisher was coy but did say: “He’s not afraid at all. You also see that he doesn’t have any doubt, you see a lot of riders who have a little doubt, but he’s going all the way if he decides to do it that way.
“He has only ridden four days now and he was about seven seconds slower than us. With that, he’s faster than most other track day riders.”
So, there you have it, whether you like it or not, Lewis Hamilton is probably quicker than you at a trackday – unless of course you actually believe that you could get closer than seven seconds to Mickey van der Mark and Alex Lowes coattails…
I thought not.
What do you think to Hamilton’s escapades on bikes? Let us know in the comments below.
