Being clipped on purpose by a superbike doing 110 km/h (68 mph) is definitely not the best way to spend the afternoon, but believe it or not, this is the very danger Al the Jumper confronts every now and then. A man dedicated to jumping over all sorts of moving obstacles, Al the Jumper also holds two Guinness Book records, but it looks like this is barely enough.
So Al took to attempting an even more daring jump, namely over two speeding superbikes. He chose a Ducati Panigale and a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R for the job, and prepared the scenery on what appears to be a deserted runway. He sets some markers on the ground, and waits patiently for the two machines to build up speed, line in a single file and approach.
Failure is not exactly an option
Now, the angle of the footage does indeed make everything look even more dangerous and spectacular than it already is. The lack of perspective puts Al the Jumper and the incoming Panigale almost on the same plane and for a moment we doubted he will make the jump. One of his feet seems to be still low enough to be hit by the Ducati rider’s helmet, but it looks like this is only a carefully studied illusion.
However, the speed of the bikes is nothing to be taken lightly in terms of synchronization. 100 km/h means 30.5 meters/second, or 100 ft per second. Considering that Al’s jump lasts around 2 seconds or so, it’s not that hard to figure out how carefully he must choose the right take-off moment.
As for a failure of this stunt, this is a result we definitely don’t even want to consider, let alone watch it happen. Wonder what’s next: trikes, Can-Am Spyders, a Polaris Slingshot? Whichever Al the Jumper might choose, something tells us we won’t be disappointed.
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