British motorcyclist Guy Martin broke the World Record for the fastest speed travelled around a Wall of Death on a motorbike live on Channel 4. He completed the amazing feat by riding his motorcycle horizontally around a large wooden drum style arena, reaching speeds of 70.33mph to break the record – and then topped that by hitting 78mph on his second go.
The wall of death – a fairground anachronism that hasn’t lost its power to thrill. Big, noisy motorbikes speeding around the inside of a giant wooden cylinder, riding horizontally but kept up by the workings of speed, centrifugal force and the crowd willing them not to fall, especially when riders steer with their feet. It’s daredevil mechanics, and who do we look to for daredevil mechanics on television? Guy Martin, of course. But being Guy, he doesn’t want to take on a regular wall of death. He wants to take on the largest wall of death ever built, specially constructed out of shipping containers. Steve Jones presents as Guy tries to set a new world record, and go further and faster than ever before.
