Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Thrill to a death-defying exhibition of complex restoring torque!

The wall of death is a carnival act featuring motorcycles which apparently defy gravity by riding around nearly horizontally on a circular, vertical wooden wall. In other words, the cycle and cyclist are almost perpendicular to the ground and roaring around several feet off of it. If it helps, envision the scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey in which either Frank Poole or Dave Bowman is seen jogging all the way around the circular inner surface of their spacecraft. Add gravity, a common vertical frame of reference, motorcycles, and little kids spilling popcorn. Ladies and gennlemen, THE WALL OF DEATH!

"What are you doing, Dave?" indeed.

The wall itself is a cylinder approximately sixteen feet high and about thirty feet in diameter. The bottom two to three feet of the wall slopes toward the ground to allow dirt-bound bikes to ascend and horizontalize. Spectators stand on a platform around the circumference to watch the show inside the cylinder, and from photographs I've seen it looks like there's not much protection provided in the eventuality of a bike going over the top of the wall. Danger, after all, sells tickets.

The history of the wall of death is hazy, but the stunt appears to have gotten its start on the American state fair circuit sometime in the 1920s. The act grew out of the sport of "drome riding", in which motorcyclists would race around a wooden track. The corners of these tracks cambered dramatically, to the point where some went nearly vertical. While lots of fun to watch, this sort of racing was devastatingly unsafe and died out. However, the core of the thrill, the astoundling vertical cornering, was retained and transmogrified into the touring wall of death phenomenon.

If watching folks simply exploit physics isn't enough of a charge for you, most "drome riders" (as some like to be called) combine the wall of death with trick riding; riding tandem, motorcycle choreography, acrobatics, you name it.

The Indian Scout 101 motorcycle is the traditional standard wall of death vehicle, prized for its exceptionally balanced weight. However, it is possible and relatively common to ride the wall of death in four-wheeled vehicles such as cars or go-karts.

Wall of Death is also a song.

Wall of Death
Lyrics by Richard Thompson
from the Richard & Linda Thompson album Shoot Out the Lights

Let me ride on the wall of death one more time
Let me ride on the wall of death one more time
You can waste your time on the other rides
But this is the nearest to being alive
Let me take my chances on the Wall of Death

You can go with the crazy people in the crooked house
You can fly away on the rocket or spin in the mouse
The tunnel of love might amuse you
And Noah's Ark might confuse you but
Let me take my chances on the Wall of Death

On the Wall of Death
On the Wall of Death
It's the nearest to being free

Well you're going nowhere when you ride on the carousel
And maybe you're strong, but what's the use of ringing a bell
The switchback will make you crazy
Beware of the bearded lady
Oh let me take my chances on the Wall of Death

You are going nowhere when you ride on the carousel
And maybe you're strong, but what's the use of ringing a bell
The switchback will make you crazy
Beware of the bearded lady
Let me take my chances
Let me take my chances
Let me take my chances


Educational - http://www.wallofdeath.com, http://www.wall-of-death.co.uk, www.mut.ac.th/~physics/Physics/PhysicsMagic/wall.htm, www.shef.ac.uk/nfa/history/walls.html, http://www.wallofdeathonline.com