Thrills And Spills

Newcastle Herald

Saturday September 1, 2007

BEN QUINN

The 49-year-old speed demon let's call him Brett was working his way through the gears on his Honda CBR 1000cc RR, watching the speedo rise effortlessly, thinking how invigorating it felt to be alive.

Then his lazy afternoon cruise through the country hit the skids in a big way.

The smooth road out the back of Dungog suddenly became a sticky minefield of freshly laid tar and gravel.

Skills can carry one only so far in such moments of impending disaster.

"I grabbed a handful of brake and had at least three stabs at correcting the bike," Brett recalls.

"There wasn't much I could do to stay on. I ended up writing the bike off and cracking my shoulder blade."

Was he deterred? Not a chance.

The father of three is typical of other devotees of "legal weapons" which are capable of doing up to three times more than the highest Australian speed limit.

When you fall off, you get straight back up and go again. Providing you can walk, of course.

But doesn't his wife worry?

"Doubt it," Brett laughs. "She's my ex."

Brett is a member of the Hunter Honda Riders Club, a group of men and women who run the gamut of ages and social backgrounds.

They head to Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney four times a year to push themselves and their machines to the limit.

Other times, on quiet country roads away from prying police eyes, they risk limb and licence in the search for the ultimate rush.

Brett has had his Honda pushing 150 kmh in first gear and clocked a top speed of 286 kmh down the straight at Eastern Creek.

"But you don't look down at the speedo too much when you're really cracking on," he says.

How does he respond to those people who will read this article and write him off as just another hoon who should think more about his three daughters and fellow road users before tempting fate?

"Around town you just don't speed," Brett replies.

"You're asking for trouble if you let loose in the city. That's why we go to the track to test ourselves in a relatively safe environment. Honestly, it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

"When you're in traffic you sit on the speed limit and do the right thing. I've never been booked, touch wood."

While Brett may be conscious of doing the right thing, there are plenty of road users who view the law with contempt.

Suzuki of Newcastle proprietor Graeme Boyd concedes he has clients with trigger wrists.

However, he quickly qualifies this statement by declaring that most of them know when to keep their powder dry.

One of Boyd's most popular products is the Suzuki Hayabusa, named after a Japanese falcon that can reach speeds in excess of 300 kmh.

When the Hayabusa first hit the streets in 1999 it was an unrestricted 1300cc model with a top speed of 347 kmh.

The new model is "restricted" to 299 kmh.

Spurred on by glossy images in everything from computer games to daredevil extremism such as the Ghost Rider series, the temptation for many can become too great.

Manufacturers are looking for whatever edge they can get on their competitors in a motorcycle market which has grown by an average of 15 per cent each year for the past five years.

"The biggest market, believe it or not, is 40-plus sport touring riders," Boyd says.

"We hardly sell any to younger riders. I don't think I've ever sold one to anyone under 30. It's definitely a grown-up motorcycle.

"It's not uncommon to hear of our Hayabusa customers losing their licence on Thunderbolt's Way . . . but you may struggle to find anyone who wants to admit it publicly.

"Having said that, the hoon stereotype is not a fair assumption. Yes, most people who own a high-performance motorcycle will speed at some stage, but they don't speed all the time and they don't speed where it's dangerous."

Hardened by tragedy after tragedy, police maintain the company line that no speeding is safe speeding.

They always come back to the same question: why impose speed limits on roads if there's no speed limits on machines?

There has been renewed focus on the issue since Alan and Judith Howle, both in their 70s, were killed on the Great Western Highway at St Marys on July 29.

Robert James Borkowski, 37, of the western Sydney suburb of Claremont Meadows, is facing four charges, including dangerous driving occasioning death.

NSW police chief Ken Moroney recently wrote an open letter to hoons in a bid to halt the carnage.

Moroney said negligent drivers should be forced to "hear the screams of the dying".

Road-safety campaigners find it nigh on impossible competing with such massive business investment and advertising clout.

Newcastle has been at the epicentre of the battle against speeding.

A recent Roads and Traffic Authority advertising campaign filmed on the streets of Carrington showed young men hooning in cars and young women flashing a bent little finger questioning the size of a certain part of their anatomy.

US law enforcers have joined the debate, urging Australian police to implement tough anti-hoon laws which have cut the number of illegal races and lowered the road toll.

Many US states have the power to seize cars, impose night curfews for minors, hand out higher fines and arrest drivers and spectators.

"This is what makes them stop when you destroy their cars," a California police spokesman was reported as saying.

"These young kids are scraping their money together to put into their main asset, and some of them break down when they see their car being crushed."

Such a law would no doubt act as a deterrent for young motorists and also customers at the top end of the luxury sports-car market.

Robert Lenton, sales executive from Kloster BMW, reports a steady trade in the M Series of V8 and V10 models which kick off around $150,000 and continue well beyond $250,000.

