Man down :(
 

So 2 weeks before I'm due to race my baby at Castle Coombe and having just finished getting her track ready I had the bad fortune to meet a cage driver who decided he wanted to try this filtering lark :(

Mercedes flew past me in the middle lane straight into the back of stationary traffic and bounced off straight into me and wrote the bike off.

Luckily as he basically bounced sideways and body slammed me I was thrown clear and just have heavy bruising up the right side of my body (always wear leathers!! it was hot but had I been in T-shirt and shorts they'd be peeling me off the road instead!)

Going to be walking like John wayne for a while and really annoyed as I was training hard to get into shape for a tattoo in 3 weeks too (if the bruising stops me getting the ink I will be fuming...)

Pics attached.

Be careful out there folks.

I'm also gutted I let the scooter past me (I moved over so he could get out in front of cars instead of sitting between them) as he managed to go round the guy as he bounced but that left me no where to go so I had to take the hit.
Hey ho, the scooter wasn't in leathers so may have been far worse off for it so maybe it's for the best :(

Re: Man down :(
 

That's crap luck gws

Re: Man down :(
 

Bad luck fella and poor bike :( but you've earned some karma for saving the scootay riders skin and hopefully he saw what happened and it might make him/her think about wearing proper gear. Guessing the driver had sun in his eyes or was distracted in some way as to not see stationary traffic?

Re: Man down :(
 

What a f***ing pillock.

Re: Man down :(
 

Bloody idiot posh German car drivers. I see he's still in the car for one of the pics, was he stuck in it so that people could mock him for being rubbish?

Get well soon man, at least you're mostly OK :)

Man down :(
 

Sorry to hear this.
BTW, how do you train for a tatoo? I'm guessing you've been stabbing yourself with progressively larger pins over the last few weeks adding more reps as time goes on?

Re: Man down :(
 

ah man that sucks, glad to hear you are not majorly hurt :)

Re: Man down :(
 

Good thing you weren't sat in the middle lane! GWS!

Re: Man down :(
 

FFS. What a mess. Good that your relatively okay though.

Re: Man down :(
 

Did the driver try to explain why he didn't see the line of traffic that had stopped ahead of him? Pretty poor observation skills.

Now you have shown that you are bionic maybe a tattoo like this?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_qwTeGrRY-...1600/bQO4Q.jpg

Re: Man down :(
 

ouch! as others have said what a pillock..

in the 2nd pic it looks as if he sat ready to go with a look of "whats the problem people, get out the way so i can get to my more important than yours day"

Re: Man down :(
 

There looks to be a child seat in the back of that estate, I do hope that wasnt occupied when mr "outmyway" came ploughing through.

Glad you're not too beaten up pal, the bike doesn't look to chipper but alas that can be fixed... or replaced.

Am I reading it correct that you were crawling in the RH Lane, he came down your LHS and hit traffic which was stationary in front of him? If that's the case you are SERIOUSLY lucky! He could have esily swerved into you and you'd have taken the brunt of it, or worse been sandwiched between that and the car in front of you. Honestly man you've got to be counting the stars with that one!

Re: Man down :(
 

Hahaha It was always a requirement for me I be at a certain fitness level before I get my tat as the design needs to look 3D and like it's "Gripping" my arm and shoulders so I've been hitting the gym hard to get good definition for it :)

Should look fine when I'm old and not so built as well but for now it should be an awesome effect ^_^

Re: Man down :(
 

Ya you are spot on me and 3 others were just about to start filtering when he came thundering past and accelerated into the back of traffic.
He bounced out enough to catch me but yeah could have been worse and he could have decided to go over me instead of into the Audi so I guess Kudos to him for that if it was deliberate but given he was still accelerating I don't think he was paying that much attention :)

Thanks for all the good wishes folks, I'll be breaking the bike once the insurance is settled as it's fooked and beyond repair as far as I'm concerned but I'm sure someone can make some good from it.

Front forks are totalled and she won't start/turn over any more.
All the right side eveythings are totalled and the tanks got a huge dent in it.
Exhaust is bent and damaged and so's the link pipe.
She (and I) went down pretty hard :(

As I say I'll get a full list once insurance is done :(

Re: Man down :(
 

That sucks mate, you were lucky by the sound of it, GWS anyway.

How can a driver not see if the traffic is stationary if looking ahead? They weren't on the phone were they?

Re: Man down :(
 

Yowch!

Glad you're (mostly) OK!

Jambo

Re: Man down :(
 

You're lucky man, shame about the bike... GWS.


