Cadwell’s Mountain: motorcycles flying through the air (Bonus vid: one of the worst crashes I’ve seen)

Cadwell Park is a motor racing track in Lincolnshire, UK, that was originally built in 1934 by the owner of the land to give his two motorcycle-crazy sons somewhere to race each other. It’s 3.6 kilometres of challenging and varying turns with frequent elevation changes due to its valley setting, and it has hosted everything from Formula 3 and Superkarts to its current most popular event - British Superbikes. Here’s an exciting onboard lap.

But Cadwell Park is most famous for one simple feature - “the Mountain,” where bikes exit a right-hander into a wicked uphill slope that frequently launches the fast boys well up into the air. So after the jump is a collection of photos from various sources - and a video of one of the most horrific race crashes I’ve ever seen. Enjoy!

But of course, as gut-achingly awesome as something like the Mountain is for the spectators, it certainly has its perils for the riders, as this bloke found out:

And finally - but only if you’ve got an iron stomach - here’s Leon Camier’s horrific crash from 2007’s BSB round. He lands it slightly sideways on the rear wheel, which is enough to throw him off into a sickening roll that completely snaps his right leg. Probably one of the most awful race crashes I’ve seen.

I’m glad to discover Camier’s back on a bike and taking podiums riding for Airwaves Ducati after spending some serious time in rehab training. He’ll sure have something to show the grandkiddies with that video!

Thanks to the lads at BikeME for the idea!

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