168mph… on skates!

WHILE you’d expect a FireBlade to hit 168mph, you’d have to look twice if a bloke on Rollerblades came past at that speed.

But that’s exactly what German Dirk Auer managed – with a little help from Kawasaki World Superbike rider Akira Yanagawa.

Auer hitched a tow from Yanagawa as he ripped a ZX-12R round the newly-opened high-speed ring at the Lausitzring in Germany.

Auer’s blades were attached to ski-style boots and fitted with five wheels – which Dunlop designed specifically to cope with the high temperatures – and had cooling ducts around them.

Auer said: ” When I first started talking to Kawasaki I was planning 160mph, so this speed is a bonus. Now I want to do 185mph. ”

Timing lights were set up just before the braking point on the ring’s 1.5-mile straights – and 168mph was the pair’s best run.

Yanagawa said: ” After a couple of goes through the lights, Dirk gave me the okay – so I wound it on. To his credit, he was able to hang on. ”