Is there anything Peter Hickman can’t do on a motorcycle?
A seasoned British Superbike Championship rider and race winner, Macau GP winner and all round top fellow. Oh, and he is the fastest rider to lap the Mountain Course at the Isle of Man TT at a brisk 135mph.
Indeed, Hickman has become the modern day road racing sensation, applying his short track skills to the roads with aplomb, hoovering up countless titles, but it is his exploits at the TT that has turned him from a BSB fan favourite into a global superstar.
Naturally, the TT is considered the most fearsome, challenging and notorious motorcycle racing event in the world, so much so that merely completing it without issue or injury is a huge achievement in itself, much less winning and breaking records.
Of course, we have been deprived of TT action for two years now as a result of the strict lockdown measures imposed by the Isle of Man government, and we’re still 10 months away from the planned 2022 event getting underway as well.
So in the meantime, our sister publication Crash.net has very helpfully reminded us just how insane the TT is with this video posted to Hickman’s ‘Hicky60’ YouTube channel showing a lap aboard a BMW HP4 that was factory-fresh and had completed 0 miles.
So what better way to break it in by pinning the throttle out of the box on the 37.739 mile Snaefell Mountain Course… obviously.
What makes this even more ‘in the moment’ is the addition of a ‘chin cam’ giving you a very accurate view of the speed, fine edges and forces that the route takes, almost as though you were watching it through his wide, adrenaline-fuelled pupils.
Admittedly the video was posted back in February (apologies for our tardiness) but we surmise there is never NOT a good reason to post on-board TT laps, so here you go. Enjoy!
The caption below the video reads:
▻ The bike was brand new the day before with 0 miles on it (the engine was run in on a dyno)
▻ This is Lap 2 of the 2 demo laps that I did on the BMW HP4 Race - I had never ridden it before.
▻ The start of the lap is steady - it is a demo lap after all!
▻ The sunlight is very low as the lap is done late in the evening after the sidecar practice - when the sun blocks the camera it’s exactly how I see it too, i.e I’m flying blind sometimes - notice at Greeba Bridge I need to sit the bike up as I can't see the apex/wall!
▻ I look down at my left foot at Glen Helen twice, this was because my foot had slipped off the peg, I was checking for oil - there wasn’t any.
▻ There are “slippery surface” flags showing at Milntown through to Schoolhouse corner, which is why I’m slow through this section.
▻ On the mountain mile I slow down very early because I see the Yellow flag waving ahead, you never know what these flags mean but they are a warning, so I slow down, normally I would still be flat out past where the sidecar is parked up on the side of the road!
▻ A lot of the wheelies are because I’m just having fun!
▻ The lap speed was 118mph average - 19 mins and 9 secs… just think how the 135mph looked at 16 mins 42 secs….
