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UrbanRacer

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Sold my GSXR 4 years ago when i bought a Nissan 200SX with approx 350bhp, that following summer i regretted it. so i made the decision at the beginning of 2011 that i would sell the car and get back into bikes.
This is how it looked when i got it home.

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1 Service, 3weeks later and with 1000miles on the clock i did my first trackday on it.

This is how it went.

I did my first track day on the BMW back in august 2011. I had been looking forward to it even before I bought the bike, so when i got to the circuit and the weather was one of the better days I was pretty excited.

In the past I've always used proper fast road/track tyres but seeing as the tyres I had on the bike had about 1000miles on them it seemed a bit of a waste to chuck them so I decided to use them.

I hadn't been on track for nearly 2 years so I started off slowly getting familiar with the track again and learning any new feature like the kerbs on the chicanes and just as well, had i took my old line through one in particular I would have went to the moon.
After a few laps I decided to up the pace a little but for some reason i just could get up to speed, I couldn't hold a line through the corners, bike felt nervous and the long left hand bend down to the hairpin the rear tyre was squirming all over the place to the point the bike was almost power-sliding, then into the hairpin I was getting some strange chatter through the bars almost like the tarmac was rough. I knew from memory that a lot of bikes go down on that corner and dig into the tarmac so i put it down to that.
After a few more laps i returned to the pits to gather my thoughts as to why i was struggling.
Tyre pressures?! i got a hold of a tyre pressure gauge and to my horror the pressure shown was 50PSI!! both front and rear. Holy shit i thought but it was soo high i thought the gauge was faulty, so I only knocked 10psi out of the tyres. If the gauge was right then that was still too high as i should have been running 30 at the front and 28 on the rear.

Back out i went and the bike felt a little better but still not up to a pace that i was used to on previous bikes. I persevered and kept trying and yet again the issues i was having before came back.

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Thinking it was in my head and just being a bit rusty I kept going and then

Everything as normal
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Hmmm, the vibration in the bars again.
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Oh its gone all light.
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I can still save it.... errm no
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The chatter through the bars i mentioned was me pushing the front end too hard and it was sliding, on that lap i was way beyond what the tyre could give. also coupled with the fact they were road tyres and the pressures would have gone up again once the heat got into the tyres, no doubt back up to 50psi.

The damage:
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The crash protectors did there job by limiting what hit the deck so I got off lightly. Mirror, indicator, rear brake lever, bar end, a few scratches on the bodywork and the exhaust which is made from Titanium and Carbon Fibre i was told the spark trail from the bike was impressive :lol:
I've replaced everything except the exhaust, i'll leave that till over the xmas period when the bike will be wrapped up for the winter until I decide weather to replace like for like or go down the route of a full system.

Lessons learned:
:arrow: Don't use road tyres if you want to set a lap record.
:arrow: Check the tyre pressures before you go out on track.[/quote]

I've since had the suspension sorted but i had another big moment this year

BMW S1000RR Huge Tank Slapper at Knockhill

I've sisnce changed the geometry of the front end, alot of folk had commented that the front suspension had been set so the bike is on its nose. Helps with corner entry but corner exits are harder to finish and high stability is affected
 
Pretty convinced I would have shat myself more on the second vid than I would have with the low side.

Still, crash bungs worked a treat!
 
Decent intro and least you weren't hurt
Falling off or fucking up is part of the course with bikes I've found
 
If yr gonna have one have a low one ;) You look quite a bit past the apex for it to tuck? ??? Everyone will tell you to junk the standard
steering damper, also gives you more confidence to pin it ;D
 
Yea, the low side happened just as i was about to open the throttle and begin the corner exit. Like i say the garbage Conti Heart-Attacks that came on the bike as standard were absolute junk plus they were at 50psi so its no wonder the bike was having none of it. That was the slowest part of the track so i got lucky it wasn't anywhere else.

As for the tank slapper, i was actually ok after the bike settled but what really scared me was the fact i had no front brakes entering the next corner at the end of the straight, if you watch the video again you can see my right hand pumping the brake lever.
The track staff came over to me as soon as i came in the pits to see if i was ok and then told me that it was the biggest accident that never happened so far this year, they even buggered off to watch the circuit CCTV to watch it back, i have visions of it being played on a compilation video at the xmas party lol.
 
