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You'll like this Guy Martin's next big thing

Jaws

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Been to Fusson several times, and the barn used that he shot out of on the bike is still there
There is also a museum dedicated the film.. And they have 'Great Escape' days in the town !!
Bet @Malone has been there too as it is a great town to visit and has a real god stellplatz right near the centre
 

slim63

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The stunt was originally performed by Bud Elkins as Steve McQueen wasn't quite up to it, there are many kids who could do it now on modern bikes & probably do a backflip in the process but when you consider it was done on an old triumph twin it was bloody impressive !

I hope Guy has a go on an old triumph rather than something modern or otherwise its a pretty pointless exercise
 

Cougar377

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The stunt was originally performed by Bud Elkins as Steve McQueen wasn't quite up to it, there are many kids who could do it now on modern bikes & probably do a backflip in the process but when you consider it was done on an old triumph twin it was bloody impressive !

I hope Guy has a go on an old triumph rather than something modern or otherwise its a pretty pointless exercise

I read somehwere that McQueen wanted to do the stunt but the director wasn't keen in case he got injured. Legend has it that they conned McQueen into doing something to distract him while Elkins did the stunt.

Modern one by the look of it....

Guy.png
 

slim63

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I read somehwere that McQueen wanted to do the stunt but the director wasn't keen in case he got injured. Legend has it that they conned McQueen into doing something to distract him while Elkins did the stunt.

Modern one by the look of it....

View attachment 46831

I just lost interest in this know plenty of blokes who could do it with ease any day of the week on modern bikes, its not a massive jump by todays standards, what made it impressive at the time was that a jump like that hadn't been tried & the fairly ordinary machine it was done on

I like Guy he's got some guts but it looks like this isn't going to be done properly so probably wont bother watching it
 

Cougar377

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I just lost interest in this know plenty of blokes who could do it with ease any day of the week on modern bikes, its not a massive jump by todays standards, what made it impressive at the time was that a jump like that hadn't been tried & the fairly ordinary machine it was done on

I like Guy he's got some guts but it looks like this isn't going to be done properly so probably wont bother watching it

Apparently he's going to try to do both fences.... whether that's one at a time (as Hilts was trying to do in the film) or both in one hit, remains to be seen.
Might be worth a watch to see how that pans out.
 

Malone

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Been to Fusson several times, and the barn used that he shot out of on the bike is still there
There is also a museum dedicated the film.. And they have 'Great Escape' days in the town !!
Bet @Malone has been there too as it is a great town to visit and has a real god stellplatz right near the centre

Sadly no, not yet. I know I’ve been near the area, I assume you mean Fussen nearby the 3 castles of mad king Ludwig?
As yet I’ve never taken the motorhome into Germany itself and sampled the stellplatz, but I’m hoping to get near next year.

concidentally I watched the Great Escape yet again last week, and he still didn’t make the second jump.

on the subject of modern bikes I’m sure there are many of today’s riders able to do the jump. But stick them on a mid sixties Triumph the same as Bud Ekins was on and I’d doubt they would do much better. It looks like Guy will be on a new Triumph Scrambler, lots more power, lots more weight and better brakes, suspension and tyres. To me, it’s just TV making a programme to fill time using him as he’s currently “flavour of the m0nth” and in the absence of an equivalent machine to what was used it will be a bit of a letdown. I’ll still watch it though.
 

