This Week: ‘Motorcycle Crash Tech’ Premieres

As a rider, over the years I’ve become keenly aware that there are roads you know well and ride all the time, roads you’ve never seen but find yourself making plans to visit, and then roads that from a mere photograph have a unique power to consume your dreams — because they are not easy to get to or to conquer.

The last several weeks have been a remarkable stretch of time where all of my personal roads, both the seen and unseen, the known and unknown, have blended together to form a wonderful combination of one single and seamless moment where everything feels like it’s exactly where it is supposed to be for right now…

And I can’t think of a better culmination of that sense of purpose than this Thursday evening, when our newest sportbike documentary, Motorcycle Crash Tech‘, premieres on The National Geographic Channel at 9 PM EST.

In May, I briefly wrote about the project but at the time couldn’t go into much detail about it — Tonight I finally can…

After we finished Twist The Throttle, the next inevitable question was what do we want to shoot next? For month we went back and forth, talking about what would be different then Twist and yet still part of the greater sportbike arena… A few truly intriguing ideas surfaced, but they never quite took off or captured enough of our collective attention span… But then lighting struck… While ‘taking a break’…

We were watching a sportbike race, when a rider crashed. It looked horrific. It looked deadly. It seemed disastrous. Yet the rider got up. Shook his head in frustration. And walked away…

It was a scene punctuated by the notion that twenty, maybe fifteen, hell probably ten years ago, would have required an ambulance or a helicopter. But instead suddenly seemed rather matter-of-fact. The rider later quoted as saying it was a run of the mill event. Barely noticeable and simply a function of ‘push the edge’…

Tonight it seems rather obvious that something interesting was there, but at the time it was simply a curiosity — was racing, and by extension regular-riding, really safer today? Have we actually come to a point where we can engineer out the danger?

The answer as many riders know is, yes.

It is something I learned first hand this January when I crashed (an odd occurrence while working on a sportbike show about crashing no doubt!).

Now, of course I’m not suggesting that racing is 100% safe, nor regular everyday riding, neither one is, but the odds of survival should the worst happen have dramatically increased and that’s something I personally find fascinating… So we set out to see the remarkable advancements in racing and riding gear; from the bikes themselves, to the brakes, to helmets, and the actual riding suits.

I hope everyone in the audience enjoys! (Press Release Below)

Umberto rides the F4

“Motorcycle Crash Tech” is an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the new technologies being used to avoid motorcycle crashes, and prevent injuries or even death when a racer or rider does go down.

Exclusive interviews with racer Neil Hodgson and the legendary Giacomo Agostini describe first-hand what goes through a racer’s mind the moment they know they’re going to crash and vividly recount just how deadly racing was in the 1960’s and ‘70’s. Combining rare archival footage from years past as well as contemporary AMA racing coverage, the film explains the differences between high-sides and low-sides and the extreme forces involved in both types of crashes.

The film captures stunning action photography of world-class test riders Vito Guareschi (Alpinestars, Nolan, and Ducati) and Umberto Rumiano (MV Agusta) in action during what are normally closed test sessions of new riding gear and bikes. Brembo factory riders are also filmed testing the company’s newest brakes on twisting Italian mountain roads and performing incredible braking tests on Brembo’s private test track.

Produced by Cry Havoc Productions, an award winning documentary film company specializing in Moto related films, “Motorcycle Crash Tech” will premiere on September 17, 2009 at 9PM ET on the National Geographic Channel.

Filmed in 1080i high-definition and 5.1 digital surround sound, “Motorcycle Crash Tech” takes viewers on an extraordinary journey across Northern Italy. With rare access to the R & D facilities and research departments at Alpinestars, Brembo, Nolan, and MV Agusta, the film chronicles the very latest technologies being used in motorcycle riding gear, boots, helmets, brakes, and the bikes themselves to make racing and riding safer.