What was it like to race a 500cc 2-Stroke MotoGP bike in the WET?! - 5x champ Mick Doohan explains..
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Mighty Mick is anything but retired at this point but and is one of the busiest people that I know. Regardless we were still able to snag an hour and a half of epic chat with one of the greatest to ever ride on two wheels! Mick is someone I have looked up to my whole life and I am lucky enough these days to call him a mate. We have never really gone deep on anything to do with racing though, and this podcast was a real treat to be given the freedom to ask Mick all the questions I wanted about one of the most amazing careers in motorsports.
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The fact that he absolutely dominated Gran Prix motorcycle racing for five consecutive years after one of the most gruesome leg injuries imaginable is a testament to his work ethic and drive.
Especially since Wayne, Kevin , etc were long gone , on the most Dominate machine in the History of the sport Fuel Injection Traction control not to mention Dorna Repsol Backing that still exist today .... wake up .... he feared leaving the team .... only Karma made him retire at Spain same circuit Ironically #93 crashed out in 2020 after signing a greedy unheard of 4 year deal ...
@@CP-kb1du He beat "Wayne, Kevin, etc"straight up many times while they were there, so that's out the window. The NSR only became "the most dominant machine in the history of the sport" through the collaborative effort of Mick Doohan and Jeremy Burgess, so that's out the window. He resisted the electronic aids, Honda only being able to fully implement them after his departure, so that's out the window. He only ever signed one year, heavily incentivised contracts that brought about large payment only if the performance level were achieved and that left him at risk should he have a bad year and Honda chose not to renew, so that's out the window.
As far as Marc Marquez is concerned, how many other Honda riders have won even a single race, much less a championship, during his tenure at Honda?
You know, it is OK to acknowledge a generational talent, even if you don't like them.
mick is one of the greatest champions and grittiest competitors ever...
@@CP-kb1du Watch his crash at Laguna because he came back to early and tell me he was lucky!!!!! Watching him pull himself off the track by his fingers because he couldnt stand up almost put me off watching bike racing! And when he went back to the screamer engine no one who tried it tried it again and he did a whole season on the thing through pure skill. You are the worst armchair critic, one that knows f all !
@@rogerw3818 He will never agree he's the worst armchair critic, one that doesent even understand the sport! 8)
You are speaking to one of God's prototypes, people like Mick Doohan were never meant for mass production. He is a strait LEGENDARY human. Keep up the great work!
Beautifully said!
Ha that is very well said!
Agreed! There will only be 1 MICK DOOHAN! No one will ever come close.
“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.” - Hunter S Thompson
To rare to live, to rare to die!!
I liked it when Wayne Gardner came in from testing at Hockenheim in the wet, and he said to Jeremy Burgess when asked how he went, that it was wheel spinning, fish-tailing, and lifting the front wheel at 280kph at the end of the straight. Just nuts how these guys not only hung on, but mastered these machines in a competitive environment.
Absolutely blows my mind the technical skills these guys had to have with virtually zero rider aids! Racing in the WET is God level status!
They didn't have virtually zero rider aids though
@@canismajoris6733yes, they had zero
Mick is a great speaker,you can learn much listening.
The 2 stroke era bikes were wild.. those riders are beyond brave crazy and talented. Reminds me of group B rally cars but wilder
I still miss the 500’s. I used to also love reading the journalist’s perspective of the bikes when they would get the rare chance to ride on of those rockets.
And Honda would completely detune the NSR500 for the press ride events. ;)
I remember watching Mick as a teenager (I'm 45 now). Guy was an absolute beast in the 500s.
Wow! What a bloke! Quietly spoken, unassuming, cheerful, polite. Yet a master in a savage glitz-driven sport riding the most appallingly powerful and dangerous machines, that ended up maiming him.
Ayrton SENNA; what he did in the wet IN the most dangers F1 cars was amazing. 500cc 2stroke motoGP in the wet doesn't even sound possible!!!
