The new Top Gear, (from a year ago, but first seen today by yours trully), had a tribute to Eddie Kidd.
So who is Eddie Kidd?
A motorcycle jump specialist and a stunt rider.
The dry bits n pieces are here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Kidd
An outstanding motorcycle jumper.
Started at age 14.
Did all sorts of jumps.
Including over the Great Wall of China. Which does not look like much on this video https://youtu.be/_esY7lvszwA because it does not show that Eddie could not see the landing zone till he was in the air. Then, if he missed the landing, he would tumble down the mountain side, hundreds of feet to the water below. It also looked like he needed another row or two of cardboard boxes.
For stunts, you can see Eddie in two James Bond movies and many, many more.
His last jump, in 1996, was a short one over a race track.
However, the landing area sloped up, instead of down. So his landing would be contrary to the laws of Physics. To make it worse, at the end of the landing area, there was a 20ft drop.
Eddie landed so hard, that his chin hit the petrol tank, yet he still kept the bike upright, but could not stop before the drop.
He was in a coma for months, suffered paralysis, suffered brain damage, and needs 24hr care. But still managed the London Marathon in 2011.
Here’s a 4min video tribute to Eddie https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22eddie+kidd%22+motorcycle&t=ffsb&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSOSe1JJjay8
So there we go.
Eddie Kidd, OBE
A pioneer of motorcycle jumps and stunts. And the World Champ!