I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.

It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
a rather broken ZX-10R.

I arrived in good time to a surprisingly deserted paddock. Because
there were so few of us, No Limits decided to run an open pitlane day,
unless/until there were late arrivals.

One chap tried to cadge a free evening session, which was bloody
cheeky IMO: No limits said they were making a loss on the day, and
they would still have needed some sort of liability insurance for the
evening session, plus it would have been unfair on those who had paid.
Anyway, we went out for sighting laps, but then two full-speed laps
later, the session was red-flagged.

Eventually the track was reopened, but it was raining steadily, so I
sat tight for maybe half an hour, before venturing out. I was a little
concerned about being mixed in with the really fast people, but there
were only a couple of bikes out at the time.

So, out I went, slowly getting to grips (ahaha) with my ancient set of
wets [1]. I was really getting into it, though there were a couple of
squirms when I was off the power, and one moment near the start of the
Bentley straight where I ran wider than intended, onto standing water
and was a bit too heavy-handed; the bike spun up twice in succession,
but luckily I was pretty much upright). I was even slowly creeping
away from the guy behind (I think) and gaining on the guy in front,
though I was determining this as I was passing them in opposite
directions in the infield section - we were separated by a couple of
corners.

After maybe five or six laps, I decided to make this my last one, and
(I thought) eased off a little.

So, round into the infield, and through Hamilton. I was a little wide
exiting Hamilton, and gassed it down the very short straight, then
braked a little too late into Oggies, hence a little harder than I'd
intended. And, as if in slow motion, the front went sideways and the
bike - as I recall it - went down onto its right side. The tender
muscles under my right armpit kind of support this.

Somehow I ended up alternately sliding and rolling down the track to
the bike's left; I can only conclude that we did a nice little
pirouette together. Then the bike overtook me, trailing an impressive
line of sparks (I remember being particularly impressed that it
managed this in the wet).

So far, so not-too-bad. Until, that is, that something, almost
certainly the tyres, bit into the tarmac and launched the bike
skyward, from which point it started bouncing and summersaulting down
the track and onto the grass. I have a sneaking suspicion that the
crash bungs (which were seriously bent and scuffed) might have saved
the engine cases, but perhaps tilted the bike more upright, causing
the tyres to bite.

I came to rest, leapt to my feet (well, I think sheer adrenaline
launched me skywards too) and raised both thumbs to any marshals who
might have been interested, to let them know I was OK. The session was
then red flagged again and the recovery truck sent.

So, the bike. "Unbelievable" is one word for the damage. The only
major plastics to survive appear to be the bellypan and the
battery/electronics tray. Oh, and the airbox, probably.

The tank has not only been stove-in, but actually dented so badly that
it creased into a ridge on the left. The intake duct, that also
supports the nose fairing, has snapped off. The left clip-on has
snapped off. The left rearset bracket has snapped. The right footpeg
has snapped off. The rear subframe is both bent sideways and twisted.
The ignition key was bent over and jammed in the lock. The amazing
thing is that the headlights, tail light, fuel filler cap, clocks and
my expensive steering damper all seem unscathed, as do all four
indicators. How the steering damper survived is beyond me.

I have been ebaying a *lot*. In retrospect, I should probably have
stripped the bike and checked the frame and swingarm before spending
any money though. Time will tell.

--

-Pip

On 07/06/2022 22:03, Pipl wrote:
> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.

Yeah, yeah ... but is the bike okay?

> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
> a rather broken ZX-10R.
< snip tale of destruction >

Oh. Oh, dear.

--
Eddie eddie@deguello.org

On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 2:03:33 PM UTC-7, Pipl wrote:
> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
<snip>

Ouch. Sorry to hear that.

Honestly, reinforces that I never want to go on a track on two wheels again.

Pipl wibbled:

> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>
> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
> a rather broken ZX-10R.

<snip>

Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
will happen. Pics?

--
Cab
Z1000 and CB1300 and VeloSolex 3800

On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>Pipl wibbled:
>
>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>
>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>
><snip>
>
>Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>will happen. Pics?

I'll sort something out. I used to use Snapfish, but no idea whether
the account still exists or exists in the same form. I guess VM have
some sort of hosting too.

--

-Pip

On 08/06/2022 07:45, Cab wrote:
> Pipl wibbled:
>
>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>
>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>
> <snip>
>
> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
> will happen. Pics?
>

I presume they will be on Ebay :-)

But I always find a non graphical write up more informative, and
entertaining.

