BASH69
Well what a strange day, a complete mixture of ups and downs
Rocked up at 7am as Donington is only 35mins from my doorstep, garages were all still fairly empty so grabbed No.14 right in the middle, set the bike up on stands and wramers etc then waited for Dave (TripodDave) to turn up. By 8am we were set up and sorted. No static noise testing to worry about so off to sign in etc.
Sign in went without a hitch apart from Dave was group 2 as requested and id been stuck in group 3 (fast), i wasnt particulaly happy about this as ive spent no time on the bike since last October when i broke my wrist at Rockingham
Pitlane briefing at 8.30 and Mr H was being his usual charming self explaining that out of the 180 bookings only 17 had requested group 1 (novice), 22 had requested group 3 (Fast) leaving the remaining 120 odd people who had requested group 2 (Intermediate) So if you wernt in the group youd expected then it was tuff but they would try and move obviously slower/quicker people up and down as and when they could.
He also explained it was 98db sound limit and we had till 11am to sort any noise problems out anybody may have but after that we could fook off home
As usual with Focused novice group out 1st giving me plenty of time to get into my leathers, check tyre pressures etc. Group 1 went without hitch and off goes Dave out with Group 2 which also went without hitch.
OK so group 3 are now up, 3 sightings laps no probs, back into pitlane then sent straight back out on circuit to finish the session. I figure everyone will be taking it sort of gently with it being the 1st session so i tag on to the back of another rider and follow him round still nervous and getting my head round riding the bike again, things are actually going OK and my nerves start to ease and we actually start picking off a few riders which suprised me as i felt i was still in Wobble mode! Unfortunatly 3 laps in and my bike starts sounding like an open piped drag bag and i pull off the circuit right by the new Esses, a quick look and listen and im pissed as it sounds just like its coming from where the header pipe bolts to the front cylinder head
30 seconds later the marshal runs over and tells me to get back to the pits as the sessions been red flagged anyway as theres about 30 bikes in our group that have tripped the sound meter and they were being picked out for a quick chat with Mr H
So back to the garages, kit off, bike on stands for inspection, cant see anything obvious round the header pipe but the notice the front Lambda sensor bolt has done an dissapearing act, bollox as i dont have a spare, fingers crossed its fell into the bellypan and may still be there - erm, NO, oh crap, ive been here 10mins and my day may be over
Dave came to my rescue as hed bought himself some Lambda bolts and never got round to fitting them I still owe you some ca$h for those Mate .
As usual the bolts are too long and need to be cut down so a quick run down to Colin at 100% suspension and im armed with a hack saw and mole grips (i couldnt use his vice as he had a set of Ohlins locked into them) so i mole grip the bolt to my trusty trailer and hack away for all im worth. Job done, bolt back in, belly pan back on, hack saw back to Colin just in time for my next session. While all this is going on its been peeing it down at the top end of the circuit with just a few drops of rain at the bottom end and the pits (which has now dried). We potter out on to circuit and from Redgate, all the way to Mcleans is bone dry but as you approach Coppice its soaking so i ease up a touch (i was actually running on Intermediate tyres so i didnt ease up too much) back down through the new Esses and the circuits dry again so open it up again down to the melbourne loop. Thats when i came up behind a slower rider who obviously believed it was still wet and as i followed him round the Melbourne Loop at an incredibly slow pace he just jammed his brakes on It was at the point i had nowhere to go and as i tried to go left to miss him my front tyre clipped his rear which wiped out my front end and down i went straight onto my right hip!
Just as im thinking for fooks sake im suddenly aware ive been hit in the back and there is a bike using me as a launch ramp and ramming my right ribs into the tarmac, all i can remember is my leg is stuck under the bike and im being dragged and then screaming like a fookin girl as a bike rides over me and feeling a crunch from my ribs
I felt for sure that my ribs would be broken but as i jumped up the only real pain was in my hip with got slammed into the tarmac. The guy who rode over actually looked in a worse state that me and it turns out (I chatted to him in the medical centre) he shot up in the air, parted company with his bike and landed on his hip and head
So after a quick check over from the ambulance man i told him id ride the bike back then go to the medical centre for a check over, he gave me a look which suggested i wasnt right but off i went.
