07-12-2019 às 14:05
Citar:MCN talks Triumph Tiger with the man behind Bond bike stunts
Triumph have revealed that two of their models will appear in the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, including a Scrambler 1200 ridden by Bond himself. Also featured is the all-new 2020 Triumph Tiger 900.
MCN spoke to the film’s stunt coordinator, Lee Morrison, to find out what the bikes went through during filming, how the decision was made to use the new Tiger 900 and what modifications the bikes needed to be up to the job.
"Once we knew that we were going to have bikes as part of the chase sequences for this film, we started looking at what models we liked," Morrison explained. "We thought we wanted the Tiger 800 but when we spoke to Triumph, they told us they had a new, lighter 900cc version in development that we could use under embargo. They brought it down for us to have a look at and we decided that definitely had to be one of our bikes.
"That was a prototype and so we started testing a few things out. There’s a chase sequence in the film with a lot of water involved and some river crossings so we wanted to make sure we could run them through water without any problems. Apart from that, everything was pretty much ready to go."
A few modifications needed to be made to make sure the bikes could be used safely so far out of their normal riding conditions. The suspension was stiffened up, a sump guard was added and the screen was swapped for a smaller unit to allow the stunt rider to get further forward over the bars in the air.
"We jumped the Tiger 140 feet to flat landing ten times and it sucked it up every time. We’d check it over, check the spokes, the Triumph mechanics would make sure everything was ok and then we’d do it again," Morrison said.
More than one Triumph model sees action in the film. "We modified Scramblers with stiffer springs on the rear and heavier springs on the front and we switched off all the rider aids and ABS but we jumped those too, and you’ll see that in the film."
Triumph aren’t the only manufacturer to feature in No Time to Die, either. A Norton Dominator SS featured in 2015’s instalment of Bond, Spectre, and Morrison confirmed that Norton appear once again in Q’s laboratory. There is also a chase set in Italy that uses a number of bikes including a Triumph Tiger 1200 and Ducati Scrambler.
The partnership with Bond was announced at an event at Triumph's Hinckley factory where the new Tiger was used to jump over a new Land Rover Defender, which will also appear. The film is the 25th instalment in the Bond film franchise and will be released in the UK on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
Fonte: MCN