How not to do Donington.

[awkwardbydesign]

Never ridden Donington, although I have spectated there since the early '90s, so as I thought it might be my last one, I decided to give it a go. I had a bad crash at Pembrey 3 years ago, flat out at Honda curve, and had only done one trackday since, in the wet at Mallory last year. Luckily it was dry at Donny, and my son came along too with his GoPro camera. In the second session I had an instructor to follow, but he (and his bike) were twice as fast as me, so I overcooked it at Redgate. No harm done, and I continued for the rest of the day, and in fact I intend to continue.
So here is a little video, awful lines and nervous braking included. Braking used to be where I passed people, but crashing at nearly 100mph with a locked front has set me back a bit. And at my age, I don't heal very well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSYKBnpug_M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[billinom8s]

Best get in with us at landowners then.

[scorcher]

Done better than me! I managed to find the gravel at Coppice on the sighting lap on either the 2nd or 3rd session a few years back . Had a ride in the trailer of shame Wasn't feeling the love after getting up at silly o'clock, travelling for 3 hrs and sitting around waiting for briefings etc etc.
1 st trackday I've done since was Llandow earlier this year, but never felt the love for that either. I was fed up with going around and round by dinner time. Probably won't bother doing another trackday for a few years. i'll spend the money saved on chips and ice creams!

[billinom8s]

Then you'll be the one who's round and around.


Come do our trip to spain matt. It's got ups, Downs, lefts, rights, rounds and straights.

[scorcher]

No passport. And I'm not very foreigner tolerant. So no real desire to get a passport and go to Spain and go round and round. The southwest has got plenty of corners and hills. Doesn't take ages to get there and back or cost loads of money either! Win win!

[billinom8s]

Them there dragons over the water be long dead and gone now. Nowt to be sacred of.

[mike69]

Just my opinion I am NOT an expert.
I have watched you're vid a couple of times and I think that the guy giving you tuition was no help at all. He actually led you out of your comfort zone into the gravel trap. I have watched these marshals "training" at track days and decided that they lack the teaching skills necessary to be of any help. I have yet to see any of them follow a rider first to assess the person's ability and speed they are helping. They should follow for a couple of laps and then overtake and show you the racing line without encouraging you to go faster than you are happy with, gradually increasing speed. All that guy seemed to do was to encourage you to go faster and because of the crash could have put you off track days altogether. Fortunately that is not the case.
I remember when I started doing track days reading on Hottrax website " if you think you are going into a corner too fast the chances are you are not and to lean it in rather than bail out or words to that effect. That has saved me more than once. Modern bikes and tyres are much better than most riders. Unless you have your knee down or the footrest scraping you are no where near the limit of lean. As Neil Hodgson said "how can they crash when going so slow?"

[Scotty]

JFLI

[awkwardbydesign]

Just my opinion I am NOT an expert.
I have watched you're vid a couple of times and I think that the guy giving you tuition was no help at all. He actually led you out of your comfort zone into the gravel trap. I have watched these marshals "training" at track days and decided that they lack the teaching skills necessary to be of any help. I have yet to see any of them follow a rider first to assess the person's ability and speed they are helping. They should follow for a couple of laps and then overtake and show you the racing line without encouraging you to go faster than you are happy with, gradually increasing speed. All that guy seemed to do was to encourage you to go faster and because of the crash could have put you off track days altogether. Fortunately that is not the case.
I remember when I started doing track days reading on Hottrax website " if you think you are going into a corner too fast the chances are you are not and to lean it in rather than bail out or words to that effect. That has saved me more than once. Modern bikes and tyres are much better than most riders. Unless you have your knee down or the footrest scraping you are no where near the limit of lean. As Neil Hodgson said "how can they crash when going so slow?"

I have done maybe 30 track days since 2000, at various tracks, and to be fair that was the first instructor who has disappeared into the distance. The best one was a Mini Twins racer on a similar SV at Brands. When I asked him when he braked at the end of the straight, he said he didn't, just knocked it down a gear and accelerated!* Now that's the way to do Paddock Hill Bend on an SV650, all the big boys would shoot past me, hit the brakes, and I would be under them and accelerating down the hill. Still makes me giggle! And his lines were right for me, just faster, so I could decide which side to pass people at Clearways.
So yes, a racer on a 1000cc 4 cylinder bike wasn't much help.
* That's what caused my big crash at Pembrey. I had opened the throttle and was accelerating through Honda when the muppet on a 'thou thought he was faster than me, so tried to get ahead on the inside, hit the brakes as he cut across my (accelerating) nose and left me with nowhere to go! I locked the front trying not to hit him and went down at probably nearly 100mph. Three years and three operations later I am just starting to get back on track. And I am getting old quicker than I am getting fit. Plus my wife won't let me out on my own.

[Trucker_Jay]

Binned my old R1 on the same corner, first time riding there and took the corner way too early and the rear tyre didn't fancy it.

Skip to 10 minutes.

https://youtu.be/yOOpD28Eu1U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[billinom8s]

Oops