My cousin had the same problem on a normal track day at Snetterton recently on the easter bank holiday, not something limited to DUK days it seems
I attended the Silverstone DUK day in 2018 and although there were mobile chicanes, people dawdling on track looking behind waiting for their mates to catch up, and people parked up on track fixing their bikes, there were not many Red flags. Possibly that was down to the amount of space to avoid people there, however it didn't feel anywhere near as dodgy. To be fair to the Advanced group yesterday, generally the pace wasn't too horrendous, it was more the lines and the choices. I would say a lot of the gravel incidents were panic target fixation rather than excessive speed (the bikes ended just a few yards into the traps). The breakdowns with people stood in the track were just another level of bizarre. There were a couple of genuine accidents, however I would say a good 80% were as Casey would say "ambition outweighs your talent". It is a good idea, however I know it is a very difficult problem to resolve. A Euro style transponder situation that moves groups to laptimes after a few sessions could go some way towards helping, however as I mention above it seems more of an Ego/experience problem than a straight pace issue. I had a few situations where I caught and passed someone, then because I was being cautious/respectful passing the next person I would get dive bombed by the person I had just passed (and they would often then dive bomb/stand up the next couple of people to show they were faster). It makes no sense. Leave your ego at home and ride and observe and respect eachother. If you want to race there are avenues for that. If you don't have much (or regular) track experience do not book an advanced space. If you book Silverstone they will ask you about your level, and also ask for the number of trackdays (and possibly even the amount in the past year). If someone has under a set number of days or a limited number in the past year it is questionable if they should be in Advanced. I would be very surprised if it was anywhere near this bad. Barring one session I really do not think I got 2 laps in before each subsequent Red flag. I have been to a few crash fests where you might get a majority of sessions Red flagged (rarely ALL off them), however even those are flagged at least 5-10 laps into a session. For people to barely finish 2-3 laps before crashing is unacceptable, and extremely rare. Also, on those days when there have been a few sessions flagged in a row, often the organiser will bring everyone together at lunch and bash some heads together and tell that to stop being d*ckheads!
think i was there that year, didnt some guy actually turn around and rode against the traffic on a live session to go find his mate who had crashed?? i belive they both got asked to leave.
The only rider incident I’ve ever had at Donington was a DUK day. It felt crowded from the get go. A rider in front drifted right into my path as I was turning into the Melbourne Loop. There was contact and unfortunately he came off. He was on a beautiful brand spankers V4S too. Ouch… Generally speaking, the fast group know what they’re doing so there are few incidents.
Well I enjoyed it! But was only in inters, always too many red flags in the fast group on any track day not just Ducati days IMO, so never bother.
I would have to agree for the available space and style of Donington. If you pick the right company on the right day they can still be very good. I tenf to avoid No Limits because it seems to attract more racers that see crashing as a badge of honour and dislike anyone with a bike that cost more than £5,000. I do not know what the stats are, however the type of people in the group can make it seem less or more busy. If it is a proper fast group you can have as many as were in the DUK groups and you barely see 5-10 bikes per session because everyone is lapping in their own space at a similar pace. It is extremes in laptimes that can make them seem more busy. I have attended 30+ track days in Fast/Advanced groups over the past 5 years and I saw more red flags at this years DUK event than in the other 30 days combined (bar one Euro day that stands out as bad, yet still only had half the flags of the DUK day, and even then were at least after 5-8 laps in each session). The number and frequency of the flags at this DUK day was completely shocking. As I said, aside from one session where I got maybe 4-5 laps, every single other session was stopped short of 2 flying laps. I think @DRR117 checked his gps lap timer and worked out he had 9 flying laps, which works out at us paying nearly £30/lap. I cannot believe any other trackday ever run has had that many Red flags so quickly after the start of each session.
Was just an observation, completely agree the frequency of red flags was ridiculous, don't know why the standard of riding was so poor by some. I tend to do most of my trackdays earlier in the season as can't really do them in July, Aug due to work (farm), so don't see what the days are like in those months with regard to red flags in each group.
