It's embarassing when...

[-The Stig-]

You parade your $100,000+ Porsche 997 Turbo around the beaches like it's then end all performance car then when lined up against something that costs 1/10th of the price it gets spanked.

Bikes rule.


Ok full story time... I was riding down the local Coast Highway here and was planning on stopping for lunch at this great little pizza place but there wasn't any parking so I decided to continue on after circling the block. As I'm at the light waiting to turn right back into traffic a dark Grey 2007 Porsche Carrera 997 Turbo flies past and guns it through traffic. Which sounded really badass by the way.

I thought to myself it'd be fun to run that, see how I stack up to one of those beasts. But I couldn't merge into traffic and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity. Finally I get out and get going, and I make a mental note to keep any eye out for the Porsche but knew that chances are he was far ahead.

Well, great thing about a bike in traffic is the ability to make up good time. I pull up behind a group of cars, not expecting much and come to a stop. When I look to the front of my lane and there sitting in the left lane stopped at the line was the Porsche. He was first car at the light... so I split the lanes and come up beside him. It's a younger dude driving it, looks like maybe Daddy's car.

I gave him a few looks, he looked back but with my smoked visor on my helmet he couldn't see me back. Light goes green and I get out quickly but not super fast. Just enough to get out ahead of the car to my right so I have the middle lane and he has the left lane.

I'm about 50 yards ahead of him and I'm thinking there's no way we'll catch a light. *bingg* Light ahead goes yellow. I'm like "ohh shit.. it's on!"

We both line up, and I'm giving him the look. Give him a small rev. He grips the wheel and shifter. Light goes green and I come off the line a bit soft, mostly because I've never launched the bike before, and he gets a small jump... roughly half a car. Hey, those cars have power!

Soon as I hit 2nd gear I pinned the loud maker and instantly I slingshot past him. Hit 3rd gear and continue to put on the distance. Let off at who knows how fast, I tend not to look down when going that fast... especially on a bike. I'll just say 90ish.

He must of let off, because he was wayyy back there by the time I sat up to see where he was in my mirrors.

Fast car, no doubt. Just not enough then.

[VR43000GT]

Nice kill Stig. Definately get some practice in on the launches as it is much harder to launch a bike than a car. If it makes you feel any better I have been riding motox for a little over 10 years now and about 2 years ago I killed my bike at the start trying to do a hard launch.

[-The Stig-]

I just did a slow roll on, didn't want to deal with having the front end lift on me. Bike will do it way to easy...

[CassiesMan]

Very nice kill. All to often, slow bike>fast car. Of course...sometimes you get a really fast car, and then you get fast car>fast bike. But not so much in your case. Launching a bike gotta be hard as hell. But then again, with ninety percent of the cars on the road today, a soft roll on will still be enough to whup what your up against.

[anthony789]

nice kill stig
i tried racing a bike once but he smoked my charger
wat kind of bike u got stig

[pimp349]

Originally Posted by anthony789

wat kind of bike u got stig

......sorry, couldnt help it...anyways...was it a turbo or carrera? Pretty sure they don't make a t'd carrera, maybe you mean a cabriolet?. I want to say good kill, and it is (how many of us can take down a 997TT?), but lets be honest, you knew what the outcome is going to be....

[-The Stig-]

Was a Twin Turbo 997. Sorry, it's still a 911 Carrera but with better everything.

I have a 2007 Triumph Daytona 675, 123hp pushing 417lbs with a full load of fuel. I'm only 128lbs in riding gear, so 545lbs total. That comes out to a weight to power ratio of 4.4:1

Where as the 997 Turbo is roughly at 7.2:1. Still, a very fast car and would undoubtedly kill me up top. In a roll on race, I'd be hard pressed to keep up, after 150mph it'd be all Porsche putting the hurt on me without any question.

[pimp349]

Originally Posted by -The Stig-

Was a Twin Turbo 997. Sorry, it's still a 911 Carrera but with better everything.

...um...I knew that...

Originally Posted by -The Stig-

...after 150mph it'd be all Porsche putting the hurt on me without any question.

Why is that? I always thought street bikes can go 200+?

[CassiesMan]

The Busa, R1, and ZX14 can...most of them start to get hurt at higher speeds. Your getting to the point where the weight difference doesn't matter anymore, and the gearing also comes into effect. For example, my understanding is that it takes about 600 crank in a Supra to beat a stock Busa. But thats just what I've read. There is a whole lot more to roll racing than just power.

[-The Stig-]

Well my bike will do 160-165mph, I haven't done it personally but others with the same bike have.

Bikes generally have poor aerodynamics compared to cars, their only saving grace is lighter weight, gearing and the ability to spin high RPMs.

And I don't think any of the liter bikes (R1, GSXR1000, ZX10R) can break the 200mph mark, I think even with their insane power they still fall flat at 180mph. Even the Busa and ZX14's have problems going that speed.

200mph is a magic number when it comes to speed, the wind resistance is huge. A lot of bikes, and cars can get close to or even reach the 200 mark, but struggle to get past it.

[209 SRT]

yeah the liter bikes dont go 200mph....plus the speedo are slightly off on bikes....BTW nice bike....to bad you werent closer to me then we could ride together....

[VR43000GT]

Originally Posted by -The Stig-

I just did a slow roll on, didn't want to deal with having the front end lift on me. Bike will do it way to easy...

Yep, a hard launch equals either wheelspin or an out of control back flip leaving you on the ground lol. Even at lower speeds at WOT the bike should lift up with out you leaning over the front I would think, it does on my bike.

[209 SRT]

for a good launch you have to launch high but slip the clutch like a mofo...I do it with my 10R and it works...its just hard to keep the wheel down the first three gears....

[-The Stig-]

Yeah, I don't want to look all squidly on the bike. I mostly cruise, but every once in a while I'll give her the berries.

[Igovert500]

When the hell did you get a crotch rocket? Nice kill! So what are you driving now?