Bike back in garage, quick look over the bike and the only damage is the usual, crash bungs, bar ends, bent in foot rest and forks have moved in the clamps, oh well, could have been worse
Off to the medical centre for a quick check over and im basically ok, large compression wound on my hip and slight pain in my ribs, im told to get some pain killers down me and go to the Hospital/doctors should i get worse
Back to the garage, spend 15mins fixing the bike, again just in time for my next session. Now, ive taken my pain killers but they havnt quite kicked in yet but go out anyway to scrub the dead rubber off the tyres. 4 laps in and i have to admit defeat as hanging off the bike on right handers is causing some pain and unfortuanly Donington is 80% right handers Anyway, im happy i can still ride and the bikes basically ok so time to have a quick rest over lunch and let the Co Codamol and Ibruprofen do its thang
Lunch is over, Daves been to book James Whitham for a session for later on and im wondering whats going to go wrong next and should i just pack up and go home Oh, and it also appears wifey has been on Facebook celebrating my misfortune as usual and also trying to teach our 9 month old baby girl to say `twat`, fairenough really with recent run of luck when it comes to trackdays
Anyway, the pain killers kicked in nicely and i was able to ride it out for another few laps for 2 more sessions and got progressivly quicker and more confident as the afternoon went on. Im glad i stayed as id forgotten what a fantastic fast flowing circuit Donington is (quite a bonus with it being half hour away)
The biggest PITA of the day was the mixture in the groups, fast group was bad enough ranging from proper racers to captain wobble (Had i have been in a real fast group yesterday i would have been at the back) but Daves inters group was a frikkin joke, hopefully hel post a video, but everytime he came to a corner he was faced with a wall of slower riders on fast bikes, the usual storey, pick em off in the corners then get nailed on the straights - repeat
This mornings injury count, a dull ache in the right ribs and upper left ribs, back aching (presumed shunt from bike), hips aching and sore, right ankle battered where the bike fell on it/trapped it and bad neck ache for some reason
Il only bore you with 1 video as it was pretty uneventful and i was riding in abit of pain, this was the session after my accident so its only a short as i was testing how much my ribs hurt (well thats my excuse for such a poor pace )
Rocked up at 7am as Donington is only 35mins from my doorstep, garages were all still fairly empty so grabbed No.14 right in the middle, set the bike up on stands and wramers etc then waited for Dave (TripodDave) to turn up. By 8am we were set up and sorted. No static noise testing to worry about so off to sign in etc.
Sign in went without a hitch apart from Dave was group 2 as requested and id been stuck in group 3 (fast), i wasnt particulaly happy about this as ive spent no time on the bike since last October when i broke my wrist at Rockingham
Pitlane briefing at 8.30 and Mr H was being his usual charming self explaining that out of the 180 bookings only 17 had requested group 1 (novice), 22 had requested group 3 (Fast) leaving the remaining 120 odd people who had requested group 2 (Intermediate) So if you wernt in the group youd expected then it was tuff but they would try and move obviously slower/quicker people up and down as and when they could.
He also explained it was 98db sound limit and we had till 11am to sort any noise problems out anybody may have but after that we could fook off home
As usual with Focused novice group out 1st giving me plenty of time to get into my leathers, check tyre pressures etc. Group 1 went without hitch and off goes Dave out with Group 2 which also went without hitch.
OK so group 3 are now up, 3 sightings laps no probs, back into pitlane then sent straight back out on circuit to finish the session. I figure everyone will be taking it sort of gently with it being the 1st session so i tag on to the back of another rider and follow him round still nervous and getting my head round riding the bike again, things are actually going OK and my nerves start to ease and we actually start picking off a few riders which suprised me as i felt i was still in Wobble mode! Unfortunatly 3 laps in and my bike starts sounding like an open piped drag bag and i pull off the circuit right by the new Esses, a quick look and listen and im pissed as it sounds just like its coming from where the header pipe bolts to the front cylinder head
30 seconds later the marshal runs over and tells me to get back to the pits as the sessions been red flagged anyway as theres about 30 bikes in our group that have tripped the sound meter and they were being picked out for a quick chat with Mr H
So back to the garages, kit off, bike on stands for inspection, cant see anything obvious round the header pipe but the notice the front Lambda sensor bolt has done an dissapearing act, bollox as i dont have a spare, fingers crossed its fell into the bellypan and may still be there - erm, NO, oh crap, ive been here 10mins and my day may be over
Dave came to my rescue as hed bought himself some Lambda bolts and never got round to fitting them I still owe you some ca$h for those Mate .
