M³ Racing Botts, F800S Cup

Zwartkops 23/02/2008 Regional All Bike Race Day From a Riders Perspective

Karen, your Botts Blog is excellent. Those of you that don't have a clue what I'm talking about mail me for a copy of Karen's blog.

I must just mention that friend Chris Marais was actually on a BMW F800S and not on a 1200 as the race programme indicates. In race 2, he did a brilliant passing move past three of us around turn six and seven! He found tarmac where I didn't think there were any. He came around the outside on turn six, and set up to pass on the inside on turn seven, taking three bikes with that quick thinking move. But of course the easy handling BMW F800S allowed him to do that! One of the best passes I've seen! Exhilarating stuff!

Johan vd Merwe Junior - Congratulations!!! Kom dice weer saam!

Sakkie Gerber managed to smash himself dizziness into the back of me, on lap one of race one. As I leaned in on turn eight, I felt a thud and the back end of my bike felt as if it lifted then jolted down. I decided to go off the track as straight as possible, in case the bike that struck me traveled faster than me, fearing another possible hit and possibly from the side, preferring it from the back, thinking I would be less vulnerable.

I turned back to the track's direction just before the tyre wall. Looking back to see the damage on my bike I had to choose between leaving a fibreglass side cover dangling or rip it off. I opted to rip it off! Back on the track, the race was red flagged, giving me a chance to put some duct tape plasters on the damaged panels. Must say, the 1100S does offroad quite well. (-:

The fibreglass tailpiece on top of my saddle had a hole in it from the impact, and on later inspection I found that the transponder was also damaged from impact. I fortunately only ended up with a very slightly sprained left ankle.

Haven't Entered for Phakisa 29th of March Race, Please Do So Now!

Either download Regs and Entry from MS2000 or mail me for the Regs and Entry forms. Entries close 21/3/2008.

Safety / Maintenance

Friend, current ZX10 and past BoxerCup racer, Louis van Bergen - Still in Hospital

If you don't already know, it is with sadness that I bring you this news.

Louis was seriously injured (shattered pelvis amongst other injuries) on turn 4 at Zwartkops on Sunday, the day after our race, on a track day. It is with a degree of pissed-off-ness & frustration that I write this, mainly because his wipeout, as many other wipeouts, could have been and can be avoided.

Why do I make this statement? Some of the main reasons for prangs is rider enduced (survival reactions) or bad maintenance and bad or no pre track ride checks.

In Louis' case his bike suffered complete brake failure - human error not technology failure.

We never the less, wish him a speedy recovery! Hang in there dude!

Some reasons for not having brakes

Lever unreachable: fingers too short, fingers frozen to the throttle, loose lever or missing lever, etc. 

No resistance when applying brake lever: No brake fluid, air in brake fluid, brake fluid overheating, pads away from disc so lever has to be pumped before brakes work, no pads, no brake disc, no caliper, bolts loose / missing, worn, wrong or incompatible seals, other mechanical failure, etc.

Lever resistance but no stopping power: wrong brake pads, unbedded pads, worn brake disc, etc.

Manufacturer's recomendations:

Follow the manufacturer's recommendations! In other words, read the manual! They researched, designed and manufactured your bike and should know what they're talking about!

Know and understand your bike's brakes and what is required for proper functioning of your bike's brakes. For instance, if the caliper is fastened with stretch bolts, by rights, they should be replaced every time they've been losened.

When torqueing the caliper bolts, or any other bolts for that matter, make sure there is little friction on the screw threads, so that when tightening the bolts / nuts, a proper tensioning torque is measured not a screw thread friction torque.

And if necessary, also know what modifications need to be done for racing purposes.

Some more things to think about

When removing the brakes on the front to replace a tyre and you put the wheel back, I noticed, one needs about 12 complete pulls on the front brake lever to get the brake pads back against the disk. Then doing some more thinking...

It takes about 4 seconds to pull the lever 12 times.

To put this in perpective, should your pads be worn (or not) and they for some or other reason get pushed away or vibrated away from the disk, and if say, it only takes six pulls of the brake lever to get your brakes back and working, and let's say you start braking at the 100 metre mark (which is damn early) doing 200 km/h, you would have covered 110 meters when the brakes start working again! That means you are sort of past the corner when the bike's brakes start working again - Scary thought!!

No matter whether you have a race mechanic or not, technical minded or not, have scrutineering done, best you learn the technical aspects, the manufacturer's recommendations and what is required to have proper brakes on your bike at all times, for your own safety and for proper brake function - it's YOUR life, take care of it.

We love having fun on the race track, not visiting friends in hospitals!

Your life is YOUR responsibility! And on the track as on the road, it's your responsibility to try and not take someone else out with you.

Have a funtastic looong weekend!