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 08/06/2022 08:05, Pipl wrote:
> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> Pipl wibbled:
>>
>>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>>
>>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>> will happen. Pics?
>
> I'll sort something out. I used to use Snapfish, but no idea whether
> the account still exists or exists in the same form. I guess VM have
> some sort of hosting too.
>

VM Cloud, currently. Not used it.

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On Tue, 07 Jun 2022 22:03:30 +0100, Pipl <pluscher@live.co.uk> wrote:

>After maybe five or six laps, I decided to make this my last one, and
>(I thought) eased off a little.

<snip tale of carnage>

Yeah, "easing off a little" can also mean "not concentrating so hard",
and lead to this sort of event.

It was exactly what happened to me on my brand new ZXR750 in 1989 at
Pembrey. I was chasing the guy in front of me, and gaining, but then
got the last lap flag, and realised I wasn't going to catch him in one
lap. So relaxed. And then crashed spectacularly, wrecking the bike
(i.e. it needed a new frame!)

This doesn't help you fix your bike, but you can take some comfort in
not being alone in this sort of mistake

--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 16:35:37 -0700 (PDT), Ben Blaney
<benblaney@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 2:03:33 PM UTC-7, Pipl wrote:
>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
><snip>

>Ouch. Sorry to hear that.
>
>Honestly, reinforces that I never want to go on a track on two wheels again.

It is absolutely the safest place to crash, tho!
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On Tuesday, 7 June 2022 at 22:03:33 UTC+1, Pipl wrote:
> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>
> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
> a rather broken ZX-10R.

I had a little off on Saturday as well. Twisty sprint (i.e. a flat hillclimb) at Curborough. The morning was great, lovely weather, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, and I rattled off a string of PBs on the 250 and 450, a couple of seconds quicker than I've ever gone round that layout before.. All going so smoothly that we had time for an extra practice run on each bike before lunch.

By the time we'd finished lunch, it'd started spitting with rain and the radar showed a big patch coming up from the southeast. I was first out again on the 250, so put in a banker a couple of seconds quicker than anyone else in my class, and went back to the paddock to wait til it was my turn on the 450, and do my best rain dance. My best case was that it pissed down before any of the fast boys had a chance to put in a timed lap, and I'd lock in a top ten place. Alas, no such luck, the rain never really arrived, it just spat a bit more before fizzling out.

My first timed run on the 250 had been pretty good, so I gave it some berries on the 450. Off the line OK, through the sweeping left towards the first proper corner, through the tight left and flicked it over for the right that follows. And that was when either the front or rear let go - fucked if I know, it all happened a bit quickly, though that makes me think it might have been the front - and I was on my arse. No idea what speed, and certainly not the fastest off I've ever had (hello Charlies 2 at Cadwell in 2016) but enough to slide for a fair while and rip open the arse on my leathers, before getting to the grass and starting to tumble.

Checked myself over quickly when I came to a stop, and apart from a slightly hurty foot and a sore arsecheek from the impact I seemed OK, so I picked the bike up and rode it back to the paddock. I didn't really fancy getting back on the 450 after that - I'd been able to kick it over to ride it back to the paddock, but my foot hurt enough that I didn't fancy kicking it over again - but didn't want to let the demons in either, so I bodged a repair to my leathers and went back out for three more runs on the 250, getting within three tenths of my PB again on the last run of the day. Demons banished.

> So, the bike. "Unbelievable" is one word for the damage. The only
> major plastics to survive appear to be the bellypan and the
> battery/electronics tray. Oh, and the airbox, probably.
>
> The tank has not only been stove-in, but actually dented so badly that
> it creased into a ridge on the left. The intake duct, that also
> supports the nose fairing, has snapped off. The left clip-on has
> snapped off. The left rearset bracket has snapped. The right footpeg
> has snapped off. The rear subframe is both bent sideways and twisted.
> The ignition key was bent over and jammed in the lock. The amazing
> thing is that the headlights, tail light, fuel filler cap, clocks and
> my expensive steering damper all seem unscathed, as do all four
> indicators. How the steering damper survived is beyond me.

Only damage to mine was one fucked footpeg - the ally had shaved down to nothing while sliding - and twisted bars. Fixed the latter when I got back to the paddock, and the former when 12 quid's worth of finest chinesium footpegs turned up in the post yesterday.

