My last trackday video was much better...

Wanna see what a nasty lowside looks and sounds like? Here's a short clip from me at Spokane yesterday. http://home.rmci.net/bkw/image...e.mpg. The clip would have been longer, but my video camera was destroyed along with much of my beloved 749S in the spill. Fortunately, I came out okay - the protective gear did a nice job.

Crashing sucks. Don't do it.

Here's some pics of the carnage:

That will buff right out...no problem.

Glad you're ok.

Bwhip, glad to hear you're okay. Looks like the already small gas tank just got a little smaller.
From the pics the damage looks mostly cosmetic, except for the subframe and the Termi.

Hopefully you'll be riding again soon.

Wow, that sucks. How injured were you? I just picked up my 749s, and my first track day with it is Tuesday.

It looks like you had frame sliders, is that true? If so, do you think they helped?

So, are you going to trash it or rebuild? If you ditch the exhaust, I'll take it! (and the vultures begin to circle...)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by georgeb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wow, that sucks. How injured were you? I just picked up my 749s, and my first track day with it is Tuesday.

It looks like you had frame sliders, is that true? If so, do you think they helped?

So, are you going to trash it or rebuild? If you ditch the exhaust, I'll take it! (and the vultures begin to circle...)</TD></TR></TABLE>

I did have sliders, and in this particular case, because the bike did some additional flipping and sliding, they didn't seem to help much. Don't know yet what I'll do - I still have to get home and survey the total damage and cost.

I wasn't hurt too bad - banged up my shoulder and left hand, and kinda got punched in the mouth somehow, but I'll be alright.

Definitely a learning experience for me - about keeping my competitive fire in check. I was riding with guys that had done that track almost 30 times, determined that I was going to keep up with them (or better). It was only my second time on the track. I was doing really well, but it was probably too much, too soon. I need to work on being more patient and less competitive, now that I know the cost of doing otherwise.

If those guys were flying, you should have probably been running race rubber. That's it, my Pilot Powers are coming off and I'm getting the BT002's soft front/rear.


Dude, I'm sorry to see you had an accident.

I have a few questions:

What tire pressure were you running?
What was the temp out side?
How many miles did you have on the tires before the trackday?
What session did you crash?
How much do you weigh?


Heal up bro.

From the looks of your vid, and listening to your motor, it seems that you didn't get on the gas early enough for that given lean angle to take most of the weight off of the front.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks as if the front tire couldn't handle that load at that lean angle. I think maybe you should have gotten on the gas.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo329 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If those guys were flying, you should have probably been running race rubber. That's it, my Pilot Powers are coming off and I'm getting the BT002's soft front/rear.

Dude, I'm sorry to see you had an accident.

I have a few questions:

What tire pressure were you running?
What was the temp out side?
How many miles did you have on the tires before the trackday?
What session did you crash?
How much do you weigh?

Heal up bro. </TD></TR></TABLE>

1. 33 rear, 32 front
2. Temp outside about 68
3. About 700 miles on the tires including two previous very successful trackdays (with remarkably low tire wear)
4. Fourth session of the day, around 11:30 AM
5. 185 lbs (pre-gear)

The Pilot Powers have been absolutely brilliant prior to this getoff. The guys I was riding with said that my lean angles were absolutely unreal, although the pictures being taken that day all around the track show me leaning off the bike a whole lot - way more than most of the other guys there.

As to whether I loaded the front end too much, I'm not sure. That's normally a pretty forgiving corner as it's banked and you can stay on the gas quite a bit going in. You're downshifting just prior to entering the turn (slowing from 120 or so after turn one to about 80 as you enter the turn), then immediately riding the gas through the turn as needed to keep the bike balanced and on the proper line. Never had anything close to a problem with that turn before, but I was taking the whole track much faster than normal as I felt very confident and comfortable. I'm also usually very careful about staying smooth and keeping on the gas so that the weight is distributed properly between the front and rear.

I thought maybe I had tucked the front, too, but when the guys and I watched the video we noticed that the front wheel turns right and not left, which they thought it would do if tucking. I thought maybe I'd hit a bump with the front wheel while quite leaned over, then the mild countersteer caused the wheel to go right, causing more lean angle resulting in a sudden loss of control. But I'm no physicist.

Any other opinions from those in the know on such matters?

I've been watching your vid all day trying to figure out what happened. It's kind of hard because right before you went down, the video goes through a momentary lapse.

I hope everything works out with the estimate and the repairs.

i too have been looking at the vid ... right at the point of the freeze ... the suspension gets a good cycle and looks as if the rear came around on you ..
could be a number of things .. tires at there limit ( cycles ?) , too soon on the gas?? too much air ?!?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo329 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've been watching your vid all day trying to figure out what happened. It's kind of hard because right before you went down, the video goes through a momentary lapse.

I hope everything works out with the estimate and the repairs.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Thanks - yeah, the lapse is due to the tape getting sort of crinkled within the mashed up video camera. I had to do some surgery with a needlenose pliers to extract the tape. I sure wish there was more footage showing the whole thing. There's much of it I don't remember and I'm really curious how it all went down.

As a general rule of thumb, the Diablo Corsas and the Pilot Powers are good tires for the track but I only put them through 2 trackdays the most. Especially if I put some street miles on them in between trackdays.

The more heat cycles they undergo, the longer they take to warm up on the next outing and so on.

I blame your crash on the tires because you should be able to hold the throttle steady in a turn like you were doing without any ill consequences. That's my guess.

In all honesty, your damage doesn't look too bad from the pics.

I'm no expert, but I would place the cause on the tires as well. In the vid it looks like everything is going great and then suddenly the back of the bike is trying to pass the front and it looked like the back end broke loose with no warning. All factors point to good tire traction, reasonably warm air temp, dry track, tires warmed from previous laps, etc. If it was a wet day or colder it would be easier to understand... Kind of sobering knowing that tires can go that quickly under those conditions.

As long as your ok, crashing does have two crucial benefits:

1. You will become a better rider as long as your're the type to learn from your mistakes which going by your posts, you have.

2: The cost of parts will be similar to the course fees of a motorcycle mechanic's class. (You will become a true Ducati mechanicca by the time you finish putting your bike together)

Btw, I've crashed enough to reach the Blue group and can probably teach at Motorcycle Mechanic's institute.

bwhip,
Sorry to see this man, but all that matters is that you are in one piece. Sometimes the rear tires slide predictably and sometimes they just snap out of line like yours did.

You were progressing really well, don't let this discourage you<U></U> ,
Tifosi

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 04749s &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks as if the rear came around on you .. </TD></TR></TABLE>

BWHIP - Glad you're OK!

I just quicky watched the video without any sound and it does look like you lost the rear.

Crashing sucks but it looks like all can be fixed.

I say keep the tank, it's got character now.

slow mo..looks like you lost the rear (frt wheel crosses up and your helmet comes around the front of the bike..great camera placement. BTW)

BTW: Been there, done that:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tricklidz1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW: Been there, done that:
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's pretty nasty!

Ah man, that really sucks.
I crashed in Belgium at Spa-Franhorchamps track 6 weeks ago. I went straight through a chicane, result: broken thumb and luckely not to much damage.



Glad to hear you are OK and hope you can fix much of the bike yourself.

Greetz