Poll for track day people

[RiverRoadWarrior]

Where have you had more crashes, the track or the street?

Of hours spent doing each, versus number of crashes, which would you say has the highest risk of a crash?

Yeah, this was inspired by the question, why don't I want to do track days.

[TejasRider]

A lot of this has to do with the individual, but on a track all those variables that are outside of your control are so much more predictable than they ever are on the streets. That's just my opinion based on my experience though.

[acalliste]

In 22 years of riding street bikes, I've crashed once, and basically fell over twice on the street from the newbie mistake of grabbing the front brake while barely moving, once while trying to avoid being hit by a car. (I'm not going to count the times I may have crashed my trail bike when I was a kid because I don't really remember what happened at the time)

In the 4.5 years since I started doing track days (approx 24 days), I have only had one minor crash at the track, and I wasn't even really out on the track at the time. I was just turning onto pit out to go out for my session when my lap timer fell down and caused my bars to lock and I couldn't straighten up, and fell over and slide a little ways onto the grass. Apart from that I haven't had any other incidents yet which could be considered a crash. I haven't even run off the track yet. The closest I have come so far was when I target fixated in T13 and almost forgot to stay on the pavement, and the time me and another rider bounced off of each other in T12, swapping paint and rubber.

[blurr]

Originally Posted by acalliste

In 22 years of riding street bikes, I've crashed once, and basically fell over twice on the street from the newbie mistake of grabbing the front brake while barely moving, once while trying to avoid being hit by a car. (I'm not going to count the times I may have crashed my trail bike when I was a kid because I don't really remember what happened at the time)

In the 4.5 years since I started doing track days (approx 24 days), I have only had one minor crash at the track, and I wasn't even really out on the track at the time. I was just turning onto pit out to go out for my session when my lap timer fell down and caused my bars to lock and I couldn't straighten up, and fell over and slide a little ways onto the grass. Apart from that I haven't had any other incidents yet which could be considered a crash. I haven't even run off the track yet. The closest I have come so far was when I target fixated in T13 and almost forgot to stay on the pavement, and the time me and another rider bounced off of each other in T12, swapping paint and rubber.

Im sorry but


you need a both option, in 20 years of street riding one wreck on black ice nearly 20 years ago merely accelerated to quickly incorrectly believing there was no ice, track 1 wreck @ 34 degrees (not the lean angle ) lost the front end

[acalliste]

Yeah, your crash is so much cooler than mine.

[blurr]

Oh come on, to much front brake while barely moving? and the lap timer falling down and locking up your bars? those are great, the kind you can laugh about AC, lighten up.

[LaurenOE]

There have been a ton of close ones, and I'm sure my number is coming up, but the closest to crashing I have come is when I ran off the track at Jennings in Turn 1. Too hot and wrong line. No biggie as I just road it back onto the track. I honestly can't determine IMHO which is more "crash" probable - track or street.

[acalliste]

Originally Posted by blurr

Oh come on, to much front brake while barely moving? and the lap timer falling down and locking up your bars? those are great, the kind you can laugh about AC, lighten up.

Is it such an unusual thing for a new rider to grab the front brake and go down? That's quite a common occurrence as far as I know.

As to the track lap timer incident, yeah it was pretty funny since it happened at the beginning of pit out, and not coming out of T6 at a much higher speed.

[PhilB]

Originally Posted by RiverRoadWarrior

Where have you had more crashes, the track or the street?

Of hours spent doing each, versus number of crashes, which would you say has the highest risk of a crash?

Yeah, this was inspired by the question, why don't I want to do track days.

On both the track and the street, how often you crash is correlated with how you ride. On the track, the correlation is closer; there are a lot fewer factors that are not under your control. In addition, crashes on the street are in themselves a lot less predictable, and entail many more environmental hazards. And medical help is less likely to be close by if needed.

So I firmly believe the track is much safer than the street from the standpoint of crashes that aren't your fault, and from surviving the crash.

If you are using the track to really push your limits, then your crash risk goes up. But then if you are doing that on the street, you're really putting yourself in even more danger, so even then the track is a safer environment for that.

So even though I am a dedicated and daily street rider, and will not ever give that up voluntarily, I can't see any rational argument for the street being safer than a track, as a riding environment.

The *only* argument I can see is the idea that a person might take a lot more risks on the track, and thus create more danger for himself than he would on the street. But that is a factor that is entirely behavioural, and under the rider's control. So the only real argument that the track wouldn't be as safe boils down to "I'm an idiot".

Since I don't think you are an idiot, I therefore think you would be safer on the track than on the street.

PhilB

[blurr]

This video pretty much sums it up. IM not gonna say the track is safer, because it is a place where you push the limits, with that said I have probably hundreds and hunreds of laps in a gokart on the track and never even came close to wrecking (only a few motorcycle track days) its simply a place where you will push the limit and learn what you can do, its not saying you will wreck, but because of this, the likelyhood is high, but just enjoy yourself, and the great thing is, you dont have to try to ride like Hayden to have a good time
There are some guys that just tool around doing no real lean angles having a great time.

YouTube - No Place to Race. Mick Doohan. Motorbike Accidents