Pigs do fly on tour
What do a small group of biking Cops do when they go on tour to Belgium. They race Bikes, thats what.
Every year for the last 17 years a growing number of biking cops head to the liege region of Belgium to take part in a moto tour style rally raid around the lanes of this picture post card area of europe.
This year saw the 55h running of the Rallye International of the Auto-Moto-Club Police Liegeoise. This is truly an International event and attracts Police Riders from the across Europe. Riders come from far and wide, from the UK to Finland and beyond with one thing on their minds and that’s racing motorbikes.
The event format is very simple; riders, individually tackle numerous special stages against the clock with the fastest rider over course being declared the winner. Simples!
Most riders choose super-Moto style bikes, SM bikes give the best mix of speed, handling and manoeuvrability, but having said that you will find the odd gsxr with mx bars and a smattering of R6's. This type of event requires a machine to have good acceleration, a top speed of 120mph and stonking brakes and Super-Moto bikes fit this format of racing very well, mind you one of the French riders had a recorded top speed from his modified R6 in excess of 140mph on a forest track. (Please don’t try this at home folks, The French team are basically semi-professional racers and compete in several events of this type during the year and not surprisingly they do very well.)
The stages are on closed country roads across some brilliant terrain, all tarmac but some surfaces are better than others, (can you imagine the British authorities closing 30 to 40 miles of country lane in Kent for example and allowing motorcycles to race from a to b at break neck speed? Na, won't happen over here. Or will it?) Home police forces are well represented in this event and the interest is growing, the civilian world are catching on too so you never know, it may come over here, But for now “Pigs are flying in Europe”,
One of our riders had a camera on his bike during the stages. 3 of the stages are on the web. Check out Liege rally on You Tube. (Thanks to Nigel and Nick) this was filmed from one of bikes during the event and is real speed, not doctored in any way.
Motorsport can be dangerous but the Europeans have a brilliant way of making motorcycle-sport a relaxed and sociable event. Motorcycles can be dangerous if used irresponsibly but when used well there are fewer ways to get the juices going.
So Get On ya bike, Stay up-right.
