Motorsport legend and Red Bull Athlete Dougie Lampkin has successfully completed wheelie lap of the iconic 37.7-mile Isle of Man TT course. He set off from the famous Grandstand start line in Douglas at 5 pm, completing the lap in one hour 35 minutes. The entire wheelie was telecast live on Red Bull TV.
A special mission like this required a special bike, and Dougie and his engineering team, headed by Francesco Romani and Blackie Holden, spent months in their skunkworks creating the machine for the job. Based on a Vertigo Combat Ice Hell, the 300cc bike was modified to make the riding experience as easy as possible for Dougie.
Setting off a little too fast, Lampkin had a struggle on his hands to settle down into the first few miles. The wind proved to be an ongoing concern through the most challenging milestones of the course. As expected, the infamous mountain section made for tense viewing as Lampkin fought gusts of 40mph.
Dougie’s Wheelie is the first live broadcast of a sporting event from an island synonymous with groundbreaking motorsports records. Viewers could attempt their own virtual wheelie on a specially created mobile game at dougie.redbull.tv during the broadcast. Posting their results via social media, a leaderboard ran throughout Lampkin’s attempt with Arno Cotman from Belgium declared champion as the show ended.
Check out his attempt in the video below. don’t forget to share your views about the record run through the comments section.