Generally for me the excitement comes from having a lot at stake and pushing your limits! The greater the excitement the more at stake and the closer to your limits.
I have always thought with my life I could aim for higher levels of excitement but I would have to be prepared for greater levels of despair. Alternatively I could be ultra conservative and be quite boring with minimal highs and minimal lows. Well that seems to be how it works out for me.
Just watched the video of that guys crash. It is very nasty.