Don't know how the RUclips algorithm has led me here. But watching Mick Doohan in the days of my youth. Mate what a legend!!!!!
Never been as scared as when my cousin had pit top tickets at Eastern Creek. We went up early and Mick came out on the big bang Honda. Standing on the top in the corporate area, no right to be there, but Mick came down the straight with the noise that thing made. I had no idea how he got around that corner. The speed and noise was incredible. Never forget how he threw the Honda onto the corner at the end of the straight. I was scared.
Have followed the GP for years but never felt the way I did watching turn one at Eastern Creek full noise. Absolute legend.
The 2nd bike I owned was a Honda NS400R, which was a limited run production version of the 500cc GP bike. It was bonkers.
i remember the times with Mick and Kevin Schwantz..... well ...that just means im old now :D
OMG !!!!! I never knew that the 500cc bike I used to watch on Eurosport in '89 was 170hp and ONLY 115kg !!!!!!! That on 2 wheels and in the rain is unfathomable for me as a layman.
379 lb wet,
Can’t believe you got this guy! This man is such a legend. He makes supercross riders look like whiny sissies. This man is the definition of mind over matter…
How so? Supercross bikes aren't even. Capable of anywhere near those speeds. Its a smooth track with as much open room to slide as the could give them. Not isle of man.
Supercross much lower speeds but you managing ridiculous power in a precision environment leaping 15 -20 ft in the air landing on a target barely the length of you bike 80ft away. Outdoor even higher speeds n bigger jumps at pro level. Yes this guy is a animal but he is comfortable at those speeds they have become 2nd nature. I'm no racer but as a young idiot with a sports bike 15 years ago I very quickly became comfortable breaking 150mph whenever i could generally on a daily basis like a selfish idiot. I feel your completely underestimating the skill set at pro level. Wich I believe both super bike and ama mx riders are underpaid for thier athletic ability when compared to other sports. But other sports are larger bigger revenue attractions. Now moto gp today.. they are paid well.
@@dormantmenace Agreed. Soso is talking out his ass...
@@dormantmenace I don’t think he’s talking about skill. Mick almost had his leg amputated and to come back a season later and go on a 5 year untouchable championship run really does make any other athlete look like a sissy. I think that’s what he meant. Ken Roczen is the closest comparison between the two sports…but Kenny’s only won races. He didn’t win 5 championships in a row on the gnarliest bikes the sports ever seen against a stacked field. I dont believe he was taking anything away from the skill it takes…which btw, you can make the same argument that they’re desensitized to the tracks and speed. Bear in mind most motocross/supercross racers at the highest level have been doing it since they were 3-4 years old. I do believe moto GP riders have a slight edge when it comes to skill but neither athlete could do what the other does. So it’s apples to oranges, more a matter of opinion.
@@dormantmenace like zeekdavis11 says below, you have it all wrong. Google a picture of Doohan with his legs sewn together to increase blood flow so he didnt lose the broken one. Was so bad he had to have his rear brake lever mounted on the handlebars from then on - then he won 5 consecutive titles.
@@dormantmenace I think you have no understanding of the skill required to race those old 2 stroke 500cc bikes. I'd rate Mick in the top 5 of all time across all disciplines, including F1.
I always compare the 500cc era with group b rally. The best generation and craziest machines
I compare the two-stroke era with group b in rallying, only a handful of racers were able to master the 500cc rockets as well as a 550hp rally vehicle. It was a great time, i miss it....😉
As for group B.. some of those numbers were bullshit and they actually had 700-1000hp at the wheel..twin charged turbo and supercharged..so no power band loss or lag. Very different times. Almost forgotten history. The 80's Audi quattro whooped the ass off the 2022 or 2023 quattro by over a second on modern tires. New isn't always better.. its just these people have to keep up the appearance of infinite growth on a planet with finite resources..at some point we hit the plateau in certain aspects. History is important.