Supermotos do crash very well. Glad I bought a set of Daytona Evo Voltex boots after my highside in 2018, as I suspect my foot might have been rather more hurty if I'd still been wearing the same ones as when I bust my ankle. And can't really complain about the hole in my leathers either - they were already bodged in the a few years ago after a scrute found a hole in the arse at Pembrey a few years back, and I never bothered getting them properly repaired. Dropped them off at Hill4leathers on Monday and hoping to have them back in time for the hillclimb at Tregrehan next week.

On 7 Jun 2022 at 22:03:30 BST, "Pipl" <pluscher@live.co.uk> wrote:

> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.

Nicely written, shame about the circumstances!
--
jeremy

On 8 Jun 2022 at 12:20:08 BST, "ogden" <eldaifo@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I had a little off on Saturday as well.

Also nicely written, sharing top marks with Pipl.

Glad neither of you badly hurt.

--
jeremy

On 08/06/2022 16:28, jeremy wrote:
> On 8 Jun 2022 at 12:20:08 BST, "ogden" <eldaifo@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> I had a little off on Saturday as well.
>
> Also nicely written, sharing top marks with Pipl.

Someone has to provide the material for the club magazine!!!!!!
>
> Glad neither of you badly hurt.
>
>

+1!!!!!!!

--
/Simon!!!!!!!

jeremy wrote:
> "ogden" <eld...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I had a little off on Saturday as well.
>
> Also nicely written, sharing top marks with Pipl.

I dunno, I really should have proof-read it before posting, but too late now.

> Glad neither of you badly hurt.

A testament to good kit in my case.

siwilson wrote:
> Someone has to provide the material for the club magazine!!!!!!
> +1!!!!!!!

Heh. Alright Reg.

On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 09:44:20 +0100, YTC#1 <bdp@ytc1-spambin.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 08/06/2022 08:05, Pipl wrote:
>> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Pipl wibbled:
>>>
>>>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>>>
>>>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>>>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>>>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>>> will happen. Pics?
>>
>> I'll sort something out. I used to use Snapfish, but no idea whether
>> the account still exists or exists in the same form. I guess VM have
>> some sort of hosting too.
>>
>
>VM Cloud, currently. Not used it.

It's dead, apparently. VM were recommending DropBox.

--

-Pip

On 08/06/2022 21:20, Pipl wrote:
> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 09:44:20 +0100, YTC#1 <bdp@ytc1-spambin.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> On 08/06/2022 08:05, Pipl wrote:
>>> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Pipl wibbled:
>>>>
>>>>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>>>>
>>>>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>>>>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>>>>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>>>> will happen. Pics?
>>>
>>> I'll sort something out. I used to use Snapfish, but no idea whether
>>> the account still exists or exists in the same form. I guess VM have
>>> some sort of hosting too.
>>>
>>
>> VM Cloud, currently. Not used it.
>
> It's dead, apparently. VM were recommending DropBox.
>
>
I recommend a RapberryPi+NextCloud

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 3:05:05 AM UTC-7, Champ wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 16:35:37 -0700 (PDT), Ben Blaney
> <benb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 2:03:33 PM UTC-7, Pipl wrote:
> >> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
> ><snip>
>
> >Ouch. Sorry to hear that.
> >
> >Honestly, reinforces that I never want to go on a track on two wheels again.
> It is absolutely the safest place to crash, tho!

It was a temporary position. I went out last night to a massive company bash, and spent some time with a colleague who has three bikes [0] and is a member of a private track in New Hampshire [1].

[0] One is an Aprilia Tuono, which apparently has 200bhp. When did bikes get so powerful?
[1] I am now thinking of moving to New Hampshire and joining a private track. [2]
[2]. No, I haven't told the wife yet.

On Wednesday, 8 June 2022 at 22:29:49 UTC+1, Ben Blaney wrote:
> I went out last night to a massive company bash, and spent some time
> with a colleague who has three bikes [0] and is a member of a private
> track in New Hampshire [1].
>
> [0] One is an Aprilia Tuono, which apparently has 200bhp. When did bikes get so powerful?

Ten to fifteen years ago.

On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 3:30:33 PM UTC-7, ogden wrote:
> On Wednesday, 8 June 2022 at 22:29:49 UTC+1, Ben Blaney wrote:
> > I went out last night to a massive company bash, and spent some time
> > with a colleague who has three bikes [0] and is a member of a private
> > track in New Hampshire [1].
> >
> > [0] One is an Aprilia Tuono, which apparently has 200bhp. When did bikes get so powerful?
> Ten to fifteen years ago.

