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1st, 2nd track day experience and Crash

3K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  Indy 
#1 · (Edited)
Note: Long Thread, jump to 2nd Track day for Crash.

1st Track Day

Zx6r 636 2014 is my first bike, after 8000km did 1st trackday. It was intimidating, frustrating, horrible, awful, shameful etc etc etc lol.

The reason for it was because when I reached at the track, the guys had their track only bikes with warmers, fuel cans, tool boxes etc etc and preparing for the day. Me on the other side was the only first timer came with air gauge only and I was to myself what shall I do apart from checking the tire pressure. :dozingoff:(Note: The track is 5 hour far, trailerd the bike to it)

The track had no instructor and there was no such thing as novice, intermediate and advance group, every one was running in the same session(I didn't knew this before).

An ex-racer took me around voluntarily for two laps to make me familiarise the track. It was extremely hard for me to ride the bike, take turns etc. It made me realise how Shit of a rider I am. Was riding in L mode, traction 3, 3rd gear and throttle completely closed on each turn. At each turn I was hoping that I take it without crashing/dropping the bike as my speed was extremely low and turns were pretty tight. All the other guys were passing me with lighting speed and back firing :fire::fire: each gear they were shifting which was quite intimidating.Well the day ended without me crashing, with each session me getting better and met few great lads and gave me good tips.

2nd Trackday w/Crash

Got taste of the addiction and wanted to do it again despite not having good 1st experience.

I did my homework this time, read/watched hell lot of forums/videos about track riding, stability etc etc.

After 3 weeks again trailered the bike for 5 hours for 2nd day. This time I didn't have them awful feelings which I had on 1st day, wasn't concentrating on anyone, just on the session ahead.

From the start my riding was 1000 times better as compared to my 1st day. I was a lot faster, was rolling the throttle constant through turns, more lean etc.
During 3rd session, while taking a corner which is making a u-turn basically I was leaned over around 60-65km/h, something started to scrape the ground, don't know if it was peg or knee. In that milli second I was to myself don't panic it's ur knee but I panicked and the SR kicked in, I did bad handle bar adjustment, ran wide and went over these race rumble strips while leaned. They were bumpy as hell, as soon as I went over them the front washed and I slammed hard on the ground. Shoulder had the first contact on the ground. The swingarm was on my foot while sliding, which was quite painful at that time.
After the slide I wasn't able to move, both of my ankles were hurting extremely bad and shoulder was in extreme pain. Couldn't touch the ground with my right hand because of shoulder. Medical team had to give me assistance to make me stand.
X-ray is all clear, still pain in shoulder after a week, ankles are pretty much healed up, need one more week, another 2-3 weeks for shoulder. Gear saved me from any serious injury/rash. Have to replace the boots and helmet. The suit needs to be re-stitched above the knee puck.

I crashed because I panicked and wasn't smooth. But at the same time this happened because there were no such instruction at the track and I'm learning everything by myself.

I enjoyed my 2nd Trackday and was grinning ear to ear even after the crash because of my improvement as compared to 1st Trackday. I also realised how important gear is. It saved me from broken bones and road rash.

The bike is at the dealership, I will know in the coming week what is the damage. The guys at the dealership told me not to replace the tank keep as it is as it is honour of crashing at the track. lol

Hopefully the bike is fixed in time and my shoulder is healed so I can hit the track again in January.

Track is very addictive.:headbang:
 

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#5 ·
I crashed because I panicked and wasn't smooth. But at the same time this happened because there were no such instruction at the track and I'm learning everything by myself.
Seems to me you had the same problem you encountered on your first track day. You seem to understand that you don't know exactly what you should be doing out there. Going to a real school is still cheaper than fixing up a wrecked bike.

Attending a real school will get you running with people at your skill level and the focus will be on technique and development of skills, instead of trying to keep up or keep out of the way of intermediate/expert riders. And you 'll have tons of fun doing it.

You obviously have a good attitude about riding and wanting to learn more, and speaking from my own experience, I don't think you're going about it the best way. I'm as basic and slow a rider as any at a track day, I'm out there to work on my game - not to win the imaginary race.

I'm not sure if your location "SA" is South Africa or somewhere else I'm more familiar with, but if you have intermediate and expert riders in your area I don't think they got to those levels by trial and error. Ask a "lad" or two what decent schools they've been to and would recommend. Trust me, you'll still have fun.
 
