What esports lack isn’t only danger and bravery, it also lacks the thrill of speed, the thrill of taking risks and, most importantly, the thrill of controlling risks. Controlling risk means using everything in your power – your mind, your muscles, your senses and your years of training – to calculate and minimise the risk, then to thread the eye of the needle at warp speed.
The biggest thrill comes from knowing that you’ve walked the line inch-perfectly, from knowing that you’ve got away with what would’ve been the end of most people.
Many riders don’t like talking about the dangers of bike racing but some of them do.
“Motorcycle racing isn’t a completely safe sport, so it’s something we live with,” said twice MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner two weeks after Tomizawa’s passing. “It’s bad to say it, but it’s part of what gives you the adrenaline rush, it’s part of why we love to do it, because it gets your heart racing, it gets your blood pumping. It’s that slight bit of fear that keeps you interested… What adrenaline rush are you going to get if there’s no fear in it?”
Guardrail to the right of them, guardrail to the left of them – Austrian GP venue the Salzburgring in 1990
When I’m watching bike racing I want the action to be safe, but not too safe, and dangerous, but not too dangerous.
That’s why I get a bigger thrill from watching a race at Mugello than I do from watching a race at Valencia. That’s partly because Mugello’s layout is more challenging, so you know it’s more demanding of a rider’s skill. But it’s also because the consequences of making a mistake at Mugello are likely greater than those of making a mistake at Valencia, so you know it’s more demanding of a rider’s daring.
Riders walk a narrower line and take greater risks at Mugello, which demands something special from inside.
Let’s pretend that Valencia is a tightrope strung five metres above the ground. In which case the tightrope at Mugello is another 20 metres above that. The skill required to walk both tightropes is essentially the same, but there’s little doubt that it’s more fascinating to watch someone walk the 25-metre-high tightrope, because the psychological challenge is off the scale.
