KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
It’s a question we’ve often asked, but never seen answered; just how quick would a cutting edge, big-horsepower supernaked go around the Isle of Man TT course? It’s also a question we never thought we’d be able to answer… until now.
There are two main ways of testing a motorbike to get to know it and learn about what makes it tick. You can either take it for a long ride on a variety of roads to get to know what its manners are like and how easy or difficult it is to ride, or you can take it on a track to delve deeper into the bike’s reserves of performance… or if you’re very, very lucky, like me, you get the opportunity to do both at the same time. When I say “you”, I don’t mean you (or me), I mean my mate Michael Rutter, because the road/track in question is none other than the iconic Isle of Man TT course, and they don’t let any old hack out on it when it’s been closed to the public. Full disclosure for anyone without a long memory or who maybe never read my previous client’s publication, but this isn’t the first time I’ve been able to send Rutter out for a lap of the TT course on a standard road bike. It is however the first time I’ve been able to hand him the keys of a naked bike to take round and answer a question that he and I have had since the last time he did it in 2019 – just how would a naked bike respond to a good thrashing on a closed road in the hands of a TT race winner? And given that naked bikes are better as road bikes, just where, if at all, is the point at which a sportsbike makes more sense on the road?
Sticking with full disclosure, the T&Cs of the opportunity to get Rutter and the bike on to the course are many and understandable. You don’t just rock up and blag your way on to Glencrutchery Road and say to the paddock marshal: “I’ll be back in 20 minutes or so,” then hope for the best. The TT races are a huge global sporting event, and the logistics involved even at ground level with putting it on are as eye-watering and complex as they are vast. The event and needs of the competitors rightly take all priority over any magazine feature. If there are no delays, the weather is good and any rescheduling in the programme allows for Rutter to do a lap at the end of the session, just before the roads reopen, then, and only then, he can go. It is not an exaggeration to say that until the man with the headset who stands at the paddock exit gestures for Rutter to come forward, it isn’t certain that it will happen. This year we needed six attempts for Rutter to pass from paddock to track, each time with the same build-up and preparation, only for the first five to end in the long push back through the paddock.
But on the sixth and final chance to go, the light went green, and Rutter went full throttle.
For the test we used the updated KTM 1290 SuperDuke R Evo, and you may well ask why we didn’t use the winner of our 2021 Supernaked of the Year test from a few months ago – the Ducati Streetfighter V4S. Well, once again for full disclosure, the last time Rutter did this lap, he was on a Panigale V4 which clouted its sump in the massive compression at the bottom of Barregarrow which is not uncommon even on race bikes with raised ride heights and heavier springs than a standard road bike. No oil was lost, and the Panigale held together fine, but in the knowledge of how the Streetfighter’s sump is in the exact same place as the Panigale’s, and one of our self-imposed conditions of the test is that the bike has to be exactly as it leaves the showroom, I couldn’t with a clear conscience ask Rutter to take a Streetfighter for the lap. Therefore, the second-placed bike in the Supernaked of the Year test was chosen, which conveniently also has much higher ground clearance and a neater sump tucked out of the way. The KTM was fitted with some Metzeler Racetec RR tyres which were pre-heated more for safety than any performance advantage, the gear shift was reversed into a race pattern, and that was it. The mirrors were left on, indicators, number plate, the lot. The bike was 100% road legal, and Rutter could have finished the lap and legally ridden straight off the course and down to the chip shop on Douglas Promenade if he’d wanted to.
The only other thing to do was attach the Fast Bikes V-Box datalogger to the KTM, hand the keys over to Rutter and wait 20-ish minutes…