Everyone knows Red Bull is far from an energy drink company, but putting your finger on what the company does today. Is it an F1 team? Is it the sponsor of action sports events and athletes? Or is it more of a content media powerhouse? You could argue that it’s all three, but I think it’s equally as fair to call it an ‘innovator’ or a ‘pusher’ in the power sports industry stunt industry.
The latest stunt from Red Bull involves freestyle motocross rider Luc Ackermann, and it’s hard to imagine a better rider for this stunt. Ackermann is the youngest rider to ever land a backflip, which he did in 2010 at just 12 years old. By 2017, just ahead of his 20th birthday, he became the youngest rider to land a double backflip. Then, in 2020, he completed 10 backflips in 30 seconds, which surpassed Travis Pastrana’s long-standing record by two backflips.
So, is there a better man on the planet to execute a Tsunami backflip between two moving trucks with a barrier in between? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean this was easily done—far from it.
The stunt involved Ackermann clearing a nine-meter-tall barrier and traveling around 40 meters. This alone is difficult, but throw in the fact he has to launch at exactly 74 km/h (45.9 mph), and it leaves him with a margin of error of just half a second—ridiculous. The element of risk involved in Red Bull is almost dulled because of how well-planned they are—nothing ever seems to go wrong. But this is the closest I’ve seen to a Red Bull stunt going wrong, and not by a small margin.
Watch the video below until the end to see just how close Ackermann was to catastrophe.
What do you think? Is the Red Bull stunt that’s given you the biggest squeaky-bum moment? Let us know in the comments.