Meet Mick at Donnington in 97. Had a pick walk and tour of honda repsol pit, the a lap in a Honda nsx car with Mick, which was great. He spoke and was asking questions about my bikes and riding experience. Great memories.
Pit walk
Pit walk
The 500s wear a total beast, in any conditions. But in the wet, this just shows how good these riders were.
That is why I believe that the riders of yesteryears were really the best of the best for the fact that they didn't have the comfort of present riders either road or off road racing. Today it's all electronics, before it was just the throttle, the brute power of the engine, mechanically adjusted suspension and PURE TALENT of the riders.
Correct. The golden era from Kenny Roberts to Mick Doohan
Proper racer. Went back to the screamer and done them all. No one else could ride it. 👍
The MAN.
Absolute star. Mental fortitude beyond comprehension. PURE STEEL.
What a fucking legend this bloke has bigger balls than a elephant and more talented than most of us ever wish to be or will be. I am in complete awe of this man he is the absolute goat . The bloke should be Australian of the year.
Pm
As the great late Barry Sheene once said, "He is the master at going faster." I have always followed Micks races including the Philip Island 6hour with his brother Scot Doohan on board Scots formula 1 Honda 750. Mick is the only rider I have ever seen come onto the straight on full lean until the start of the pit wall, until today everyone is almost bolt upright by then. Mick would have been off the track if he tried picking it up before then.
Nice to hear from him! Such a depth of knowledge and experience.
This guy was a god at what he did. His modesty tells you that. Respectful words about him don't come close to doing this guy and the very few others like him proper justice.
È e sarà sempre il mio idolo! Uno degli "inarrivabili" che hanno combattuto lealmente con moto potentissime e zero elettronica.
A parere mio gli anni più belli di sempre del motociclismo.
Thanks Mick, your extraordinary skill, confidence, courage and determination is legendary
I was priviliged to watch (TV) this super human racer from the 94 till 99 seasons, these guys had other skills, no traction control, no spinning control and most importantly NO FEAR (just watch any video of 94-97 seasons in Suzuka's back straight and you'll know... For me the great Mick among the greatest!
Nice to hear speak about Honda. The old man was always opposed to the 2T concept. Then when it came down to winning races, Honda built some of the best 2T engines ever.
This may read as a simplistic story. It was anything but.
Then I think I recently read about Honda applying for some sort of 2T technology patent. Weird. Maybe I just imagined it.
I remember in the early 90’s when I was buying my first road bike in Queensland Australia. Being a new rider we were limited to 250cc for the first year, before we could sit another test to go to an open bike licence. There were heaps of 2-stroke 250cc used bikes in the market back then (eg Suzuki RGV), and as Doohan was my hero I was seriously considering buying one. Luckily the owner of the bike shop who was selling them talked me out of it. I remember him telling me that it’s for experienced riders or the race track, and that he knows lots of young men who had killed themselves on those bikes. I probably owe him my life, knowing the stupid stuff I did on the bike I eventually bought (Yamaha FZR 250). I’m sure the 250 2-stroke would have spat me off in the first week 😂
Mick is always a gentleman and humble beyond belief.
I remember listening to a mate of my old man talking about Mick and how much of a good bloke he is, and how much fun it was to ride with him. Dicko is no longer around unfortunately, but its always great to see Mick doing interviews and podcasts.
I still remember the moment I bought my Arai rx7 rr3 Doohan replica helmet.Happy days..Couple years later I built my own thumb brake so I could still ride with a shattered ankle. You can guess where I got the idea..This man is a LEGEND and miss those days watching 500cc power slides and smoke pouring off the tire while leaned over
Mick is an absolute legend! Riders from the era that would be great to interview are Niall Mackenzie or Kiwi Simon Crafar.
