Then vs now

[faffi]

In 2018, Micheal Rutter punted a stock Panigale 1100 V4 Speciale the around IoM TT course in about 18:40 for an average speed about 121 mph. I say roughly because it is impossible to time the lap correctly since it is not a typical get-away, nor lap completion. But it is close enough.

 

It's on YouTube in two parts, part 1 being here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYaSG_IoAXk

 

For a stock bike, that seems pretty impressive. However, Steve Hislop set a 18:39.4 lap on an RC30, or the Honda VFR750R as it was also known, back in 1989. 

 

So what do you think? Is it impressive that 30 years later, an 1100cc stock machine on road tyres can match a 750cc modified street bike on slicks from the 80s, or would you have expected more from the development?

 

As a comparison, the New Era 750 record around Phillip Island was set by Scott Campbell on a Honda RC30 in 2016 with a time of 1:40.719. The production Superbike lap record was set by Wayne Maxwell in 2018 in a Yamaha R1 with a time of  1:32.224. 

[faffi]

For comparison, the premier class has seen less performance gains than the fastest class at Isle of Man (current lap record is set with an average speed of more than 135 mph) - in 1990, Gardner lapped Phillip Island at 1:34.560 during the race. Current race lap record is 1:28.108, set by Marc Marquez in 2013. If I take that equation, starting with 115 mph as an arbitrary average speed of Garner, I end up with 120.8 mph for Marquez. Interestingly, the best race lap in 2019 by Vinales took 1:29.322, or 119.7 mph using the same math. This is a rather flowing track where handling is more important than power, though, whereas IoM benefit quite a lot from more power.

 

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[WHR]

13 hours ago, faffi said:

For a stock bike, that seems pretty impressive. However, Steve Hislop set a 18:39.4 lap on an RC30, or the Honda VFR750R as it was also known, back in 1989. 

 

So what do you think? Is it impressive that 30 years later, an 1100cc stock machine on road tyres can match a 750cc modified street bike on slicks from the 80s, or would you have expected more from the development?

I think I need to donate my 1997 VFR750F to the school only on condition that it be built as a "demo" bike for students to marvel at it's awesomeness! :-)

Seriously, I believe this is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, not to mention all the other factors involved. A better comparison would be the same rider (Rutter for example), riding both bikes on the same day.

[faffi]

Rutter is a multiple winner of IoM, so should be comparable. Sure, it was not set on the same day by the same rider, and as such not a perfect comparison, but it should give a fairly realistic picture.