What would be the most insane test of speed you can think of? If you thought of a bicycle taking on a Ferrari that would be exactly where I am going. First of all, this was not just any Ferrari this bicycle raced against, it was a Ferrari 430 Scuderia which was left behind like it was standing still and was instead of a super sports car a puttering along child’s version that might have been made by Fisher-Price in their Power Wheels lineup.
Of course, this bicycle isn’t any normal bike and the rider didn’t have to do any pedaling, making it more of a motorcycle. This bicycle was equipped with a jet engine on the back in order to rocket it as fast as possible down the stretch.
Who in their right mind would be crazy enough to ride a bicycle that was built to take out any supercar on the road? That would be none other than Switzerland’s Francois Gissy who deftly road his rocket powered bike to a massive 207 mph. This run at that speed caused 3.1 g’s of force on him and his bike frame. As he rode, it appears he was only protected by the helmet on his head and the fire retardant suit he wore, meaning a crash at the speed he was going surely would have killed him.
Since we don’t talk often enough, if ever, about superfast bicycles, because there generally aren’t any, let’s look at some numbers this man who was crazy enough to perform this run came away with. Gissy reached his top speed in only 4.8 seconds and completed a quarter-mile run in 6.8 seconds. This means he could have easily turned the Tour de France from a twenty-three day event into one that only takes him an afternoon, if he somehow was able to control the bicycle on the curves, hills, and mountainous passes that are found all along the route which of course is highly unlikely.
So to be fair, the Ferrari simply didn’t stand a change. With the rocket engine, the bicycle had immediate torque and horsepower where the car had to work up to speed. Add to that the much lighter weight and all Gissy really had to do was hold on for dear life, hoping he would finish the run unscathed. As insane as that sounds, there is even more to this story than this one time run.
Gissy has announced he plans to outdo his own world record of 207 mph in the upcoming months with a new monster bicycle that has been called the Spine Crusher. As for the Ferrari, a few runs against fair completion has given it back its street cred and made it proud to continue to carry the name and be one of the most amazing cars ever built. Leave it to the Europeans to think of and even attempt something this insanely crazy, but of course we will be looking to see what Gissy has in store for us next with Spine Crusher.
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