I can not wait for episode two! Great interview of a phenomenal man. As an avid Grand Prix/MotoGP fan for the best part of 45 years it is amazing to me how this guy who won 5 championships in a row can still be this humble and to this day be so underrated. Maybe it is different in Australia but Mick Doohan, you good sir are a legend! Thank you for the memories and that you Gypsy Tales!
Mate he is one of the coolest guys I know! Lucky enough to get to hang with him a lot and he’s a true legend. So happy to be able to bring interviews like this to you guys!!
Like most Australian (and Kiwi) sports people he remains a real person. No inflated ego or hype.
I love that you’ve branched out to road racing. So cool to hear from this legend and to hear about the 500cc 2-strokes. Great stuff!
Special Racers are on another level especially against peers . Mick Doohans story is out of this world .
I went to centre point gym while I was swimming for QLD with my brother. We saw Mick D regularly doing his thing while we were doing our swimming/dry land training. He was always polite and a bloody legend. I remember he was missing his calf muscle after his accident and it made him faster.. 😂 True blue Aussie🇦🇺
Jeremy Burgess would be a brilliant guest on the show.
He’d tell the story from the other side of the 500.
He also once said Mick’s throttle control was better than Valentino’s “to a degree”… helps in the wet.
Love this dude, no homo... still one of the best helmets ever made
No homo🤣🤣🤣🤣 epic
Briefly met Doohan in the UK in the 90s in his era. What a machine of a man and racer. One of a kind.
Great interviews with both Mick and Casey. Both guys are amazing riders and personalities.
casey is famous for his charisma
Nice to see Mick again. My brother rode 9 seasons 500cc with him as a privateer and, as a kid, I went to a lot of race weekends with him. In the evening when fans got home, they would go and do fly remote airplanes on the straight (If I remember correctly, might have been remote cars) being mates, During the day they raced eachother hard.
There hasn't been a single rider since who could have stayed within sight of him apart from possibly Casey Stoner on a good day.
You bloody legend mick! ..me an my little bro used to be jumping up n down on the sofa for you back in the day! 👊
I wish riders today truly knew what a REAL rider like this man here is. Technology runs the bikes now and the men on them seem like they are just along for the ride. This man is a legend, VR is my dude for sure and is the last of the true breed of motogp riders ill forever miss in the sport. It would be cool if the circuit would mandate current riders to do like a past time type of race parallel to the current bikes so they know what no assistance truly feels like. This plays a huge part in why ill never part ways with my 1997 yzf750 that im truly in love with even tho its old and not nearly the power of the efi liter bikes. I might have a stroker motor kicking around for it tho that im still not ready for but one day ill swap it lol 😂
One of the last of the really great racers of 500cc beasts that wanted to kill you at any opportunity and a real Man's man coming back from nearly losing his leg to multiple championships.... Mick is the definition of a legend. great interview. Cheers!
Watched Mick ride late on the telly shit 30 or so ago I'm in my 60s so awesome I even got my photo in a wax museum with him lol ❤
A man who knows what real sacrifice is. Legend.
Nsr 500 is an animal/Doohan is a master of this beast.cheers mick/thankyou
I loved that interview clip!
Cheers from Daytona Beach Florida USA
Great to see Mick. Well done Jase👍🔥
😎🤘☠️ Back in the 80’s and 90’s I rode the fastest most powerful 500 motocross bikes ever made and I thought those bikes were insane, but the 500 GP bikes are a whole different level of insane!!!
great to hear from Mick! ...cld listen to him all day...sure he has lots of stories about his competitors as well
One of the best 500 cc drivers ❤❤
I remember reading an interview back in the day and Mick said “you’d hear the mechanics warming the bike up in pit lane from your motor home and you’d shit yourself think that you had to go out and ride it” 😳😳
That’s how crazy the 500’s were.
I remember him being asked if he took painkillers for his leg. He replied "I'm not really a painkiller type of guy".