I am very out of date, it seems. Ouch. The barnet isn't grey, but this makes me feel very old.

On 08/06/2022 23:39, Ben Blaney wrote:
> On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 3:30:33 PM UTC-7, ogden wrote:
>> On Wednesday, 8 June 2022 at 22:29:49 UTC+1, Ben Blaney wrote:
>>> I went out last night to a massive company bash, and spent some time
>>> with a colleague who has three bikes [0] and is a member of a private
>>> track in New Hampshire [1].
>>>
>>> [0] One is an Aprilia Tuono, which apparently has 200bhp. When did bikes get so powerful?
>> Ten to fifteen years ago.
>
> I am very out of date, it seems. Ouch. The barnet isn't grey, but this makes me feel very old.

I am finding that as the greyness creeps in the desire for the higher
BHP leaves me.

I positivley shit myself on the way back from Dieppe when I raced a car
away from the lights and went full throttle. All my senses suddenly
seemed to be concentrated on the area immediately in front of the bike,
like looking down a tunnel.

I vary rarely do that these days, I think I have forgotten how to ride
the XJR :-(

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>Pipl wibbled:
>
>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>
>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>
><snip>
>
>Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>will happen. Pics?

Try this:

https://www.snapfish.co.uk/share?via=link&token=mX3_-lCvEfRwv5B87HuZZg/AUS/27952626244070/SNAPFISH

--

-Pip

On Wed, 08 Jun 2022 11:04:29 +0100, Champ <neal@champ.org.uk> wrote:

>On Tue, 07 Jun 2022 22:03:30 +0100, Pipl <pluscher@live.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>After maybe five or six laps, I decided to make this my last one, and
>>(I thought) eased off a little.
>
><snip tale of carnage>
>
>Yeah, "easing off a little" can also mean "not concentrating so hard",
>and lead to this sort of event.

Yeah, I thoink you're right.

>It was exactly what happened to me on my brand new ZXR750 in 1989 at
>Pembrey. I was chasing the guy in front of me, and gaining, but then
>got the last lap flag, and realised I wasn't going to catch him in one
>lap. So relaxed. And then crashed spectacularly, wrecking the bike
>(i.e. it needed a new frame!)

Well, AFAIK mine survived - I still have that dubious distinction to
aspire to! Actually, one of the Snetterton staff remarked that he'd
seen a Triumph broken in two, so it's not just you and Kawasakis!
>
>This doesn't help you fix your bike, but you can take some comfort in
>not being alone in this sort of mistake

At least gives me something to watch out for next time! I'm rather
peeved that I didn't wind my spoeed up slowly over the day, instead of
letting the little horns take over: I only got two sessions out of my
first open pitlane event ever (well, excluding a couple of practice
days many, many years ago)!

--

-Pip

On 09/06/2022 20:30, Pipl wrote:
> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> Pipl wibbled:
>>
>>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>>
>>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>> will happen. Pics?
>
> Try this:
>
> https://www.snapfish.co.uk/share?via=link&token=mX3_-lCvEfRwv5B87HuZZg/AUS/27952626244070/SNAPFISH
>
>

Like all decent bins, viewed from the right angle it looks fine.
Just not sure that angle can be foind :-)

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On Thu, 9 Jun 2022 20:57:47 +0100, YTC#1 <bdp@ytc1-spambin.co.uk>
wrote:

>
>
>On 09/06/2022 20:30, Pipl wrote:
>> On Wed, 8 Jun 2022 06:45:47 +0000, "Cab" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Pipl wibbled:
>>>
>>>> I had a little incident yesterday at a very wet Snetterton on the 10R.
>>>>
>>>> It was a simple lowside at probably somewhere between 40 and 60mph
>>>> that left me with minor soft tissue damage (hurty right rib area) but
>>>> a rather broken ZX-10R.
>>>
>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> Clumsy cnut. But hey, it's always a possibility that stuff like this
>>> will happen. Pics?
>>
>> Try this:
>>
>> https://www.snapfish.co.uk/share?via=link&token=mX3_-lCvEfRwv5B87HuZZg/AUS/27952626244070/SNAPFISH
>>
>>
>
>Like all decent bins, viewed from the right angle it looks fine.
>Just not sure that angle can be foind :-)

From underneath, I think.

--

-Pip