Jaws

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I just lost interest in this know plenty of blokes who could do it with ease any day of the week on modern bikes, its not a massive jump by todays standards, what made it impressive at the time was that a jump like that hadn't been tried & the fairly ordinary machine it was done on

I like Guy he's got some guts but it looks like this isn't going to be done properly so probably wont bother watching it
But the modern bike is much much heavier yet has about the same power as the old one used in the film

According to the guff in the museum McQueen did indeed want to do it, but the insurance company involved would not allow it
 

Jaws

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Sadly no, not yet. I know I’ve been near the area, I assume you mean Fussen nearby the 3 castles of mad king Ludwig?
Its only about a mile or so from the Austrian border
Germany is fantastic.. They 'get' motorhomes and the German people are among the most welcoming people we have met
 

slim63

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But the modern bike is much much heavier yet has about the same power as the old one used in the film

According to the guff in the museum McQueen did indeed want to do it, but the insurance company involved would not allow it

I watched a programme on McQueen, on that Bud Elkins said McQueen did want to do it & trained for it but wasn't sure he could make it so Bud did it himself, I don't remember any mention of the insurance etc & McQueen wouldn't have taken any notice anyway, they never wanted him to race or do the isdt but he did it anyway

The new bike has around 65hp & a big lump of torque the old speed twin had maybe 35hp if you were lucky & about as much torque as your average rice pudding, the new bike has good long travel suspension both ends that will no doubt be set up professionally or even changed for the jump Bud Elkins had a road bike with longer stiffer rear springs & more oil in the forks + faith in his ability, a huge bucket full of skill & no fear.

Sorry but I see no comparison in what was achieved back then & what is being attempted now !
 

Jaws

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I watched a programme on McQueen, on that Bud Elkins said McQueen did want to do it & trained for it but wasn't sure he could make it so Bud did it himself, I don't remember any mention of the insurance etc & McQueen wouldn't have taken any notice anyway, they never wanted him to race or do the isdt but he did it anyway

The new bike has around 65hp & a big lump of torque the old speed twin had maybe 35hp if you were lucky & about as much torque as your average rice pudding, the new bike has good long travel suspension both ends that will no doubt be set up professionally or even changed for the jump Bud Elkins had a road bike with longer stiffer rear springs & more oil in the forks + faith in his ability, a huge bucket full of skill & no fear.

Sorry but I see no comparison in what was achieved back then & what is being attempted now !
I think I will take the info from a museum rather than a telly program that was ( if memory serves ) a homage to McQueen.. which contained a fare bit of stuff from his son that was later refuted by others

The bike they used was far from standard ( currently owned by Dick Shepherd as part of an extensive Trumpet collection ) and it was a TR6
Too late to get the exact spec it was then in, but it is speculated to have had around the 50 to 55 BHP mark which would be very believable given the factory spec

The TR6 weighed in at 365 lbs

The new version has 65bhp and weighs a porky 454 lbs !

I therefore think they are quite comparable in the performance stakes.. But I would add the older version would have been, in my opinion, far more nimble
 

Malone

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I wonder how much it would cost to put a period correct ( i.e. early 60s not mid 40s) TR6 to the Bud Ekins spec so that the jump could have been compared properly? Maybe £25-£30k? Perhaps the show should have done one as that kind of money would be mere pennies to them.
 

Jaws

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I wonder how much it would cost to put a period correct ( i.e. early 60s not mid 40s) TR6 to the Bud Ekins spec so that the jump could have been compared properly? Maybe £25-£30k? Perhaps the show should have done one as that kind of money would be mere pennies to them.
A lot less than that..You can get a TR6 all done up for under 10k, and a rough but running one circa 6k
 

andyBeaker

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What makes Guy Martin watchable is everything seems a bit Heath Robinson, despite his undoubted engineering prowess.

Always seems to be courting failure rather than nailing whatever he's doing.
 

Malone

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A lot less than that..You can get a TR6 all done up for under 10k, and a rough but running one circa 6k
No, I meant an all singing all dancing Bud Ekins replica. That would need a lot of special bits and pieces, far removed from a stock TR6
 

jeffa

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I will be interested to see how many Germans are there trying to shoot him :couch:
 

Jaws

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No, I meant an all singing all dancing Bud Ekins replica. That would need a lot of special bits and pieces, far removed from a stock TR6
Yes I realised that, but you can get all the engine bits for a few hundred beer tokens and the body work for less than that
Add on a max of a grand for labour and you still have change of 10k :)
 
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