Im interested in the drivers excuse for the somewhat idiotic driving though?

Re: Man down :(
 

No idea, he was incoherent due to smashing his head in the crash (at least I assume that's why..) so didn't speak to him before he was carted off in an Ambulator.

Not been called by his insurance company or anything yet...
Given the police response (and handing me his details) I'm pretty sure it's insured at least =p

I do NOT want to be his insurance broker right now though!
he's not having a good day :)

Re: Man down :(
 

How many vehicles involved in total? Quite a few quid on the write offs, suspect his merc will be a WO as well looking at the possible chassis damage.
Assuming its a company car his employer must be quite pleased...

Re: Man down :(
 

A lot of damage on your bike.It may be better to take the full write off payment rather than buy back and fix up or buy back and break.Not much left worth having is there?
And dont forget to claim for every item of clothing that got messed up and your injuries.Have you spoke to White Dalton or similar yet?
Good luck with it.

Re: Man down :(
 

glad your mostly ok, also don't forget to claim for a new crash helmet.

Re: Man down :(
 

Sounds nasty, can't imagine what the driver was thinking. Glad you're OK. Metal can be replaced.

Re: Man down :(
 

what a ****, GWS mate.

Man down :(
 

Get well soon mate, never nice seeing your bike go down the road!

Re: Man down :(
 

Thanks ;)
Yeah total claim going in for everything, clothing and lid all going in, watch is messed up as is my backpack and the touchpad in it :(.

As for injuries thats all with Carol Nash Legal and their pro's now.

Just got a call this morning saying they are sending me a Kawasaki ER 650 (N I think) to cover me while I'm waiting for a settlement (woot) just hope my neck lets up by the weekend when it gets here so I can do life savers or I won't bother just yet I think.

Got a lot of bits I just put on it for the track that are still good (Pezzo levers, intergrated lights etc) that are still good I want to get back if the scrap value is low enough.
Got the bike back last time in better condition that this one for £100 so may be worth it.

Re: Man down :(
 

if you're not fit to ride i think they're obligated to provide a ire car if your licence correspnds. I know that was certainly the case when bert wreck his pointy, hand and foot.

Re: Man down :(
 

ouch!, hope you bounce back ok!

Re: Man down :(
 

unlucky man... milk him for every last £

Re: Man down :(
 

The car was 7 years old, bit old for a company car as they are renewed every 3-4 years.

What was the woman doing to the driver in that second pic?

GWS sounds like you were bloody lucky!

Re: Man down :(
 

Good point!

Re: Man down :(
 

She was one of those descending angels that every smash should have :)

instead of going round and home she Blocked the lane to protect me as I was winded and couldn't get up straight away then went to give the driver an ear full but finding him out of it with a head injury she got him water and talked to him until the Ambulance arrived to keep him in the game.

I'm hoping the insurance will pass on her deets so I can send her a heartfelt thank you for her taking an hour out of her trip home to make sure we were all OK.

Bikes been taken away today by insurance to get assessed and my gears damage totaled up to £1,560 so that claims with them too.

Looks like I'll lose my track day as well so billing them the £180 fee and loss of enjoyment.
I'm honestly considering PATRACKING.CO.UK to get a track bike for the day (£270!), just not sure I can scrape the funds together in 2 weeks or justify it as I'm still stiff and sore.

Got a hum dingger of a bruise up my right side now which I would post only the location makes it hard to get a pic of it without it looking a bit of like a "paint me like one of your french girls" poses, some poor bugger on my insurance claim teams about to open their mail and lose their breakfast ^_^

No idea what pain and suffering will add up to but I guess we'll see.

Re: Man down :(
 

Looks like I'll lose my track day as well so billing them the £180 fee and loss of enjoyment.
I'm honestly considering PATRACKING.CO.UK to get a track bike for the day (£270!), just not sure I can scrape the funds together in 2 weeks or justify it as I'm still stiff and sore.

Yeah - maybe you'll be better by then but I don't know how the likes of Lorenzo and Crutchlow race with broken bones etc.

Riding a bike on track is such a physical thing and I don't know about anyone else but everything has to be 100% right for me to really push it when riding - having a zip digging in puts me off!

Re: Man down :(
 

I can imagine :)
But then I have the flip side of it's not my bike so I'd be less up tight about it than on my commuter that I'm using on track ^_^
Not that I'd be stupid or anything but certainly less fearful of crashing :)

Re: Man down :(
 

True and admire your willingness to get straight back on after quite a serious crash. Horrible being properley winded isn't it?