Whoops!
 

For future reference, here is a sign that your trackday is not going to according to plan: Everyone else is discussing fitting wets, and the only thing you can do about the dodgy weather is turn on your heated grips :)

Knockhill was wet today... It stayed dry for the morning session, but the track was stone cold and soaked wet, and there were so few bikes it wasn't drying up fast. But, as sole representative of SV honour, I couldn't chicken out...

And it was great! Hardly any bikes out, and i got into a not-especially-titanic fight with a GPZ900 and a Gixxer 400 (we were all exactly the same speed, but the fight was settled after about 10 laps when the Gixxer popped and the GPZ carried on at Duffus and explored new territory... And along the way made an absolute monkey out of a guy on a 636 who kept on complaining about how his Rennsports were no good in the wet, by overtaking him 5 times in 2 laps on sports touring tyres.

I'd been around maybe 40 times and the track was drying, just starting to pick up the pace (1 minute 16 I made it, 5 seconds off my best previous (dry) time)...And along the way made an absolute monkey out of a guy on a 636 who kept on complaining about how his Rennsports were no good in the wet, by overtaking him 5 times in 2 laps on sports touring tyres.

And I found myself a wet patch on a a dryish line, locked the front end, almost saved it but then went over the other way onto the right. I think this was exactly where Careless Chucka had his moment, braking into the hairpin, going down from about 80 to not very much at all, and the bike must have slid for about 30 metres before ending up in the gravel. I had a great view!

So I slid along on my back, thinking vaguely about how quiet it suddenly was and trying not to scratch my Arai (I didn't) and mulling over how surprisingly painless a crash from 60 mph can be, then legged it over, picked up the bike, and:

Let's have a big hand for the R&Gs, everybody! Ground a huge lump out of them, lost the brake lever (it stayed on till the gravel, would have been fine otherwise), not a mark on the frame, tank, bodywork or can... Ground the tip off the rear brake as well. The only downer is the right hand pillion peg, which I put on to protect the can (it did) must have caught, as it's twisted up by about 45 degrees and bent the subframe with it. There's a wee crack in the pillion peg mount but it might straighten out.

And it started again first try :)

Wigan finally appeared about a minute before I managed to throw it down the track, and got out for a little while in the afternoon session before the heavens opened and it all went a bit rubbish... Riding home was no fun at all. But y'know, despite the damage, I had a great day and I'd do it again.

Nice to see you had a great time, besides the fact that you had an off. So glad the bikes hardly damaged too. Oh and Rennsports on a 636, nah, thay don't work. :lol:


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Nice one, glad not much damage

Hope that hugger survived and those new plastic washers did the trick :wink:

Damn you all that are still getting out there for those track days :roll: :roll:

Good story too, especially where you mentioned " And along the way made an absolute monkey out of a guy on a 636 who kept on complaining about how his Rennsports were no good in the wet, by overtaking him 5 times in 2 laps on sports touring tyres." Twice.

Guess you liked that bit then :lol: :lol:

Bad luck mate, sounds like a decent day apart from the off. R&G does it again (I've still not replaced my crash bung from my knockhill off!). Were the medical hut guys trying to get you to do push-ups then?? :roll: :lol:

And I'd be repeating myself too if I'd overtaken a 636 5 times in 2 laps!!! :lol:

Roll on spring for the next (hopefully dry) SV Ecosse Knockhill trip!!!

well written (if not well ridden) mate :P

you forgot to mention the guy on the 636 then went and binned it before the first corner after leaving the pit lane following the safety car :?

knockhill is a lot better than i was expecting it looks a bit crappy with only 7 corners but every one is a challenge and the crest on the straight that hoists the front wheel is buzz city

i had a couple of nice back wheel lock ups which is always fun :twisted: and took a bloke on a mille which works wonders for your ego :lol:

Glad you made it out on the track this time Paul, hope you made it home safe too!! You certainly do a lot on miles on that machine!! 8)

journey home wasnt to bad raining all the way from about annandale water but i've learnt my lesson and made sure i had waterproofs on(mileage is upto about 15000 in 6 months :oops: )

northwind did you get any pictures? ,if so and you want them hosting let me know other than that mail them anyway so i can have a look :D

Sorry, excuse my innocence... 636? :oops:

Stu

kawasaki 636 ninja

sounds like i missed a good day, dam those reluctant babysitters. made it along for all of 20 min in the car with the kids to see you andy but you had gone home, dont know why it was only a bit heavy rain.

glad you managed to get on the track this time paul, you were gutted missing it last time, but then it was a long way to go to stand and watch us having fun.

so lets see if we can get a bigger ecosse turnout in the spring.

slight derail - whats happening about our off road experience?

i'm still up for that depending when it is and some other stuff i have going on at the moment...at oulton in november so may well be skint if its then

It's getting to that time of year. I'll resurrect the post in SV Ecosse and see who else is still interested in mucking around in a field full of mud with you! :shock:

POST
 

hI Hazel,We,thats my son and a few mates are doing an off road day in Nov round about the Donnigton area £145 all in excluding lady? mud wrestlers What is the cost of your day out??

Damn you cut and paste! Although the Ninja thing did bear mentioning twice I think. That rain was bloody horrendous, I rode through a flood on the way home that was as high as the front brake calipers, making a nice cloud of steam... I would have hung around till you arrived, Hazel, but I had a gig to get to in the evening.

I think I can honestly say the off was just one of those things that happen when you're riding quick on the track, wouldn't have happened in the dry (or at least, not like that) And since more than half the bikes in the morning session ended up with nice new scrapes along at least one side, doesn't bother me much. Bike'll patch up like new (again). And taking on a wet track on a road bike does get you some points in the eyes of the bystanders (the 2 12-year-old kids that were skiving off school to watch told me (between drags on their Marlboros) "That was the best f***ing crash ever! You went for MILES!")

And no push-ups Baz, the 2 (attractive, young, female) paramedics checked my lid for dents, asked me if I was feeling OK, had a wee look at my slightly sore wrist, called me a daft sod and told me to bugger off :) I had to sign a wee form saying something along the lines of "I, the undersigned, confirm that I am not crippled" as well.

And Bigape, the undertray's fine!

All the photos of Wigan are crap :( My wee camera doesn't like fast-moving bikes it seems. I did get some decent shots, evidently the 749 and Mille were going slower :) There was a semi-pro photographer there who#s going to get back to me if he got any good snaps of us though.

Re: POST
 

hiya mac we are looking at doing just the introductory course which is 2 hours actual riding, bike, kit etc for £75 just to see if we like it first. whats not to like, bikes, mud and me :lol:

yeah form an orderly q please :lol: