I lost both my virginities
 

Hi guys, I know I'm not much of a poster on this forum but I thought I could share this with you:

On my most recent trackday, (6th overall), 3rd session, 3rd lap and here comes the 90mph right hand sweeper, I hang off the bike and all of a sudden.... hssst the knee gets down. What a joy, I hadn't even tried... and also hadn't expected it, I didn't even have the sliders on!

Another lap goes by and at the start of the 5th lap, 120mph at the end of the straight, at 130m from the turn I slam the brakes, the bike slows, the back end protests and just as I begin to tip it in (barely 15 degrees of lean angle at that point) woosh there goes the front end, I'm kissing the tarmac and I have ample time to think "Oh no, I did it, what a shame-- jesus the scratching sound is awful-- heh, I'm flipping over, does this look like MotoGP?- oh, my wrists hurt, wrap them on my chest!" and about 2 seconds after that I stopped. My first off on a trackday and the only serious on this bike- a beloved, naked, "go fasta red" curvey. The result: a broken bone on right hand wrist, two broken ones (including scaphoid) on the left and a heavily bruised ego. My left now looks more like robocop's. Adding insult to injury, the bike suffered minimal damage: both brake levers gone, throttle tube, handgrip and (stock) end can heavily grinded, and that's about it. I managed quite a lot that day, shame I ain't got no video or pics...

I'm still puzzled at what caused the crash, a front end isn't supposed to wash away at such a low lean angle even with brakes applied. Maybe the back end hopping and moving-around caused it, I don't know. Any ideas on that? I was running 8 months old Pirelli Diablos with 4 trackdays on their back, but not worn out, at least on eye's notice.

Maybe the fact that you were looking at the speedo rather than where you were going? :roll:

Nope, the 120mph figure was a known quantity from other sessions... I remember I was looking at the apex the moment before everything turned... grey.

Slamming the brakes on instead of applying them.

Did it too :oops:

Congratulation and comiserations! I like hte little narrative of what you thought while crashing hehe "hope this at least looks cool cos it bloody hurts" :lol:

Sorry to hear this, glad you're not more seriously hurt, but nevertheless, you must be in a fair amount of pain. Wish you well.

As for the front going, well you must surely still have been braking, or were on a very dirty part of the track (the outside of the curve of the corner?).

Still, you now have hero status ;).


.

Re: I lost both my virginities
 

Sounds familiar... Strange what gose through your head as you're sliding. I slid for miles at knockhill, probably only a few seconds but it felt like an age- for some reason I decided I'd stopped while I was still going at about 20mph and tried to stand up, that didn't work out so well :)

Re: I lost both my virginities
 

Did you feel the front start to slide before it went, or did it wash out really fast?

I've crashed at the track in a similar matter to you - I was braking just about as hard as the front would let me, I went to change down but I buggered up the throttle blip resulting in me letting off and reapplying the brake slightly. That was enough to unsettled the bike and I was on the floor a split second later. It all happened very fast.

I've had the misfortune to lose the front a few times :oops: and only saved it once. The only time I saved it was when I'd applied the brakes smoothly, giving me a slight warning before it went completely and I had time to let off. Although the slide happened quickly, it was alot slower and more manageable than when I crashed at the track.

So what I'm trying to say is, if you felt the bike slide before it let go, you probably overwhelmed the tyre. It it happened very fast, you probably did something to unsettle the bike - shifted weight, changed gear etc.

thanks, but I feel more like in a bloke status :(

I think you have right here. It happened very suddenly, and I suspect that the main culprit was the rear end doing all sorts of protest (towards which I had developed a sick taste). Maybe at the crucial moment the back created some sudden oscillation which transferred to the front and did the job. (I'm using quite a bit of back brake as I found it considerably settles the bike when braking hard.)

Thanks to all of you guys, fortunately the pain isn't unbearable. I'd like to post a reminder of Big Ape's old motto:

"Always wear yer fecking leathers!"

You won't believe the state of destruction my SPIDI leathers were in after the off. I just couldn't imagine what would have become of me if this had happened on the road and I was wearing, normal clothes.

Anyway, I can't wait to get better, fit in new tyres and let loose again, my knees are itching as hell already!

Re: I lost both my virginities
 

any bumps/changes in surface/etc ?