So there I was at Brands.........

[mckeann]

Biker's Nemesis said:

I went through the gravel at Clearways in 1983 on a VF 400 Honda going around the outside of a slower rider who sat up just as I was along side him.

I kept it upright

but your a trackday god, i'm a trackday tt. Seriously pissed off this morning. The bike really isnt too bad, but i'm just fed up. Finally starting to think i should have stuck to 4 wheels


anybody want to buy a zx6r with a couple of small cracks in the left hand fairing, and a totally trick superstock spec R1 thats road legal. Comes with new fairings painted anyway the buyer wants

[Biker's Nemesis]

mckeann said:

but your a trackday god, i'm a trackday tt. Seriously pissed off this morning. The bike really isnt too bad, but i'm just fed up. Finally starting to think i should have stuck to 4 wheels


anybody want to buy a zx6r with a couple of small cracks in the left hand fairing, and a totally trick superstock spec R1 thats road legal. Comes with new fairings painted anyway the buyer wants

It's easy to stop crashing, what you have to do is go slower to get faster, if you "try" to go faster every time you go on track you will crash.

Pick your lines and be smooth and you'll find you get faster without trying or geting into trouble.

If you ever feel that you're pushing hard don't ignore it and throttle off a touch and focus on being smooth.

Everyone feels the same when they crash, you end up thinking whats the point, all the money and effort that it takes to get to a track etc just doesn't seem worth it.

Imagine if it was a car that you rolled! Now that would be a pisser.

Now, stop feeling sorry for yourself, get the bike fixed and get back out there.

[C8PPO]

BN is right, gotta get back on the horse, so to speak, and as quickly as possible.

I chucked a 6 month old K6 Thou down Paddock Hill a few years back. It was only a lowside but the bike ended up in the gravel and the damage that stuff causes has to be seen to be believed. Looked like someone had taken a 6ft wire brush to it. But the next day, I started stripping it, getting all the stones out, got it running again and started shopping for parts on eBay - reasonably therapeutic, as long as you don't sit and stare at your bank balance!

[y2blade]

chin up...it could be worse, you could look like Fleegle


joking aside I'm glad you are ok...the bike can be fixed

[mckeann]

i know your right john about the feeling sorry for myself stuff, but i wasnt pushing. thats whats most annoying, it was a stupid wee mistake, being offline by a foot, thats still hashly punished. I'd feel better if i had crashed from trying too hard.

[Steve Evil]

mckeann said:

i know your right john about the feeling sorry for myself stuff, but i wasnt pushing. thats whats most annoying, it was a stupid wee mistake, being offline by a foot, thats still hashly punished. I'd feel better if i had crashed from trying too hard.

If you were only a foot offline, would you have made the turn anyway if your brain hadn't kicked in and told you otherwise?

Not wanting to kick you whilst your down, more curious if that was the case or not.

[Fleegle]

If you were only a foot wide, can I ask, did you get any target fixation?

A foot wide at Clearways should be easily rectified

[Biker's Nemesis]

mckeann said:

It was a stupid wee mistake, being offline by a foot, thats still hashly punished. I'd feel better if i had crashed from trying too hard.

At least you're being honest about the cause of the crash.

In my post I said about slowing down and picking your lines, why were you a foot off line?

Why did you crash? Did you hold onto the brake too long or did you not brake hard enough?

I run off track at least once or twice a year every year because of one reason or another.

When I find myself in bother my first thought is if I have any room or track left is to get as much speed off as I can, that can see me with the rear 2 foot in the air before I go into gravel or grass.

if I'm onto grass or gravel I don't touch the brakes or change up or down untill my head has worked out whats what. I look for a route thats furthest away from anything solid and let the bike slow down, if its wet grass I have the clutch in as the engine braking is enough to lock the rear wheel, if its gravel I do nothing.

If its heading for tyres or barriers then its abandon ship straight away.