As usual the bolts are too long and need to be cut down so a quick run down to Colin at 100% suspension and im armed with a hack saw and mole grips (i couldnt use his vice as he had a set of Ohlins locked into them) so i mole grip the bolt to my trusty trailer and hack away for all im worth. Job done, bolt back in, belly pan back on, hack saw back to Colin just in time for my next session. While all this is going on its been peeing it down at the top end of the circuit with just a few drops of rain at the bottom end and the pits (which has now dried). We potter out on to circuit and from Redgate, all the way to Mcleans is bone dry but as you approach Coppice its soaking so i ease up a touch (i was actually running on Intermediate tyres so i didnt ease up too much) back down through the new Esses and the circuits dry again so open it up again down to the melbourne loop. Thats when i came up behind a slower rider who obviously believed it was still wet and as i followed him round the Melbourne Loop at an incredibly slow pace he just jammed his brakes on It was at the point i had nowhere to go and as i tried to go left to miss him my front tyre clipped his rear which wiped out my front end and down i went straight onto my right hip!
Just as im thinking for fooks sake im suddenly aware ive been hit in the back and there is a bike using me as a launch ramp and ramming my right ribs into the tarmac, all i can remember is my leg is stuck under the bike and im being dragged and then screaming like a fookin girl as a bike rides over me and feeling a crunch from my ribs
I felt for sure that my ribs would be broken but as i jumped up the only real pain was in my hip with got slammed into the tarmac. The guy who rode over actually looked in a worse state that me and it turns out (I chatted to him in the medical centre) he shot up in the air, parted company with his bike and landed on his hip and head
So after a quick check over from the ambulance man i told him id ride the bike back then go to the medical centre for a check over, he gave me a look which suggested i wasnt right but off i went.
Bike back in garage, quick look over the bike and the only damage is the usual, crash bungs, bar ends, bent in foot rest and forks have moved in the clamps, oh well, could have been worse
Off to the medical centre for a quick check over and im basically ok, large compression wound on my hip and slight pain in my ribs, im told to get some pain killers down me and go to the Hospital/doctors should i get worse
Back to the garage, spend 15mins fixing the bike, again just in time for my next session. Now, ive taken my pain killers but they havnt quite kicked in yet but go out anyway to scrub the dead rubber off the tyres. 4 laps in and i have to admit defeat as hanging off the bike on right handers is causing some pain and unfortuanly Donington is 80% right handers Anyway, im happy i can still ride and the bikes basically ok so time to have a quick rest over lunch and let the Co Codamol and Ibruprofen do its thang
Lunch is over, Daves been to book James Whitham for a session for later on and im wondering whats going to go wrong next and should i just pack up and go home Oh, and it also appears wifey has been on Facebook celebrating my misfortune as usual and also trying to teach our 9 month old baby girl to say `twat`, fairenough really with recent run of luck when it comes to trackdays
Anyway, the pain killers kicked in nicely and i was able to ride it out for another few laps for 2 more sessions and got progressivly quicker and more confident as the afternoon went on. Im glad i stayed as id forgotten what a fantastic fast flowing circuit Donington is (quite a bonus with it being half hour away)
The biggest PITA of the day was the mixture in the groups, fast group was bad enough ranging from proper racers to captain wobble (Had i have been in a real fast group yesterday i would have been at the back) but Daves inters group was a frikkin joke, hopefully hel post a video, but everytime he came to a corner he was faced with a wall of slower riders on fast bikes, the usual storey, pick em off in the corners then get nailed on the straights - repeat
This mornings injury count, a dull ache in the right ribs and upper left ribs, back aching (presumed shunt from bike), hips aching and sore, right ankle battered where the bike fell on it/trapped it and bad neck ache for some reason
Il only bore you with 1 video as it was pretty uneventful and i was riding in abit of pain, this was the session after my accident so its only a short as i was testing how much my ribs hurt (well thats my excuse for such a poor pace )