French firefighter's blaze of glory as he rides motorbike aflame for record distance
A French firefighter with an unlikely talent for setting himself on fire has claimed his third world record in a daring blaze of glory.
Jonathan Vero rode 442.10 m (1,450 ft) while he was aflame to set the record for farthest distance full body burn while riding a motorcycle.
Because why do just one dangerous thing when you can combine two?
Jonathan, 41, battles fires in his day job, but is also a trained stuntman and fire performer.
He claimed this new record on his modified Yamaha DragStar 1100 in Côte d'Or, France, in May, but he already had two others.
On 10 September 2022, Jonathan set the fastest full body burn 100 m sprint without oxygen in 17 seconds and the longest distance full body burn run without oxygen with 272.25 m (893 ft 2.5 in).
It goes without saying, but obviously don’t try any of this at home. Remember Jonathan, who goes by Joe Ignition on his socials, is a firefighter who is well equipped to handle the danger… and even he has been burned!
He told us: “During the other two records, I was burned in several places on my body and felt unwell. It took me over a week to recover physically from these performances, but I was proud to enter into the record book that I read as a child.”
And of his latest feat, he added: “Physically it’s very tiring – the suit is very heavy and the position on the bike is uncomfortable, but you have to focus on winning and give it your best shot at the risk of burning yourself.”
There were a lot of dangerous elements to Jonathan’s record attempt.
He explained: “Riding a motorbike on fire is very dangerous and complicated. You can fall, the motorbike can catch fire, and your safety is further away than usual.
“But above all, you have to constantly adapt your speed so as not to lose your flame.
“To achieve this performance, I had to modify the bike to make it fireproof, then I practised riding on fire over several distances and in different types of weather. Luckily, the weather was great on the day of the performance and the track was perfect, so I reproduced what I did in training, trying to cover as much distance as possible whilst staying on fire.”
Jonathan has had a passion for fire and for stunts since he was young. He also loves riding motorbikes and wanted to break this record as a way of paying tribute to Ghost Rider, his favourite comic book character.
And he’s proud that he never gave up on his dream despite the difficulties.
But that’s not his favourite thing about breaking the record.
He said: “My greatest achievement was to read the pride in my children’s eyes, they were proud of their father and that’s worth all the gold in the world.”
Check out this video of Usain Bolt reacting to Jonathan's 100 m record...