Imagine you live on a big hill and you need to get to the bottom sharpish, what will get you there faster? A pushbike or a car?
CHOICES, choices . . .
Let’s pretend you live on a big hill and you need to get to the bottom sharpish.
What is the quickest way down?
By pushbike? Threading your way through trees that really hurt if you hit them.
Or by car? The longer route with the longer life expectancy.
Danny Hart would say bike because A) he’s not wired up right, and B) he’s the downhill mountain bike world champion.
The Danny Hart Descend Bike Park is high up in Hamsterley ForestI’d say car. All day long.
Let’s find out.
We meet at Danny’s playground — the Danny Hart Descend Bike Park — high up in Hamsterley Forest, County Durham, and he’s agreed to a lickle race to the bottom.
First thing to note. You know this kid is the real deal because his kit is covered in rainbow stripes.
That’s the equivalent of No1 on a race car or the yellow jersey on the Tour de France. It means he’s the daddy.
Next, his custom Mondraker bike is worth around £8,000.
(Hmmmm. Bicycle or 04-reg Porsche Boxster?)
And, thirdly, he’s bloody fast.
Danny will nudge 50mph at the Mountain Bike World Cup at Fort William this weekend — a 2.8km (1.7mile) course that descends 555 metres down the face of Britain’s ninth highest mountain.
You get to the start by gondola. Most of the world’s top courses are ski runs littered with rocks, jumps and banked corners.
Danny said: “I just do what I can and have fun. I don’t put pressure on myself.
“I’m just a normal guy. I love racing and the thrill of speed and I love the lifestyle.
“Wherever we go — Europe, Canada, Australia — the crowds are amazing. We are good enough to be an Olympic sport and hopefully that will happen one day.”
Back to the race. I’m driving a full-blown Fiesta WRC in the colours of WD-40.
Flat-shift six-speed gearbox, 4WD, 0-62 in 3.8 seconds (on gravel), hydraulic handbrake, 325 horses and oversteer overload.
You’ll see me hooning around at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed later this month.
KEY FACTS:
Danny said: “It looks crazy fast.”
Yes, it is. And it has doors and seats and harnesses and a roll cage.
To find out who won our duel, watch the video at mcb777.site/motors.
I was polite enough to give Danny a lift back UP the hill but he admitted: “I’m not a good passenger. On my bike I’m 98 per cent in control but I’m not used to putting my life in anyone else’s hands.”
Pussycat.