I got chills just thinking about that kind of speed and power on the wet. The sweet spot between grip and a catastrophic wipeout must have been incredibly small. Go through puddle on a bike at speed and it's a code brown moment when you hydroplane going around a corner.
Great discussion. I'm loving this series with MD!
Your questions are on point. 👏
This bloke makes me proud to be Australian he was magician on two wheels love ya miccy
Mick's a really interesting man.
There are so many more questions that could have been pulled from this to make it an incredibly interesting interview.
Careful with the throttle, !! I ride a Gen 2 Hayabusa on the road and plenty of wet roads on A setting. It’s so so easy to spin in up and talk with the grass. I never have, but talk about understatement, Mick rides to be in front of speed freaks that can ride, I just ride to suit. I’d be lucky to get out of the pits. I don’t like comparing but period for period he is up there with the best Hailwood, Agistini and Stoner and many more.
i know the "newer" 500cc 2 strokes had more power but my dads friend "pretty much my uncle" had an old CR480 and i loved rideing that thing! stayed on the pipe the entire time and never felt off on it. my dad and my "uncle" said i was the first to ride it on the pipe like that and the first to never crash. im still mad at him for not selling it to me and pretty much gave it away to another friends kids for yard work and he blew it up in the first month....
Mick was the man, riding the NS beast.
What a legend he was and a true champion
Loved watching Mick at Phillip island just Power sliding around corners and a top bloke God bless him.
Loving this podcast bro!! The guests all seem to be ya typical hard-working humble blue collar Aussies!!
I was talking to my mate Alex Beck about this podcast and was like bro you'd be a great listen to on here. Local GC lad, Commonwealth/Olympian 400m runner/physiotherapist. Broke his PB at almost 30 years of age and is very optimistic he'll represent at the next Olympics in Paris.
Keep up the excellent content bro 🤙
Amazing career.
The two stroke has always been my favorite for a sport bike.
The Honda 500s are my favorite gp bikes.
I have a rz350 and a rc51.
The rz is modified and looks like a gp bike. Way lighter than stock.
It's more fun on the street than my rc51.
The sound and smell brings me back to the 60s and 70s.
Four stroke has its advantages.
But I love the sound and smell of an angry, multi cylinder chainsaw.
Mick was one of the very best.. he was fast on anything... Things got a bit stagnant in Motogp...... I think they ought to bring back the 500s, and the 250 and 25cc classes again.... The racing was better then for the spectators at least. If they wanted to limit it to four bangers for "evironmental" reason then so be it.... It'd be entertaining to see 4 cylinder 125s screaming around at 20,000rpm.... :-)
Il mio idolo, ha fatto parte di quel gruppo di Super uomini che hanno portato il motociclismo sportivo su pista a livelli mai più raggiunti.
Moto potentissime, scorbutiche, zero aiuti elettronici e dopo le battaglie in pista amici...
Inarrivabili!!!
One of the best channels out there. Not just because of the content, but the commentator allows people to talk....share and inform. Allows a great feed
When the era of GP 500 2 t was over, I stopped watching the Moto GP. Same after the v10 and v8 engines left F1, I stopped looking at these modern, plastic toys, . It was an era for men, today is an era for boys. Mick is one of my heroes. He was the same in GP 500 to me as Ayrton Senna in F1.
Remember when Honda put the electronics on Micks bike to test. The engineers were so proud that the electronics were so good compared to a human. Until the engineer told them the graphs they were looking at were from Mick not the electronics. When analysed they couldn't believe how Mick could control the throttle with such accuracy.
Mick is an absolute legend. Not sure I agree that Honda is the backbone to the sport, but loved everything else he said.
True blue Aussie gentleman and die hard competitor,great interview would like to see interview with Jerry Burgess micks crew chief,arguably the best Aussie crew chief ever.
In 1985, Freddie Spencer won both the 250 and 500 world championships for Honda. His 500 was a V3. Saw him at Daytona.
Awesome. Definitely your best.
