RIP Karl Harris

[PETROLHEAD]

Title says it all i guess, but the Isle of Man TT has claimed another star of the motorcyle racing scene.

Killed in a crash in the superstock race, Bomber Harris, so nicknamed because of his former boxing career, was a top lad that i had the pleasure of knowing.

A nutter would be a fun but fair description, on and off the track, but a great talent and a diamond bloke, that i will sorely miss.

RIP Bomber Harris, and my thoughts and love to his family and friends....

[Johnboy]

Sad news RIP

[vecchioalfa]

Yes I heard about this, very sad news indeed

[KevJTD]

another sad day.

[Sud 145]

Very sad,heard about this yesterday. Mad as a box of frogs maybe Barry Sheen had some survival instinct.

[PETROLHEAD]

Very sad,heard about this yesterday. Mad as a box of frogs maybe Barry Sheen had some survival instinct.

quite right mate, quite right.

a little story of how he was,


i was invited out to a naughty boys weekend bender in Newcastle, which i jumped at because the friday night was with James Toseland, fellow Notts mate Chris Walker, maybe Foggy (who i don't like!) Jamie Witham (who is hilarious!), Michael Rutter and then team mate Karl Harris in the HM Plant Honda days, and few more hanger onners etc

the mere presence of Karl meant it was going to be a night of light hearted misbehaving, likely decscending into debautery into the wee hours, possible eviction from certain premises, and a bloody great hangover to follow!

no disappointments there then, Karl on fine form, centre of all attentions good and bad wherever we went, but the plan he'd been hatching all night was just typical of his character.

Saturday morning, himself and Micheal Rutter were due to perform a Honda presentation event, launching the new race bike etc to the press and some Honda Executives from Japan too, some very high calibre names indeed.

They had a HM Plant branded Honda outfit to wear for the occasion, consisting of some rather snug fitting tracksuit type bottoms, and Karl thought that no matter how much it cost, he was going to buy Rutter as many of his drinks throughout Friday night as he could get away with.

Rutter didn't seem to mind too much, and was necking Budweisers, and Bacardi and Cokes like it was going out of fashion, but had no idea until Karl just went a bit too far and the last chaser he passed him was virtually frothing, that he was the subject of another Harris Jinx!

Karl thought that there would be nothing funnier than Rutter doing his speech and presentation to his employers and the press, whilst sporting the biggest of morning glories his hungover body could manage to make highly visible through these snug fitting trousers, and so had been lacing his drinks with Viagra all night!


Sadly i never made it to the event, we fell out of some cowboy themed dancing type club in the very light hours, and onto the Casino Boat till i dropped, but Rutter had consumed enough medicine to give a limp Rhino a huge new Horn, so i'm sure Karl would have been giggling all day at his mate struggling to conceal the obvious!


He was wild one Karl, lived fast and raced hard.


This kind of thing always leaves me wondering about the TT, which i love as an event, its a fantastic spectacle, and hats off to each and every entrant to tackle the road course.

But i do find myself wondering whether technology has long overtaken the realms of reasonable safety for such an event.

the 600's are lapping only a handful of seconds behind the big boys, so too the sidecar outfits, and even the electric stuff is flying!, so limiting size or performance isn't going to work,

so has it simply outgrown the island?


i never thought i'd think this way about a bike race like this, but these sad losses are all too common nowadays

[Johnboy]

Great story chap
I should have been there last weekend, but events made it not possible ! My mates took some videos and I was gobsmacked at the old concrete fence posts leaning towards the roads on the hill sections if you came off there , you are toast! I'm with you tho, I think something needs to be done.

[PETROLHEAD]

Yeah theres so much against it, its a wonder it has remained an event this long really.



Some years ago, there was a campaign to support the idea of airbag bales in more than just the most notorious danger spots, and it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

maybe its time to hit the manufacturers with "if you want to enter, you pay your share"


i always thought that the first manufacturers to stump up big for this sort of safety measure, would have their name in 3ft letters for 5 miles of the course, year after year, and thought of as a very conscientious company to boot with an investment in the well being of its road and race riders, so its not like they wouldn't get anything back from it is it?


too late for some, but surely its time to at least table some ideas again

[Johnboy]

Yeah totally agree, would great promo for the company too

[KevJTD]

one of the biggest safety improvements of the last 15+ years in speedway has been the airfence.
saved countless serious injuries, or worse.

could it ever be used on the island though? suppose anything is possible. certainly a case for attempting to do something for the worst bits, but then look at where gary johnson went off....about the slowest part of the track, down a hillside and "got away" with a broken collar bone and a few scrapes. difficult to make the course safe, but an effort to make an attempt is surely needed.

[PETROLHEAD]

Agreed