Hobbes & Shaw is a 2019 spin-off of the popular Fast & Furious franchise, wherein US Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent and bounty-hunter Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and UKSF / MI6 agent Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) must team up to track down a programmable supervirus known as “Snowflake” from Eteon, a techno-terrorist organization.
Shaw’s sister, a fellow MI6 agent, has to inject herself with the world’s only does of the virus to get away from Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a cybernetically-enhanced Eteon operative who will do anything to recover Snowflake. Together, Shaw and Hobbes must find Shaw’s sister, learn how to extract the virus, and keep it out of the hands of Brixton and his army of Eteon operatives.
The film spans the globe from London to Chernobyl to Samoa, and has an 88% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the following critics’ consensus:
“Hobbs & Shaw doesn’t rev as high as the franchise’s best installments, but gets decent mileage out of its well-matched stars and over-the-top action sequences.”
For we petrol heads, the chase scenes are the highlight of the film, most notably the high-speed car chase through London in which Hobbes and Shaw drive a McLaren 720S and supervillain Brixton pursues them on a modified Triumph Speed Triple. The other two baddies appear to be on blacked-out KTM supermotards, most likely L8 950 SM models.
Brixton’s Speed Triple 1050R
The Triumph Speed Triple is an impressive machine in stock trim, boasting 148 horsepower and 86 ft-lbs of torque from a liquid-cooled 1050cc triple engine cradled in an aluminum twin-spar frame. The model first appeared in 1994, becoming one of the first production machines to embrace the “streetfighter” style so popular in the United Kingdom and beyond.
Over the years, the iconic dual round “bug eye” headlights changed into a more aggressive shape, and the once-carburetted machine gained fuel-injection, traction control, and many of the rider aids expected of today’s liter-bikes.
“It’s a naked, yes, but also an all-rounder capable of excelling on a daily commute and trackday alike.” —MCN
Idris Elba is an automobile aficionado, starring in car shows like King of Speed and No Limits, and the Speed Triple he rides in Hobbes & Shaw is instantly recognizable via its Triumph badging and twin-spar frame — although the headlights have been swapped out for some futuristic-looking LED units.
But all is not what it seems with Brixton’s Triumph in the film. Not only is his Speed Triple self-driving, it proves itself capable of some highly impressive mechanical contortions that would impress Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from the Transformers franchise. Here’s the full chase scene from the film.
Hobbes and Shaw Car / Motorcycle Chase
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