The only track more crazy than GP 2 strokes in the rain was a wooden board track with potential 12" long splinters or death!
He was talking about the Honda NR. Lol, I never heard it called the “never ready”. That pretty good. But I got to see one of those bikes at the Barbers Motorcycle Museum in Alabama. I had a small diecast of the bike and saw the magazines. But seeing it in person was the something. It was like seeing a mythical unicorn.
Never really thought of it like that, assumed it would be the best of their engineers in HRC but having worked for Asian companies for 20yrs, stick the young guns in where it requires a cavalier approach and the old timers in where there’s real liability… makes perfect sense!😂
True legend! Great interview.
What a hero mick is i bet he could still give these youngfellas a run for their money.
What make a v 4 500cc two stroke crazy to ride is u mite go to busy race track one that keeps the pavement fresh...new pavement that has good track even in the wet u have traction...not great u have something but u go to a track where it has been repaved in ten years an the grip level is a 5 or 6...then it rains an grip level is negative 2 that's when a riding that 500cc monster is earning ur pay as they say....mick is one of my heros...I came in to RR Swantz Wayne mick Gardner were riding the 2 strokes....I imagine they have to turn the power valves to a soft setting...I have a tag senior Rotax race kart...it has a spring loaded adjustable exhaust power valve for wet because it hits so hard....fun but not in the rain
When NASCAR say it's too dangerous to run it the wet, I think of 500cc 2-strokes and laugh.
I remember after Barry Sheene had his second major wreck. He came back & people didn't even think he would ever ride again. They had to pick him up on & off the bike, because he couldn't walk, but he could ride.
Turning left in an american car that can only turn left on a banked oval is hard though :D
Absolute legend. People, if you're only into mx and ahvent watched any MotoGP stuff, spend some time watching old Mick videos please you'll thank me later
Mick never raced in moto gp..
I remember watching Mick and Kevin and Wayne back in the day….. incredible…
Then you must recall how Kevin was beating both a trash RGV ..when Wayne and Mick had the better machines ....
Yes 1989 was The Season for me. Kevin was almost unstoppable, when he stayed on..... 6 wins 9 Poles, 9 podiums and 8 Fastest laps BUT 6 DNF's out of 15 races. That Pepsi Suzuki REALLY was 'The Beast' and is still my favourite looking race bike of all time. Iconic both man and machine. ruclips.net/video/_Jab5YhWHpQ/видео.html
I remember those years - Mick was a tough and scrappy top 10 racer who got faster and better each year when you thought he might have peaked.
It's really interesting hearing him talk about the lack of feedback on the bikes. It seems like you could tune the suspension to get the feel into the bikes, but obviously not. They would know better than me.
A great interview. Subscribed.
For the young fans of MotoGp, this should help put into context the greatest of this era of riders, and in particular, just how wonderful Valentino Rossi was. remember, he became world champion during this era, and then dominated in every reinvention of the class for the next decade. Mick was an amazing rider...look at his stats, but Rossi is the GOAT,
Rossi used the bike Mick developed the previous 7 years, don't ever forget that! Tell me again how Rossi went on the Ducati. The same Ducati Stoner won the last 3 races one the previous year.
Mick took 1 year contracts from Honda. Each year he could demand more money. One of the best ever. Wish Rainey was around they would have some awesome duels in 90s when mick peaked
What a great interview!
Thanks legend
6:10 I’m pretty sure it was 80 81 with NSR500, the 250 Elsinore of road racing lol, because when Honda goes all in on a 2 stroke, they intend to blow the doors off the competition
Once again gypsy tails is the best podcast on the internet period this man guest list 👌 is second to nobody love this channel.
Appreciate the kind words!
This man was a beast really talented rider
Thumb brake helped 👍
Mick!!! Your the best!!! ❤❤❤.
Did anyone else other than me went WOW at 02:03?
The definition of bad ass.