2WF.com - Online and on the Gas - Buell Inside Pass at Homestead

Buell Inside Pass at Homestead

Posted by Kenn Stamp

Tuesday, 01 April 2008

Page 3 of 3

Page three. A fitting page to describe the event that happened in turn 13 on the third session. Before we do that though let's look at what transpired during the session as a whole.

I was lucky enough to get another 1125R (the exact same one I had in session two) to ride for session three ("hey man stop Bogarting the 1125s, dude") so I was warmed up on the bike and the track. I put the helmet cam on for this session even though I was going to wait till after lunch. Good thing I did too.

I decided to work on getting my weight up over the front end better when leaned

over as I thought I was taking the corners a little slower than I should be and wanted more weight on the front end. Everything was working out fine and I was feeling really great on the bike. I zipped passed the 888 that had been giving me problems the first session like he was sitting still and proceeded to pass just about everyone in the intermediate group. The best part was, I wasn't even trying, I was just working on being smooth and staying away from some of the known slippery concrete parts (like turn 8).

There was one other journalist there and before the first session of the day he had warned me that turn 13/14 (14 really isn't much of a turn) is the tricky part of the track and usually claims it's fair share of crashes. Apparently the warning went in one ear and out the other as that is indeed the corner that reached out and brought me back down to earth.

Diving off the banked back straight into the infield I felt comfortable and in control. Turn 11 was no issue and turn 12 went down without a fight. To set-up for 13 after 12 requires you to slide from one side of the bike to the other pretty rapidly as there is not much space between them. I slid over to the left side of the bike, made sure my body weight was over the front end and dropped the knee. Everything looked fine until the Siren's call of the front straight beckoned me to roll the throttle open a wee bit too soon.

The bike was running Corsa III's which I love and had not even given a hint of slide or wiggle any other time on the track, so I can't blame the tires; this was a pure and simple case of rider error. Too much weight on the front-end and a corner design that seems to be a slightly off camber left turn, coupled with a overly excited right wrist, and my fate was sealed.

Right about the apex point I felt the back end start to come out to the right. From that first indication of slide till

the point when I had the bars fully crossed-up was about 15 feet or so. I was going approximately 50ish mph when this occurred so it didn't take much time. My next thought was that I was not about to high-side this bike. I also had a friend of mine and local racer (some of you 2wf forum visitors know him as Speed) who once said to let the bike go if it was going down and not try to hang onto it. With that in mind and knowing that any second the bike was going to catch traction somewhere and flip me, I let go and began my solo journey across the asphalt.

After a slide of about 40-50ft I caught traction and did a 1 1/2 roll ending up on my stomach. Thanks to the SHIFT Racing suit and gloves, and the Alpinestars boots that I was wearing, the only injury I sustained (other than to my pride) was two dime sized bruises to my left arm from where the elbow armor moved. That's it. The suit performed as desired and sacrificed the first layer of itself to keep me from having to stand up for the next week from road rash of the left butt cheek. The right glove took the brunt of the slide and ripped right above the reinforced palm area and popped a seam on the little finger. Boots? No damage at all other than a few scrapes. Good, high quality gear is definitely worth it's weight in gold.

The really amazing thing is that after sliding for approximately 60ish

feet on it's left side, the bike was still in ridable condition. When I made my way back to the pits I was amazed at the condition of the bike. Buell designed the 1125R to be able to crash and slide and still be picked-up and ridden home and that is exactly the condition I found the bike in; ridable. Those big pods on the side really do their job by taking the brunt of the damage while being relatively cheap to replace. Being told about how the design works and actually seeing it in action are two different

things and it is reassuring to know that the protection is there.

Just for the fun of it I had Buell run me some numbers on the parts list that I sent them of what was damaged. Most of the parts you probably wouldn't replace if it was your bike unless you wanted to go back to almost new condition. If it were me I'd just replace the radiator outer shroud (the "pod" on the side) and call it good. But for the sake of comprehensive journalism I am listing it all below.

Radiator outer shroud	M1034.1AMMW	55.70
Left side mirror	N0161.1AM	58.00
Left side bar end	N0010.02A8	2.50
Engine Sprocket Cover	M0580.1AMA	10.00
Shifter lever peg	N0630.1AM	34.50
Left side rider's peg	N1502.1AM	36.21
Left side passenger's peg	N0552.02A8	18.50
Swingarm	K0003.1AMYCR	424.00

All the prices are full retail prices. So you can see that, after sliding that Buell along the ground for about 50-60ft on it's side, replacing all damaged parts would be less than the side panel on most fully faired bikes. Remember, there was no added protection to this bike, what you see is what it comes with from the factory.

I highly suggest that you head on over to Buell.com and check out the Inside Pass track day link to see if they are hosting one somewhere near your part of the country. It is a fun day where usually 60-80 people show-up to ride on the track and get the opportunity to ride a new Buell around if they so desire. The Buell staff is, as always, friendly and knowledgeable.

Head on over to our Buell Inside Pass track day forums to comment or ask questions.

Oh, and no matter how fast I got that day I still couldn't beat any of these guys:

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>

< Prev		Next >