LAP... THE
That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach is undeniable, even though this isn’t the first time I’ve been here. The sound of the SuperDuke’s optional full titanium Akrapovic race exhaust fades out of earshot as Rutter shifts into fifth gear. He’s long since been out of sight, but the unmistakable sound of the KTM, carried by what would be a strong headwind for him, lingered long enough for me to know that he was at or approaching the bottom of Bray Hill and in the process subjecting the SuperDuke R to the sort of punishment that probably no other ever sold will have to face. The bottom of Bray Hill is where the beating that Rutter will mete out on KTM’s Beast starts, and which won’t stop for a fraction over 20 minutes.
I feel sick because apart from anything else, that’s my mate out there, and even though I know he won’t take any risks, and I know that the bike has been prepared to the highest standard, and the tyres are more than up to the task, this is the TT course and like many others I know it can throw even the most experienced riders curve balls that just can’t be predicted. He’s also on a bike that really wasn’t designed to do what he’s asking it to do, but just like me and everyone else that helped put this feature together, Rutter is also keen to see what a supernaked can do in the most hostile environment possible compared with a sportsbike. When all is said and done, he’s just like you and me, and just like you and me, given the chance to lap the closed TT course on anything is something he’s not going to pass. It’s just too special a place, and even now after all his laps and success there, the thrill of taking a bike for a blast is as strong as it ever was.
I count the minutes down and take an educated guess based on what I know he’s done on a road-ready Suzuki GSX-R1000 and a Ducati Panigale, and what the weather conditions are, and estimate that he’ll take about 25 minutes to get back. Imagine my surprise when he was back in 21 minutes, which equates to an average speed of 108mph – coincidentally the outright lap record of the TT in 1972 when Rutter was born. That 108mph lap record was actually set in 1967 by the late, great Mike Hailwood and it stood for eight years, which gives an indication of the size of Hailwood’s achievement.
Back in the Bathams Racing awning, Rutter has got a bit of a sweat on and has clearly been working hard. As soon as he takes off his distinctive red and white Shoei, he blows his cheeks out and takes a large mouthful of water as he collects his thoughts before starting to download to my waiting dictaphone…
“Sitting on the start/finish line I was thinking ‘wow’, then I pulled away and straightaway it wheelied, then in the next gear it wheelied again, then the next gear it did it again, then finally I got the front wheel down before the top of Bray Hill. I was a bit nervous about it, obviously I hadn’t ridden it before, and I think I saw about 130mph on the clocks by the time I got to the top of Bray Hill. It started to feel a bit nervous, but I think if I held it flat out instead of rolling off the throttle, it would have felt a bit better. I think because I rolled slightly, it made it feel a bit nervous. I was just thinking that it sounded ace when suddenly the wind got hold of me at the top of Bray Hill and nudged me and the bike quite hard, I was like ‘Woah, this is going to be a long lap!’
“When I came in at the end of the lap, I was thinking to myself thank God I didn’t have another lap on it. You know, obviously the bike isn’t supposed to be ridden round at 150mph non-stop and in a strong wind too, so it had everything against it, but even so I felt like I’d done a six-lap senior race on my superbike when I got in. The wind was pushing that hard against me that I was up against the pillion seat just praying that it was fixed on properly. The force of the wind that was pushing me on to it was massive, like nothing I’ve ever experienced, and that pillion seat cover was all that was keeping me on the bike. If that would have snapped off, there’s no way I could have held on with my hands. As it was, one of the Go-Pro cameras snapped off somewhere. I went out with three on the bike, and only two came back. There must be loads of Go-Pros round the course!
“I wondered what the people felt like in the 1950s on the Manx Nortons round here, like my dad. The course was different then, and even though those bikes didn’t have any
THE MAIN THING IN THE BACK OF MY MIND WAS THAT YOU COULD GET YOURSELF IN A LOT OF TROUBLE VERY QUICKLY.
fairings, they were getting a fair old speed up even then too; it’s given me a bit of an insight into what it must have been like for them. Plus, they did more than one lap, so respect to the racers of that era.
“I didn’t know what speed I was going to do, and to be honest I’m amazed I did 108mph on it. It felt faster because of the wind pressure, but I knew it wasn’t fast if that makes any sense. Probably because I could see more of the scenery than I usually do. My body was getting a massive wind blast, but my eyes were seeing something different, so it was impossible to tell because my senses were getting mixed messages. The main thing in the back of my mind was that you could get yourself into a lot of trouble very quickly on it. The front end went light the faster I went because it lifted due to the air pressure on me, and since most of the lap is in fourth, fifth and sixth gear the front was always quite light, so stability was always on my mind. Having said that, it never actually got away from me, but I did roll off on Sulby straight. I was a bit worried there because the road conditions are so bad there, and it was just starting to tie itself into a knot. My race bike does it there too, so it’s not unique to the KTM, it’s just so bumpy and fast there, neither of which are good for any bike, but especially one that I’m struggling to hold on to at high speed, and which gets lighter at the front the faster it goes. Best to just knock it back a bit.
