In the middle of a well deserved week long holiday with the family in the southern Alps, one thing I can testify on is that Dutch, Germans and Belgians do not share the same polical agenda when it comes to travelling to France as Bojo. Feeling a little sorry for you guys in the UK, to be honest...
If a job is worth doing... Day two was interesting to say the least. It was wet. Not badly so but wet never the less. Holli my instructor and the rest of the group said that they weren’t interested in doing any laps on a wet track, so I tagged onto Andy Carlisle’s group (all the other English speakers including my friends). We set off on the first lap of the morning, just after eight am. Turn T13 where the old pit complex is seemed ok. Round Coca-cola curve and down the hill to the Hatzenbach complex. This section is fairly slow, narrow and tight with a fair degree of road crown. It’s also one of the most slippery sections when its wet. Number three in the line Paul R slid off as we took the first right hander. Derek and I were behind and so stopped to assist. Derek ran back up the track to warn oncoming groups and the marshals waved their flags. All good. Subsequent groups were warned. During a gap in riders Paul and I picked the bike up and wheeled it off the track. No fluids spilled. Just a badly bent brake lever. Before you could count to ten, the large red and yellow Ring pickup arrived. We told the marshals that there were no injuries, the track was still clean but one bike was unrideable. The marshals called for the recovery vehicle and told Derek and I we could leave. We got on our bikes and set off. I remember getting on my bike. I remember setting off. I have a memory of being on my ass sliding along the ground. Then I woke up in the ambulance! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! By just after nine 9 o’clock I had been admitted to the local hospital, examined, CT scanned and in a room on a ward. Not bad. Not bad at all. Anyway, the prognosis was that there was no serious damage, no broken bones, no bruises, I just hit my head as I fell and was knocked out for a minute or two. No signs of concussion. Phew! A bit of a headache and they admitted me to keep under observation for 24hours. After a couple of hours I was bored. I used my phone to contact people and find out stuff, but I had to stop because I needed to keep some battery for the next morning. So bored, bored, bored etc. I slept well that night despite the best efforts of the two elderly gentlemen in the room with me. Not their faults though, they were both quite ill. The next morning (today, Wednesday) I saw the doctor and was released. Meanwhile my bike had been collected by Derek and was in the back of the van again with his bike. I was supposed to be riding home whilst he went to Beauvais and caught a flight to Cyprus, leaving his van and bike in secure storage until he got back. All change! I drove Derek to the airport, then continued with the van up to Calais where I changed my ticket for tomorrow and bike to today and van. The mandatory covid test was performed and the result arrived by email in good time. So I’m currently sitting in the van under the channel writing this for you, dear readers! It’s at times like this when you find out who your friends really are and how much they will put out for you. Derek is a f*@kin’ awesome friend! So what about the title of this piece? Well whilst I got off pretty lightly, The bike IS ABSOLUTELY TRASHED! It looks like it landed on the left side, hit one of the high kerbs, flicked over onto the other side and then hit the barrier. Tail gone, nosecone gone, seat gone, tank scuffed and dented, left clip-on gone, both sides really badly scuffed, clutch cover pierced. Miraculously the clocks are still there and intact. I haven’t had a chance to look at the wheels yet. I will have a closer look to tomorrow to see if its worth trying to salvage it. So there we are. I’ve been coming to the Ring for over twenty years, ridden god knows how many laps in public traffic (cars and bikes together) ridden plenty of laps in the rain and it finally got me. It had to sooner or later I suppose... I will be back next year, another year older and wiser. Holli obviously knows more than me, that’s why he’s an instructor and I am a student.
Wow. Wasn’t expecting that but glad you are ok. The bike is only metal. Thanks for taking the time to write up. Do you know what happened yet?
Bloody hell, glad you’re ok, shame about the bike. Thanks for the report, it’s been an interesting read.
Shit Razz. Tough luck. But bikes mend and sounds like you are in good spirits physically and mentally
At least you are ok which is the main thing. Does look like you did a proper job though! Typically I ride with Andy's group and initially I too also thought that the locals were just being ultra cautious by not riding once it got wet but having witnessed how slippy the Ring can be when wet I'm now in their camp. The likes or Aremberg can be like glass; just too much deposited rubber. It's a long way to go just to sit out the rain and whilst expensive it nowhere near as expensive as dropping the bike. Here's to next year & dry weather!
Very sorry to hear this news, not the continuation of this thread I was expecting. At least you're OK which is the important bit. A real shame about your bike though. Hope it's salvageable.
I know the track extremely well as I am an instructor in cars there. In fact Monday and Tuesday evenings I was out after you guys. In cars we use a very different line compared to when it’s dry as we are looking to run the wheels where there is not the despots on the surface. Even then when totally off line we still suffer grip losses that can easily wreck a car. I have never done any of the bike courses, but I presume they use a wet line as we would in cars. Andy C was running full wets wasn’t he? I see he had a set on his bike when I saw him at the end of the day. You guys on sporty road tyres I would not touch it in the wet nowadays. The Motorrad course a few weeks back was blighted by heavy rain and fog on both days. Sadly their guys lost a few bikes in a very short window as Nurburgring declared it safe to open for about an hour in the afternoons.
Aah shit man. Glad you’re ok. The ring does indeed look particularly treacherous in less than bone dry conditions.
Your mudguard survived and is unmarked! Yes, I know what happened. My bike was parked off to the side of the track on the grass and mud. As I started off I thought ‘I need to get the mud off these tyres’ so I started an almost imperceptible weave from side to side, just to rock the bike on its tyres. My best guess is that the front washed out whilst I was doing that. No cornering ABS is going to help with that coz I wasn’t on the brakes. Its like riding on ice. When the front goes, its gone before you even know it. Hatzenbach is notorious; when its dry its plenty grippy and you can throw the bike from side to side. But when it’s wet... The cars all drift through these corners and they polish the tarmac. I’ve been through in the wet many a time and you can feel that there’s no grip at all. You can feel the front or the back move as you ever so gently move from one corner to the next. You have to be very relaxed on the bars so that if the front does move you don’t make it worse by stopping the bike from making its own corrections. Obviously I was putting some force into the bars in order to weave and it was too much. Lesson learned.