Ahhhh. The famous S1000RR Tank Slapper Vid. Fair play to holding on to it.
 
phil link=topic=1640.msg16397#msg16397 date=1353660223 said:
Thanks for sharing your pictures mate, shame about the lowside, you must have been gutted.

I wasn't too bad, i was more concerned about my helmet. I slid along the track managing hold my head off the track right up until the very last moment and then bang it hit the deck. Got away with it though.
 
So, do you think you have got yourself sorted for track days now?

I did hear that (on Moto GP TV coverage) you never loose the front while on the gas, thinking back were you still losing speed when you lowsided?
 
phil link=topic=1640.msg16399#msg16399 date=1353661684 said:
So, do you think you have got yourself sorted for track days now?

I did hear that (on Moto GP TV coverage) you never loose the front while on the gas, thinking back were you still losing speed when you lowsided?

I hope so.
Throttle position was neutral at that point and probably just about to come back on the throttle.
 
UrbanRacer link=topic=1640.msg16398#msg16398 date=1353660762 said:
I wasn't too bad, i was more concerned about my helmet. I slid along the track managing hold my head off the track right up until the very last moment and then bang it hit the deck. Got away with it though.

I did that on my off. "Head up, head up!, oh balls"
 
Think you were very lucky it was just a low side and bike suffered little damage - could have been a lot worse and far more expensive. Not sure whether you are a track day newbie so i say the following with respect and caution but checking tyre pressures BEFORE you head out on track and then rechecking them throughout the day (both hot and cold) is an absolute must fella!! The tyres themselves may not have been the best (did you say they were Conti's?) - doesnt the BMW come with Racetecs as standard?? Im not sure as mine came with Racetecs but i didnt buy my bike brand new - either way if you were pushing the bike/tyres limits then the quality of tyre and compound etc will have a bearing but the tyre pressures are super important to match to track and ambient temps. Also - im sure you know this now but that tank slapper is and was the reason you lost your front brakes - the violent head shaking would have worked the pads loose - its happened to me on various bikes over the years and i always head straight back to the pits!! Fair play though for holding onto her!!! Hope your future track days are less eventful but make sure you invest in a decent quality temp gauge and DONT rely on the foot pump gauge readout - needs to be a quality electronic gauge - very worthwhile investment!!!
 
Wow - the opposite crash to the one I had at exactly the same corner, for exactly the same reason!

Mine highsided me (race mode, so not even in slick) on the exit of that very hairpin (where it dips on exit) and caused not much more damage than yours. Bit more taken out of the crash bung and a cracked nose fairing/clock mount and more grinding of the seat unit, but it held up well. Thankfully I walked away too, even though the bloody thing chased me up the track and collected me! Sadly, no photos of it.

Was on K3s, but road pressures - as it was my first TD on a bike (I know, okay...) I was taking it mega easy, I thought. Seems the heat gets into them really well and I should have kept more of an eye on the hot pressures. First and last time I make that mistake.

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I know this is going to sound like a very stupid question - but which track is this you guys are talking about??
 
Just worked it out from Shugs other thread!! Never done Knockhill but ive heard the stories!!
 
After I got out the medical centre, I took the bike over to Eddie at ERS (service guy based at the track) to check out a weeping brake master cylinder. Thankfully, was just the bleed nipple needing nipped up, as it'd touched down in the crash.

Anyway, he immediately said, "Ah, you hit the highside dip, did you?" The exit of the hairpin is supposedly notorious as there's a ripple that, if you take the natural exit, somehow seems to pull the rear wheel into a dip. So, about a million hot PSI in the rear (had been out for at least 20 minutes), hitting that with more gas than the previous lap: Slip, ping, ouch!

Tricky little bastard of a track on a bike - have done about a million laps in a car, which probably made me overconfident as well. Anyway, I'll stop hijacking the thread...
 
I'm after a crash damaged right hand top fairing and I thought this might be a good place to ask if anybody had one for sale?
 
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