Something to note: The slo-mo video can be a bit deceiving because of the perspective. The tether looks REALLY long before the bag pops, but you can see that the vest has inflated by the time you see the sole of my right boot.
Because I'm a card-carrying member of the Lollipop Guild, that puts my torso no more than a foot and a half behind the back end of the bike at activation. The vest really did go bang in a hurry.
And Ant: NO WAY are you really going 125 mph at corner entry (i.e. tip-in). Not even steely-eyed missile man Paul Duval can do that and he's a full 30 seconds per lap faster than me on the same bike! 125 at rolloff I get because I know that's what I'm doing -- it's the only time I actually look at my speedo. But 125 at corner entry? I really don't see it.
Here's a video of Paul following Ken last weekend in which you can see his speedo.
At the first X (before tip-in) he's already decelerated to 113 or so from a peak of 140, and deceleration began well before the marker cone on the right, starting where that fast-disappearing gravel patch is. I roll off about where he does but I'm going a lot slower there because that kind of speed makes me fraidy-scared.
At the cone he's doing 130 and still leaned to the right. First X, 113, still leaned right. Second X 99 and still leaning right, third X just as the bike comes over the top, 88.
At tip-in, after the third X, he's doing about 84, depending on how you define tip-in. Knee down happens at about 73.
By the time he reaches the first apex in the chicane he's doing 60.
And both these guys are FAST. I think that at max lean where he's doing 73 or so, saying I'm doing 60 is, if anything, very optimistic. And you know I'm faster than you through there (but not as much as you might think).
Have a look.
Link to original page on YouTube.