Touching brakes or throttle in the first couple of seconds off track will nearly always see you lying on your back looking at the sky.

I've had plenty of practice over the years.

[rev-erend]

Hey - dont feel too pissed off..

I fell off my bike and I was just in the garage

Gotta laugh it off else we would never get back on them.

How did I fall off in the garage .. well I was changing a
plug on an extension lead .. got off the bike and it followed me. Ahhhhhh

And only the week before I failed to fit the R & G crash bungs because I had
part of the hole cutting tool missing. Double Ahhhhhh.

[CQ8]

Lots of good advice here from people far more experienced than me.

But I did experience a similar situation yesterday at Castle Combe. Did a few sessions on my own which were okay but then went out with a mate who is an instructor there to work on my lines. I followed for a few laps while he showed my exactly were to go and then we would swap.

Staying on the right line made a huge difference and I was alot quicker without even realising it. We caught up with a rider who was going at an okay pace but I knew I was quicker through chicanes and corners that were linked up because my line was so much better and he was braking very early for some corners. But lack of experience meant I got frustrated at being held up and not being able to pass easily, which sounds like what happened to you. Eventually, I tried to outbrake him going into the last chicane and ended up carrying to much speed to make the turn. Luckily, I was able to go straight on as there was tarmac and rejoin the circuit behind him.

Back in the pits, my instructor said as soon as I got behind him all my smooth lines and speed went out the window. All I had to do was stick to my line, get up behind when he is slow into a corner and pass him on the exit.

We all make mistakes on track, most of the time we get away with but every now and again we have an off. The main thing is you're okay and the bike can be fixed. You know why it went wrong, so you learn from it and move on. Don't give up mate!

There were at least four bikes crashed at Castle Combe yesterday, all the bikes looked alot worse than yours and one poor chap broke his collarbone so things could be worse.

[mitzy]

Dont give in

chin up chuckie xxxxxxx

[mckeann]

steve, fleegle, BN, the reason i crashed is i panicked, froze, and target fixated. I was wider than i should have been through there as i passed someone on the way into clearways. He was taking an unusually tight line into clearways (just following the kerb all the way round almost) so i went past on his left hand side, and then decided to give him plenty room incase he got spooked, so i was out fromt he apex.

As you turn in to clearways, there is a crest, then a dip. The dip is obviously unsighted, and as i came over the crest, the tarmac in the dip revealed itself, i was too far to the left, so i panicked. I could have easily hook turned my way out of it, but i froze. Then i looked at the gravel that i thought i would hit so i hit it. I know just how many mistakes i made, thats why its sooooo annoying.

It wasnt like i was rushing to get past him either, i had followed the guy for 3 laps, as his lines were generally ok except for clearways, and i could have just blasted past on the straight, but i thought it would be ok to just runround the outside of him. obviously i was wrong.

[Fats25]

I know I have ridden Brands a few times, but which one is Clearways?

[rev-erend]

Its the long right hander before the pit straight.

[Fats25]

rev-erend said:

Its the long right hander before the pit straight.

I didn't know there was gravel around that part! I thought you just parked in the hotel car park if you couldn't make the bend.

[3doorPete]

Fats25 said:

rev-erend said:

Its the long right hander before the pit straight.

I didn't know there was gravel around that part! I thought you just parked in the hotel car park if you couldn't make the bend.

Forward wind to 45 secs to see what can happen at Clearways on an R1 - BSB round 1 2011!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdfHBRW0Mb4

[mckeann]

OH COME ON!!!!!!!!!!

i never gave you the bird, the most i did was a condesending wave as i passed you

[mitzy]

Must dig out my footage of donny

Think I had the bird too. Lol lol or was he waving a Jaffa cake

[mckeann]

i'd never give you the bird Mitzy, i'm far too nice and polite for that

[R1 Loon]

st. Gutted for you, but as others have said at least you're OK and the bike can be fixed. Get back on and you'll be fine.