Forgive me Zone for I have Inadvertently Modded....My Super Duke

[oldtlsdoug]

Well, we went to the track yesterday, a friend of mine wadded his Hyper- Motard and I took him home on the trailer. We got it unloaded, I ran by the house to pick up some stuff and Chris (Zelig) called me from the track. He had wadded up himself and the Super Duke. Short version, a guy (racer-type) went tight under Chris in a fast corner and cut across his front, Chris hit him with the Super Duke and went down. The important thing is Chris is ok, Bill (who wadded up his Hyper Motard) is ok. I got 19 minutes of track time on the day, lots of use of my new trailer and I am now in search of Super Duke parts. Chris is upset, but shouldn't be, shit happens on a race track, and that is just the way it is.

Here are a few shots right after with the iPhone and on the trailer with a real camera.

[Sam]

Bugger !

Did the crash bungs save the bottom corner of the radiator ?

[oldtlsdoug]

The radiator got done in by the rear wheel of the ZX, if you go through the frames of the video, you can see the SD ride up and the top of the fender hits him in the hip and the top of the triple pushes his foot off of the peg. The sliders worked amazingly well as did the pegs. No major structural damage but the radiator is shit as it is all torn up in the core and the temp sensor is shattered as is it's mount, blessedly the coolant is mostly gone.





If you look carefully you can see the track of the rear tire across the fender to the radiator to the gas tank, the SD was almost upside down sliding on the bar end and the Yosh can.



See the rubber on the fender and the fork from the rear tire?



Slow Motion Video

Normal Speed Video

[actls]

Not the mods we like to see. Good to hear everyone came out ok.

[The Ring-In]

F!

track day organisers really need to stress it is the responibility of the passer to ensure the safety of the passee.

situations like this should result in the banning of the other rider

[tillerdog]

glad rider dint get hurt
main frame and forks look bent tho ,bummer

[dadat178]

The pass looked ok lots of room, but he just seemed to shut down and slow suddenly? anyhow, glad you are ok, bike can be fixed.

[Sam]

On a trackday you shouldn't be beating somebody to the apex from so far back !

Did the other rider go down too ?

[oldtlsdoug]

Well, it wasn't a track day. I am a member and on member days we can do pretty much as we please. Guy on the ZX-10 is a "real racer" unlike my buddy Chris. I think the guy had to shut down going in to get his exit right. Chris sort of fixated and said he was afraid of too much brake leaned over like he felt he was. The video showed Chris going in at 77 mph, he rolled off the throttle and was doing right around 70 mph when he hit the guy. So it seems Chris was doing some target fixation on the ZX and the ZX dude shaved a shitload of speed at the apex. That corner can comfortably be taken on most any line under 80 mph, racers go faster through there. I talked to the ZX guy and he said basically that Chris was an idiot, he showed him a whole bike he should have slowed down. Chris's version was the guy took out his front end.

At the end of the day it is a tie, the guy made a crappy unnecessary pass, Chris was freaked out by it and rear ended the guy. The ZX dude kept riding and was pissy about his tail being cracked (you can see it in the video). Lesson learned is that if you are having your buddies on the track, make sure they are really ready. I didn't consider Chris had never been out with the racer dudes. They can pass pretty close and often do. This guy, though, actually gave him lots of room, he just shut down in the corner. In retrospect, Chris should have touched the brakes and shed 8-10 mph and all would be well. However, the most important part is everyone is ok, nothing but hurt feelings mostly. The Super Duke will be fixed and I can say, I have a cool video of the thing. I also have a video of my buddy on the Hyper Motard losing the front. Tough day for us.

We did have fun running the DR-Z's on the track for the 18 minutes none of us were crashing.

I am still fiddling with the race bodywork for the RC8R, then I will have a proper race bike to play on.

[BikePilot]

Glad everyone is ok In my (off road) experience, stuff like this happens on tracks, usually doesn't mean anyone needs a banning. I've put a few of my good friends into the hay bales and certainly have been on the other end as well (of course its less expensive to crash dirt bikes) I will say I've never put a stranger into the hay at a track day--I give most folks a wide berth unless I know them well and know they like a bit of sport (racing is a different story)