gak rame: [FunOnTheNet] Chilean Stunt Rider

Can you spot the motorcycle? Incredible footage shows Chilean stunt rider making death-defying 4,000 metre jump on his bike

By Paul Bentley
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 6th May 2011

This is the moment a fearless Chilean stuntman flings himself off a 4,000 metre high mountain edge in the name of extreme motorcycling.
Breathtaking video footage shows Julio Muñoz, 37, speeding his bike onto a ramp positioned on the cliff-edge before soaring above a distant valley in the Chilean Andes.
He holds tight to his motorcycle before releasing himself thousands of metres in the air and freefalling until the last possible moment, when he finally opens his parachute 200ft from the ground.

Can you spot him? Chilean parachutist Julio Munoz makes a 4,000 metre high jump on his motorcycle in Loma Rabona, Chile

Last Saturday's terrifying stunt was captured by a series of cleverly positioned cameras, at the expense of more than $100,000.

Cameras attached to Muñoz's helmet and shoes show the breathtaking feat from the riders perspective, while a helicopter passes overhead to capture the stunning bigger picture.

Fearless: Chilean parachutist Julio Munoz flings himself off the 4,000 metre high cliff-edge

The stunt, which was videoed using twelve digital cameras and involved positioning a half-ton ramp and Muñoz's 450cc bike at 4,000 metres, took months to arrange.
Three helicopters were used to transport all the equipment to the location in the Loma Rabona region of the Andes and to help video the huge jump.
Paratrooper Muñoz said the extraordinary stunt was just an 'everyday' experience for him and that the logistics involved in financing the stunt, known as 'BASE Project Los Andes', were far more stressful than the jump itself.

Release: Munoz flings himself from his motorbike after making the jump 4,000 metres in the air

Freefall: The camera on Munoz's shoe shows the moment his bike flies away from beneath him

Relief: Munoz finally releases his parachute at the last minute, just 200ft from the ground

'On the way to the ramp, I was focused on adjusting the speed on the bike. When I left the ramp and I'm flying, when I'm in the middle, that's where I really feel comfortable - in the air. Exiting the ramp was natural, and the flight was an everyday thing for me,' he said.
'It took two months to prepare and assemble it all - to develop the ramp, to have the parachute with the logos. It was good preparation. I always felt very comfortable with the people I worked with,' the stuntman added.
The paratrooper said he now intends to keep pushing the barriers of his extreme sport. He intends to try to clear the 'Colt barrel' in Peru, one of the deepest in the world.

On top of the world: Munoz on the edge of the ramp, thousands of metres high in the Andes