#12 ·
I havnt updated the location, apologise for it. Location is Bahrain not South Africa. Doing trackday at Bahrain F1 Circuit. There are no track schools in this region. The only instruction would be lads at the track and hiring out services of any Ex-Racer which am sure will be hell expensive and comes with their massive attitude. California Super bike school,UK do come to this region (Dubai) once a year for track schooling. Gonna sign up next year. For the time being my tutor are youtube/forum. lol

The lads who are doing track days are all veteran and doing track days for 10 years approx. Most of them are foreigners so they have gained experience back home. Few guys went to other countries from Bahrain just to attend California Super Bike School.

You're bike looks really good. Just cosmetic rashes, nothing important appears out of place. Get you a set of ebay plastics and you should be good to go for the most part...
Yeah it is just cosmetic damage with bent rim. Going to upgrade to race fairings. Every one at the track was recommending Armour Bodies.

Sorry to hear about the crash but like XPyrion said "All non-track days of my life are just days waiting for the next track day" :smilie:.

Seems like the R&G sliders took a lot of the impact.
Same here is going on with me, waiting for next trackday. Yeah R&G did thier job. It was not just regular low slide, the front got kinda stuck at the Race Rumble Strip, because of that it caused hard impact. Luckily the sliders didnt brake the frame.
 
#6 ·
Glad you are ok. I looked at those boots when I was buying a new set a year ago, they have basically zero ankle protection. They have those little bars on them but you can still grab the boot and fold it in half at the ankle. So, your ankle problems were probably from the boots not doing their jobs. I know a lot of people wear alpine star boots but for me, personally, ankle protection was #1 criteria.
 
#11 ·
Yeah you are right, still saved me from fracture or anything big. Upgrading to Supertech R this time.

Yeah, posting your location, track, track day organizer might be helpful. Others in the area may be able to help you out. Our organizer has open days but won't let anyone just ride. They need to attend a school first.

As for addictive, I recently pre-paid $1,300 for 9 track days in 2016, including mock races. All non-track days of my life are just days waiting for the next track day.
I'm doing trackday at Bahrain F1 Circuit. They are charging $1733 for a year membership and approx 1 Track day each month, some times two aswell depending on their events. I think i'm gonna sign up :coocoo
 
#7 ·
Glad to hear you're all good... Your first day sounds like a lot of people's first time on the track. However not many track days have a free for all type session and no coaches.

Crashing happens... we have all had it happen. Just glad that you crashed on the track instead of some road in the middle of nowhere. :D

Get that bike fixed up and get back out there. :bigthumb:
 
#8 ·
Yeah, posting your location, track, track day organizer might be helpful. Others in the area may be able to help you out. Our organizer has open days but won't let anyone just ride. They need to attend a school first.

As for addictive, I recently pre-paid $1,300 for 9 track days in 2016, including mock races. All non-track days of my life are just days waiting for the next track day.
 
#9 ·
You're bike looks really good. Just cosmetic rashes, nothing important appears out of place. Get you a set of ebay plastics and you should be good to go for the most part...
 
#14 ·
First, glad you didn't have more damage to you or bike then you did.

Looking at your suit, pretty sure your peg was doing the grinding most likely for the corner and speed you needed to be more off the bike.

Was surprise you didn't have any track schools.
Did a search and I can't find anything in Saudi Arabia.

So, seems you need to do a vacation stateside for a couple of weeks and do some training here.
Only other thing I can think of would be to offer paying for an advanced rider's day along with some cash going his way.

There are some real good books, get reading.
 
#18 ·
is that 1,300 dinars or did you convert that to dollars?

and that track looks awesome! 5 totally different configurations... which one do they run?
 
#20 ·
Glad you ok mate.. falls do happen,, but track is the only way forward.. I just did CSS lat week, 4 days before I blew the engine on my bike.. It helped me a lot.. They structure it pretty well, the info they give is brilliant for sure. It may be worth your while to rent a bike in Dubai instead of shipping yours..

CSS is in Dubai at the end of Feb.. I believe they said 26th 27th Feb.

The Ducati guys normally organise it.

I normally drag knees around all the corners, but after CSS, ive changed things up a little, barely scrapping knees but Ive dropped +-3 seconds on the GP circuit. So I would say money well spent.. And I only did level 1

hope to see you back on the track soon.. race fairing maybe worth your while. a lot cheaper to fix.. enjoy bud
 
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