Hey guys,

Went out to Mallala Motorsport Park on Saturday for my first ever trackday.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ie ... 1&t=h&z=16

Entered myself in the slow group as I had no idea of my pace (and was nervous as all hell!), but once we got out on the track the nerves went and I had an absolute blast! Was a fantastic feeling being able to really open the SD up and not have to worry about anything other than just having fun. The first 15 min session I was just seeing where the track went and getting a feel for things so went fairly tentatively.

Hit the track again about an hour later for our next session and was a lot less nervous. As there were about 20 or so riders, they let up out in three groups at time intervals so we didnt bunch up too much. I led the 3rd and last group out and took it fairly easy.

2nd lap out we caught the back of the 2nd group and I got stuck behind a gsxr600 going dangerously slow through corners. Now as I was new to the whole track day thing, and we were told not to pass in corners, I didnt want to go too crazy, so I sat behind for a bit hoping to pass on a straight. Every straight though, the 600 was pinning it and I couldnt make an easy pass. Eventually passed after a few corners and had a clear track.

In hindsight I should have realised that my tyres would still be cold from riding slow (3rd lap), but perhaps I got a little carried away and upped the pace a bit (still more than comfortable with it). Went into my favourite left hander, Turn 2, close to full lean (felt like it) then all of a sudden I simultaneously heard screeching metal and hit the deck. Bike skittled away and I tumbled head over feet backwards (felt it the next day!). I thought the bike would be totalled as it felt pretty quick, but thankfully the damage wasnt as bad as I expected. Put an end to my day prematurely as I still had 4 more sessions, so I'm pretty bummed about it all.

All I can say is the R&G crash protectors I fitted days before (forks, upper/lower engine, swingarm) are the best things I have ever bought for the bike, and I have no doubt it would be written off if they werent there.

Damage I can see so far:

RHS round akra dented and scratched (please tell me you can buy replacement skins...the end cap and internals are fine)

Gear lever assembly snapped

LHS engine case scratched

All LHS crash sliders are buggered

Front headlight mask scratched up

Front brake lever broken

Bar mount on RHS shifted back slightly (Bars feel out of line, but dont think they're bent) and bar ends ground up a bit.

Small chip and scratches on RHS of tank (anyone know a good way of fixing this up?)

Sidestand ground away a bit.

I'm not 100% why the crash happened, but want to work out why to prevent it happening again. I was running 34psi front and rear (cold) with Pirelli Diablos (my road tyres)
I am thinking it is one or a combination of the following:
- Too much lean angle on too cold tyres
- Tyre pressures too high for the track
- Tyres not sticky enough (doubt it, as Diablos could ride a million times better than me)

Sorry for the long post, just pretty down about throwing my pride and joy down the track, especially at my first track day, and the confidence has taken a beating. If anyone has any ideas/theories on what I could do better next time, or advice on repairs to get my baby back like new, please let me know...it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ben

p.s. here are some pics a mate got before the crash, as well as some of the damage.

Well 34/34 isn't THAT high that it will make a lot of difference to be honest mate. If you can corner on the roads, you can corner on that PSI on track. It's unlikely in your first couple of TD's you'll be cornering a vast ammount quicker than on the roads...
34/34 should be fine.

i've used Diablos on JErez and Brands Hatch and never had an issue (although i highsided in the damp LOL, user error that was) so i'd be pretty confident on that.

Which leaves only 1 option and is pretty much going to be the correct one, too hard/fast on coldish tyres. I'm assuming you were not running warmers, and if the Gixer was stopping you getting any heat in the tyres.. .then i'm afraid that's your best explaination.

You came out of it pretty much unscathed, so it's all good

Bikes can be fixed, broken bones are a lot harder to fix ... trust me... i've done it enough

Re the can- I had similar damage after an off. Only place I could find to reskin it was using carbon, so instead a mate of mine got most of the dent out by tapping around the edge with a rubber mallet, which worked well. You can also swap the cans over so damaged side is on the inside.

sorry to hear about your "off" thats never good, R&G's seem to have done a good job

Im no expert but if it's your first trackday I doubt you would be at the limits of grip on hot tyres, so I agree with weeksy here cold tyres or oil, disturbance of balance on the corner. Was it a left hander? did the exhaust pipe or sidestand touch down which is what you heard first and that caused the off?.

Sounds like a good excuse for some carbon and rearsets

No replacement Akra's skins im afraid, you may be able to buy just one though...

I did a track day last wednesday and a bloke in my group had a mystery off very much as you describe. We caught the prang on camera and it was the front which let go. He was using tyre warmers so temperature shouldn't have been an issue. Most likely it was a tiny bit of crud on the track. When you're well cranked over a splinter off someone's fairing or a drop of coolant/oil will do the job. Bad luck matey...

Hornet

Welcome to the track day world - sorry to hear about your crash . Nice that nothing serious happend to you

On your first TD I agree with others that it is highly unlikely that you run out of grip, especially on hot tyres. 3 laps on street tyres, even slow laps, should also be enough to get some heat into the tyres. I dont think grip alone is the problem.

If the crash happend very fast I guess it must have been the front that you loose as normally a back end slide will happend much slower.

Are you sure you did not touch the brakes while leaned over ?

What about your weight / grip on the bars ? - if it is a bumby road and you have all you weight on your handle bars when leaned over (dead grip) - it can also cause front end problems !

My best guess will be a oil spill or some other greasy stuff

Ask a instructore to ride behind you bext time to give you some advices.

Good luck