ASC 'Tornadoes' motorcycle team sets 9 records

Colleagues rush to a rider's rescue after his jacket caught fire as he jumped through a 'tunnel of fire'. DH PHOTO/ANUP RAGH T

Daredevil motorcycle rider Captain Shivam Singh (C) belonging to the 'Tornadoes' motorcycle acrobatic team of the Indian Armed Forces during a trial run prior to riding through a tunnel of fire during an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records

The rider is being given first aid. DH PHOTO/ANUP RAGH T

The Army Service Corps’ famed motorcycle display team ‘Tornadoes’ broke nine records on Monday and Tuesday. The army said no injuries were sustained during the attempts.

Among the records broken was the “fastest human pyramid riding on one motorcycle”, which was a brand new attempt, and 12 men on a motorcycle who covered a distance of 1 kilometre in 51.30 seconds.

The second record was for “fastest human pyramid riding on two motorcycles”, which saw 17 men on two bikes cover a one-km distance in 46.26 seconds. The previous record saw 15 men cover the same distance in 48.12 seconds.

A third record involved 34 men on three motorcycles covering a distance of one kilometre in 54.35 seconds. The previous record, set in 2015, saw 32 men take 56.23 seconds.

In a separate new and record-breaking attempt, 44 men on five motorbikes covered the same one-kilometre distance in 53.30 seconds.

Another new record at a human pyramid attempt saw 39 men on seven motorbikes cover 1,200 meters in one minute and 11 seconds. The human pyramid towered 209 inches in height. The sixth record involved the longest backward drive, which saw Havildar Pradeep S S drive backwards for 204.4 kilometres on Tuesday. The previous record, set in 2015, covered 202 kilometres.

Meantime, Naik Shewale Ravindra set a new record for riding 305.4 kilometres on a motorcycle while controlling the vehicle using only his feet. This was a brand new attempt. Another soldier, Naik Rinu S V, carried out the longest knee ride recorded so far by travelling 160.7 kilometres in a motorcycle while controlling the vehicle using only his knee. The previous record, set in November 2015, covered only 19 kilometres.

The last record involved the longest ride through a tunnel of fire. Captain Shivam Singh rode through a 127-metre-long tunnel of fire on Tuesday, quashing an earlier world record set in South Africa by two men, Enrico Schoeman and Andre de Kock, who covered 120.40 metres in September 014.

The “Tornadoes” created a sensation at their first appearance at the IX ASIAN Games in 1982 at Jaipur.

Since then the precision motorcycle team have performed in numerous display shows in and outside India.

The records were attempted under the guidelines of the certifying agencies: Guinness Book of Records, Limca Book of Records, Asian Book of Records, Unique World Records, International Book of Records and India Book of Records.

New level of daredevilry

The Tornadoes took their daredevilry one step forward when one of the drivers continued his stunt to break the record even as his jacket caught fire while jumping through a 'tunnel of fire'.

While breaking the record of the longest ride through a tunnel, the rider had reached 127 metres out of 130 when the jacket caught fire. His jacket on fire, the rider broke the previous record of tunnel of fire (120.4 meters) by crossing 127 metres. Soon after, he fell off the motorcycle but managed to come out of the tunnel successfully.

The ASC commandant stated the rider was not injured in the incident.