Nurburgring Nordschleife | Sumber gambar: BSIM Racing
The Nurburgring Nordschleife. This is a name adrenaline junkies know all too well, and the nickname “Green Hell” says it all. It’s a fantastic German track hidden by trees, and every year it’s the place where car manufacturers go to beat records with their latest supercars. But it’s also the place where a 72-year old British motorcycle rider decided to show just how fast he really is!
On the video you can see below, this rider, whose name is still unknown, took his son’s Ducati Panigale V4 to the Nurburgring Nordschleife for a very fast lap around the German track. Recording the full lap on video, the rider needed only 7m30s to complete the Bridge to Gantry lap time. Usually, an 8-minute lap time is considered to be really fast.
This wouldn’t be such a big deal, even for a 72-year old, but there’s a surprising twist in this story: In 2015 he suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors considered him clinically dead for 10 minutes. He eventually survived, but stayed in coma for two weeks, and then two months in hospital, before beginning a recovery period of two years.
Through that time, all the incentive he needed to recover was the will to be back on a motorcycle to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
In 2017 he did his riding exam again, and in July 2018 he was finally back on the ‘Ring for one last attempt to take on the “Green Hell” on his son’s Ducati Panigale V4.
Here’s the video of this 72-year old rider doing what he knows best. If you’ve got 7m30s of your life to spare, we can assure you this is the best way you can spend them!