The amazing scenes you are about to witness took place last weekend at the Snetterton circuit, during a British Superbike round. The protagonist is Taylor Mackenzie, a former British 125GP and British Supersport rider, now in his rookie year with Team WD-40 in the British Superbike Championship.
Photo: Youtube capture
This is about the best footage of the incident, as no official replays have surfaced as of now from Eurosport, so please bear with us on the not-that-great quality of the video. And in any case, facts are more important than the footage quality.
Apparently, on of the fuel lines on Mackenzie's Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R ruptured in mid-race, causing the fuel to leak onto the hot engine and exhaust pipes, catching fire almost instantaneously.
Now, even if the slow-motion video make you believe that such dangerous moments took quite a while, in real life, everything only lasted several seconds. This, however, only makes everything even more dangerous, as Mackenzie wasn't traveling in slow motion.
In fact, you should never forget that he was in the middle of a race, oblivious to the danger that would befall him, and therefore, twisting the throttle as much as possible.
He only had seconds to assess the situation and make a quick decision. As his bike was already slowing down because of the fuel shortage, he decided to steer onto the grass and jump from the machine, all this while flames were already around him.
Leather may have exceptional resistance to abrasion, but it only offers limited protection against the searing heat of burning fuel. Mackenzie carefully jumped off the bike, and walked away, apparently unscathed, and visibly having felt a tad too much heat.
As mad as he looks for being forced to retire, at least Mackenzie is lucky to have bailed out in time before being injured by a much harder crash or receiving severe burns. Yet, this is just another "typical day at the office" for professional riders. And here's a turbo Kawasaki ZX-14R on fire at 400 km/h (247 mph).
Apparently, on of the fuel lines on Mackenzie's Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R ruptured in mid-race, causing the fuel to leak onto the hot engine and exhaust pipes, catching fire almost instantaneously.
Real-life racing means making life-saving decisions in the blink of a an eye
Now, even if the slow-motion video make you believe that such dangerous moments took quite a while, in real life, everything only lasted several seconds. This, however, only makes everything even more dangerous, as Mackenzie wasn't traveling in slow motion.
In fact, you should never forget that he was in the middle of a race, oblivious to the danger that would befall him, and therefore, twisting the throttle as much as possible.
He only had seconds to assess the situation and make a quick decision. As his bike was already slowing down because of the fuel shortage, he decided to steer onto the grass and jump from the machine, all this while flames were already around him.
Leather may have exceptional resistance to abrasion, but it only offers limited protection against the searing heat of burning fuel. Mackenzie carefully jumped off the bike, and walked away, apparently unscathed, and visibly having felt a tad too much heat.
As mad as he looks for being forced to retire, at least Mackenzie is lucky to have bailed out in time before being injured by a much harder crash or receiving severe burns. Yet, this is just another "typical day at the office" for professional riders. And here's a turbo Kawasaki ZX-14R on fire at 400 km/h (247 mph).
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