Just came back from a horrible day at Mid-Ohio my favorite track. Why horrible? because someone didn't take the time to torque or safety wire his drain plug. Because of his stupidity it caused three other riders to end there day early (first session) and caused everyone else to lose track time. He ended my track days this year by causing major damage to my bike (bent rims, smashed fuel tank, bent triple clamp, smashed gauges, rt side clip on plus controls, and I haven't even looked at the bike totally) Pretty nice for a bike with less than 1000 miles on it. That doesn't even count my leathers helmet or gloves that took a good beating. I guess I expect more from people in the advance class. :roll: Worst part of the whole deal he never came around to see if everyone was ok or at least say," hey man sorry". So bottom line I know its not required (should be) safety wire the drain plug, filler cap and filter. Or at least use some silicone. Its not hard and could save you and others a lot of money and more importantly prevent injury. I have to say my leathers did a great job. I spent a lot of time sliding on the track with my bike hitting me. I came out with a rug burn on my elbow and soreness of my shoulders and neck. It could have been MUCH worse :!:
I think this will be Mandatory Next year... Or at least hope so... Also Chest Protectors... Making changes with rules in the (Safety) Area for the better is only a good thing... Sorry to hear about your Mishap Man... However Im glad your able to type this and nothing real bad happened to you..
That really sucks, we delt with the same thing in July at Little Tally and wasted half of everybody's day cleaning up. I have put the bug in Monte's ear that we absolutly make wiring drain plug, oil filter and filler cap mandatory next year. I'm sure this spun him up a bit today after this so I'm pretty sure he will follow thru on this for 2008. Sorry your day ended early and f-up your bike, but glad you walked away. Mark STT South
Sorry to hear you went down. I agree that safety wire on the oil drain/fill and oil filter should be mandatory. Even if it isn't, you should still be doing it... I'd feel horrible if someone else went down in my oil. I for one, take pride in properly preparing and tech'ing my bike... and I know a lot of others do as well. I think anyone coming to the track should have this attitude, otherwise they should stay home. Putting other people unnecessarily at risk is not cool. t
Man, what is this, oil week or something? We had the track oiled really well at Pocono this past Saturday also. I don't know if the culprit was a loose drain plug, but I believe it was one of the coaches. It shut things down for a couple of hours. I think they let folks back on the track shortly after 5, but by then most people, myself included, had packed it in. Sorry to hear you and others fell as a result. Having to wire the oil drain plug, filler cap, and filter is a good idea, and should be mandatory, at least in the advanced group. As for chest protectors, they're a good idea, but shouldn't be mandatory. Hey, I can't fit one over my boobs and under my leathers.
The culprit was a broken oil fitting on a Buell; no amount of safety wire would have saved that one- Just banning buells, perhaps...
We don't do that for checking if we have glycol in the radiator. Asking for the drain bolt, filter and filler is not too much to ask. In fact many other track organizations require it. The reason for those is because these are the ones that most people mess with before a track day. checking the drain bolt on most stock bikes is rather easy since they don't have belly pans. Thats how I was able to see that my new best friend lost his drain plug. Took me all of 2 seconds to look at the bottom of his bike. If we start seeing gallery bolts coming out than maybe we should look at those too. Using silicone or safety wire doesn't make a stock bike less streetable. Also it doesn't cost anything in money or time. Its more of a PITA to change the radiator fluid which is required or installing frame sliders. :roll: Last time I was down at Barber they had a huge witch hunt on checking brake lever bolts. Why because someone that most likely changed a lever didn't tighten the bolt and yes the bolt and the lever fell out. I was told both days I rode that I should place some silicone on the nut even though they had locking nuts on them. I will say it made me think and I did check them again with a torque wrench! Brain I think you missed your calling as a debate team member.:lol: You are right if only one thing is wired the other could go. Thats why I was stating we should secure the three points that most riders would be messing with before they get to the track. And Honestly I would have felt much better if it was a ss motor that blew up. Thats an accident/act of god. This could work with policing the safety wire. Your bike is involved with lubing the track and is not wired big fine and banned from other track days. Possibility?[/quote]
man thats what happens when I go let the dogs out... Thanks Monte wise choice hey did you get my Email about Oct1?