“To be honest the suspension on the bike never felt like it was too harsh or too soft, it felt fine, and it felt really nice on the throttle too. The most enjoyable bit for me was going up the Mountain. It was weird in a way because I was going uphill, and it was wheelying all the way through all the gears. Basically because of the incline the rear was sitting down and with the power and where I was sitting on it, it wheelied the whole way. I tell you what, it’s got some horsepower.
“There wasn’t really a part of the course where it felt at home to me, probably because it felt so alien to what I’ve been riding all week. Having no fairing and wide bars means it’s just not suited to any part of the course
“It’s great for messing about and doing wheelies but for going really, really fast, it’s not really the tool for the job, but we knew that before, so there’s no surprise or criticism meant. I think the bike could be quicker in some parts of the course due to its engine and riding position, but the wind blast just makes everything 10 times harder to do on it.
“One other thing I’ve remembered about going up the Mountain was that it shut down on me and started up again. I think it was when I was wheelying and spinning quite a lot at the same time, so it probably just thought ‘What’s going on here?’ and just took a moment to calm things down. Otherwise, the electronics were very good, nice and smooth and I barely noticed them cut in anywhere.
“I didn’t do a big jump at Ballaugh Bridge
“It didn’t bottom out anywhere, and I thought I’d be careful at the bottom of Barregarrow which is a massive
I GOT INTO SIXTH PLENTY OF TIMES, BUT WASN’T ABLE TO GET FLAT OUT.
compression. The exit is skittery anyway and the compression is so violent that it doesn’t take much to get into a big tank slapper on the exit on a well set-up race bike, let alone a nervous road bike, so I took it reasonably steady. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t fanny around through there, I still hit it hard and was half expecting it to bottom out so was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t. I really could have done with a lot more from the steering damper, it was on maximum but nowhere near enough for what I was asking it to do. I think if the steering damper was meatier, it would have made a big difference to my confidence levels.
“I would also definitely have liked even a little fly screen to deflect some of the air pressure over or around me. That would have made a massive difference to being able to get hold of the bike, and there would be less lift at the front.
“I was hoping it would feel at home on the slower corners, but if I’m honest it didn’t really. I think it might be because I was so high up and it just felt so alien that there was so much to adjust to. I’m sure if I did another lap on it or had a chance to ride it elsewhere it wouldn’t have felt like that. I’d never even sat on it before I set off on it, plus I think the sheer physical effort that it took to even just sit on it meant that when I slowed down for corners like the Gooseneck or Ramsey Hairpin or Parliament Square, I was just relieved to have a break from the battering, and that really attacking the corner at 100% wasn’t my top priority compared to resting my arms and catching my breath!
“I really like the engine, it’s really strong, just like the old 1098 Ducatis I used to ride, you just keep plodding gears into it, and it keeps going forward really fast. I got into sixth plenty of times, but wasn’t able to get flat out, it was too windy, it just seemed to stop at about 150mph. I dunno if that’s aerodynamics or a speed limiter or what, but it felt to me like the windy conditions weren’t helping. The brakes are very good with great feel at the lever and more power than I could use thanks to my arms being so worn out by holding on in the wind! The riding position is great when you haven’t got all the wind pressure on you, then when you get to third gear, it starts getting uncomfortable, and just goes downhill from there.”
Rutter has got plenty to say about the KTM, and while a lot of it isn’t a surprise insomuch as nobody expected it to bother a GSX-R or Panigale’s lap time, and while there’s no doubt that Rutter has physically suffered at the controls of the SuperDuke R, he has clearly also enjoyed himself. Any of the points he’s picked out as ‘negative’ aren’t really, they’re just a consequence of the bike’s overall design and style rather than any element or component of the bike being fundamentally sub-standard. The exception is maybe the steering damper which even on its hardest setting doesn’t give as much damping as maybe it should or could.
The root of 95% of Rutter’s complaints about the bike comes down to him asking it to do something it’s not really supposed to do, so you may ask: what’s the point? Well, as we have documented in Fast Bikes for some time now, the naked class is rising in popularity to a point where all the manufacturers are now putting more effort into their naked bikes than they are into their sportsbikes. Today we have naked bikes with massive power, massive tech and massive price tags, all being presented as viable alternatives to sportsbikes, but are they really any different? Well, yes and no.
Yes, because they do actually perform like sportsbikes up to a certain point, after which they are not only much slower but also much less stable. No, because… they do actually perform like sportsbikes up to a certain point, it’s that the point in question is well beyond what most of us will ever do on a track, let alone on the road. As Rutter put it so eloquently: “If you want something for fun, it’s great, but not for racing at the TT. If they ever created a class for naked bikes at the TT, I don’t think I’ll be entering… I’ve never taken my fitness seriously enough!”
None of the conclusions reached are a surprise, but it is interesting that one thought I had about the difference between sportsbikes and naked bikes that had never occurred to me before, is that due to its ability to go very, very fast thanks to aerodynamics, the sportsbike is ultimately limited by the rider’s mental capacity to process speed and an emotional ability to remain calm and level headed, whereas the naked bike is ultimately limited by the physical strength of its rider.
Not sure what any of that means, or how useful a conclusion that makes, but just remember that this all started with the chance of a world exclusive opportunity to ride a fast bike round the most famous racetrack in the world with one of its most experienced racers in the seat.
And sometimes it’s good to do something just for the hell of it.