Remember Ben Spies? Of course you do. But do you remember how absurd he was when it came to braking?
From a August 2014 article on SuperbikePlanet:
“In his first—and only—season of WSBK, Spies rode to the absolute limit of the equipment. And in some cases it became a new limit. While the World Superbike championship had seen riders spin the rear tire on the wheel before—the tire would catch traction and before the electronics could soften the blow, the rear tire would slip slightly out of place–no one in WSBK had actually done that to front tires though, before Ben Spies.
The American WSBK rookie braked so hard that the front tire spun on the rim. After the first instance, the tire manufacturer called a meeting with the team and alerted them that this was happening and that it was uncharted territory for them. At the same time, the brake supplier to the Yamaha team mentioned that they had never seen a rider consistently brake as hard as Spies, that the data consistently showed numbers they saw, if ever, just briefly, in qualifying.
When Spies went into full attack mode, he rode like it was Mladin he was trying to out-brake. At least once, he actually, impossibly, spooned the front tire right off the wheel, causing him to crash, the Yamaha lying in the gravel trap with the front tire hanging, humbly, between the fork tubes. The tire manufacturer’s response was to ask Spies to please not brake that hard, that their tires, in the future, would need to be re-engineered to withstand “Spies mode”.”
You know you’ve made it when a tire manufacturer tells you to back off…
Feature photo from http://www.sportrider.com/sportbike-riding/riding-skill-series-braking-potential