Interesting discussion; I happen to have some time to reply... lying here in bed recovering from the Valdez incident at Mid-O. Laid out for awhile, compliments of our oily friend. The gut reaction, of course, is to add up the damage to the bike (considerable - guessing $3k), lost track time (3 great track days), lost work days, etc. And you pretty much want to kill the guy who brought you down. That said, gaining retribution is a slippery slope (I know, not punny). Where to draw the line? Drain plug equals an azz whoopin.’ Filter earns a knockout punch. Muffler on the track yields an uppercut? Bolt – is it metric? Does it depend upon the size? Yeah, Monte could ban people from subsequent appearances – his call. It’s lost revenue to STT, which doesn’t help any of us. Sure, you could argue crashes cause more lost revenue (I can’t sign-up again this year, for instance). To be sure, I'm stewed over this incident. There's an element of trust amongst those on the track. We have to master the track, our bikes, ourselves. We shouldn't fall to the idiocy of another. I count on the guy (or gal) next to me to hold a line, to not stuff me, etc. Having to assume additional risk from someone's negligence is disheartening. Racing incidents, yes – it comes with the territory. Basic maintenance issues on track days seem an unnecessary risk. On the penalty idea: what we're really worried about, here, is the case where someone materially harms us, right? They don't maintain their machine & cause a crash, or a flagged session. And we're really looking to PREVENT this, right? I'd be happier with my bike and my health - would very much prefer that over a share of a fine. A penalty, like banning people for awhile if they take out an unsafe bike, will perhaps prevent a repeat incident -- but how do we prevent the FIRST incident? Safety wire, sealant -- all of this will help. I can't quite buy the argument that we should require nothing simply because there's more that could be required. Let's start somewhere reasonable, no? If we avoid one crash like this, we save considerable coin and pain. That one crashed yesterday caused maybe $10k in damage... and at least 2 people laid up. That's worth making some changes, in my book. How about going through tech with lowers removed - prove to us that you're not putting others at risk. One other thought: we assume we've all had enough experience with a bike to know how to prep it properly, particularly in the A group. I wonder, though, whether a simple checklist or primer would help? Some folks aren't mechanically-inclined, or perhaps never had the benefit of someone providing insight into how bikes are put together. Maybe a little card with safety requirements is a good handout at registration. Or how about asking people to bring a completed tech sheet to inspection? It might force them to at least look things over one last time? Offer a lunchtime tech session about wiring? Dedicate a part of each Novice class to tech? My bike's well-wired... but I'll admit it took lots of questions and observations before figuring everything out. It might not be safe to assume others have the same know-how. What can we do to help bring them along? Education and inspection (prevention) could ward off an incident. Punishment may help incentivize folks, but it's typically metered out after-the-fact. It’s the “fact†part I think we’d all like to avoid. Okay, enough. See you next year. TC
Well put and for the most part very good points. Unfortunately, just about anyone who has done trackdays for any length of time has a horror story about an on track incident. Mine was being taken out by an out of control rider who was over his head. From a tech standpoint, I like the idea of the checklist and the card at registration and i believe it will HELP. It will NOT solve the problem though, since the human factor is still in play. Monte already said there will be changes in requirements, but if that bolt isnt tight, no amount of safety wire will prevent it from leaking. Even having them complete a tech form assumes that they didnt just "pencil whip" the form to get it done. Yes, we check for E glycol coolant at tech, but how many people lie and get through? Ask any tech inspector, and he/she will tell you that they hear "i didnt know" all the time about it. Step 1: RTFRB!!! Safety guidelines are VERY clear on the website and leave little doubt as to what is expected. To that end, at what point do we draw the line? Am i as a tech inspector going to put a wrench to critical bolts? Nope, dont have time and not my responsibility. The responsibility lies on the individual to ensure their own equipment is safe and well maintained. Ok, enough ranting. Overall, i agree with the sentiment and most of the suggestions are very reasonable, but we need to remember that $#!% happens... even preventable $#!%, and we know that going in. Heal up quick and we will see you out next year!
While we're on the subject of safety items, I think it would be a wise idea to require the removal of license plates. On Saturday some guy had one on, attached at the top (the only place it could be attached due to a fender eliminator kit or some such) and it was flapping up and down a lot. Everytime I was behind him, I was waiting for it to break loose and turn into a giant flying razorblade...because that would be about the effect should you get hit with it. Thanks for the consideration.
Dude!!!! You're gonna be in the cardiac intensive care ward w/me if we keep eating those Mid-Ohio two-corndog + fries lunches!!! Holy sh$t do I feel like crap......... What the heck was I thinking??!
When I see a novice running a plate I go over and offer them a wrench or tape. If they ask why I describe the ninja death star effect it could have. They have changed it in every case. Never seen one in Intermediate thankfully. Sharing your experience and knowledge in a helpful way is more productive than most threats or beratings. Plus when they understand WHY the compliance is generally automatic. I have never met the idiot that WANTS to hurt someone on the track.
Hey, I'm not gonna berate anyone. You're the only one I may pick on! I'm just sayin' that I think it would be a good requirement, rather than trying to track down those with plates.
So I must have been right behind you getting ready to pass. If you saw the red flag and the oil line why didn't you have your hand up? I can say honestly I didn't see the oil line until after and trust me it wasn't easy to see when I walked the track. The oil line was actually about three feet wide most of which you could not see even standing looking down on it. Plus the flag was not out until after I crashed. Be thankful you made it through fine. Brain stop being an antagonist. That was just a stupid comment. Or I need to work with you because most people don't make 3-4 grand in a day. Ok I'm done my goal was met. Monte lay of the fries they are going to kill you. :lol: see everyone next year!
Definite thanks to the STT guys, including Brian. He toured around and worked to get bikes going. He also checked up to see if the riders were okay. With another few hours of work, my machine could have made it back out; I couldn't. My lower back needed to be compu-tracked. I appreciate the assistance offered from those who stopped by, and was glad to help another rider with some (slightly modified) pieces of my machine. That sort of support is one of reasons I enjoy STT. FWIW, the question of missed time from work begins Thurs - I can't fly to my job in Oklahoma, and I'm paid to be onsite. Who cares - that's not really a useful discussion, IHMO. Though I will say I earn enough per day to buy approximately 2 corn dogs. That's a pimp cash pile. TC
Not easily repairable...now my new winter project :? bent rim front/rear, bent triple clamp, damaged fork tube, ripped off rt clip-on, broken gauges, torn electrical wires, and all the bodywork plus the fuel tank. before after