A quarter-of-a-million is a big outlay to have rusting away in a compacted cube on the front lawn.

"There's no limiters in Europe, but all the BMW sports models have a computerised stop at 250 kmh for Australian conditions," Lenton says.

"People who buy these cars can afford to travel to run them at their best. It's not uncommon for them to drive between South Australia and the Northern Territory, or at some of the race tracks around Australia.

"I've had the thrill of achieving 230 kmh down that long back straight at Sandown in some of our vehicles."

Lenton notes that the "petrol-head attitude" is alive and well in the Hunter.

Brad Host, who specialises in importing high-performance Japanese sports cars to The Toy Shop at Beresfield, says the local market is moving away from age-old passions, making the V8 "a bit of a dinosaur".

Host is concerned "knee-jerk" laws based on the American model would punish the majority of legal enthusiasts to weed out the minority of serial offenders.

He says people who spend up to $80,000 on a Nissan Skyline GTR are not your stereotypical "hat-backwards young hoodlum".

"Car nuts who love a high-performance vehicle are not generally the ones out there running amok. You find they really look after their cars," he says.

"Granted, there's heaps of idiots who frankly shouldn't be driving. They are dangerous to everyone on the road and they tar all enthusiasts with the same brush."

Host likens the situation with high-performance cars to the argument about banning firearms.

"Firearms aren't dangerous, people are dangerous. When they're used in a proper controlled environment there's no issue. The same applies with cars and bikes," he declares.

"Of course it's a tragedy when you see things like the elderly couple dying in Sydney, but there's frustration also because a lot of this is avoidable.

"When they used to have the speedway at Tomago the burnout competition used to get absolutely packed. Where are all those drivers letting off steam now?

"As it stands you have to travel to Eastern Creek or Wakefield Park near Goulburn to run your car or bike. Have a look at their websites they're booked out every single day for driver training, club meets or open days. Something like that is definitely needed around here."

A 52-year-old adrenaline hound let's call him The Italian was "a ratbag on pushbikes and rollerskates" long before getting his first motorcycle at age 12.

The father of four has always driven V8 cars with plenty of grunt. He also has a private pilot's licence. These days he usually gets around on a new-model 992cc Ducati Sport which has reached 240 kmh "on back roads with nobody around".

"When I'm driving B-double trucks or flying a plane I take it very seriously because the consequences of any mistakes I make will be felt by other people," The Italian says.

"When I'm on the bike with no one else around I'm only responsible for myself.

"The red haze comes over and the race face comes on. It's in the blood. I'd speed on a unicycle."

Spills are part and parcel of the road warrior's life.

"Live by the sword, die by the sword," The Italian sighs.

Earlier this week he attended a coaching clinic with professional motorcyclists Kevin McGee and Broc Parkes at Eastern Creek.

There he realised how "spooky" it is to escort machines that hit warp speed with the twist of a throttle.

"Rider development hasn't kept up with machine development," The Italian says.

"For example, Wayne Gardner's 2007 Honda Fireblade would go as quick as his old Grand Prix bikes and it's a pussycat compared to some other models on the road.

"That's why someone as proficient as [Gardner] does a day a month on the track to keep his eye in."

"When I'm on the bike with no one else around I'm only responsible for myself. The red haze comes over and the race face comes on. It's in the blood. I'd speed on a unicycle."

HOLDEN

HSV GTS VE

COMMODORE

Price: $83,000

Top speed: Limited to 250kmh

Zero to 100kmh: 4.5 seconds

Engine: 6-litre V8

Fast fact: History suggests sales

will peak after the Holden Racing

Team (Mark Skaife) and Toll HSV

Dealer Team (Rick Kelly) contest the

Bathurst 1000 on the October long

weekend.

* Details courtesy of Sydney Ducati, Kloster

BMW, Suzuki of Newcastle and Kelly Holden.

DUCATI 1098

Price: $35,995 for the Tricolor model

(only 300 worldwide)

Top speed: 297kmh

Top speed in fi rst gear: 100kmh

Engine: 1098cc

Fast fact: Churns out 165hp at the back wheel at

9750rpm ? the sort of silky smooth power that has

propelled Casey Stoner to the top of the world MotoGP

standings.

BMW M6 COUPE

Price: $276,400

Top speed: Limited to 250kmh

Zero to 100kmh: 4.6 seconds

Engine: 5-litre, 40-valve V10

Fast fact: With a maximum engine speed of 8250rpm,

the M6 is reminiscent of the F1 power plant that provided

much of the technology.

SUZUKI GSX1300R HAYABUSA

Price: $19,990

Top speed: 299kmh

Top speed in fi rst gear: 120kmh

Zero to 100kmh: Not available

Engine: 1298cc

Fast fact: When the Hayabusa was launched in 1999

it had a top speed of 347kmh. The later models are

restricted to 299kmh. It has a computerised limiter in fi rst

and second gear to prevent fl ipping and

high-siding.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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