So Whos This I Nearly Crashed Into ? Are You On Here Lol

Did you find out why he had slowed down so much??

 

I'm going with, rider in front kicked up a stone that hit him in the groin. We all know how much those sting. Ease up on the poor fella

 

He was off line from exit, well out the way

 

Couple of times...and if coasting down that straight you do it to the right and stay there and run off at the car chicane

 

You're unsighted by the other bikes. If they weren't there you'd have seen him from miles away. Anywhere coasting is dangerous!

 

Certainly in the wrong place and could at least have raised his arm to show other riders. Long time since I rode Donny, the Melbourne Loop was still under construction and I was racing a 350 in open class and also had my first passenger races in the sidecar events. Daily Mirror meeting in I think 1985. God I feel old.

 

I agree with you mate & lucky escape for the unsighted James Griffin - really lucky escape. If that slow rider had decided to coast then that's a big no-no. But let's say he had just discovered a problem that meant he lost power? Where would we expect him to go - I'd expect him to keep right and exit into the run off at the end of the straight. Down that straight everyone who is slower for whatever reason, seems to get over to the right, starting from the exit of Coppice. Which is why the near miss with the first rider happened, as they moved right & ate up the overtaking space between them & the grass. Perhaps it is a case of riders taking "the racing line", but when you ride Donington enough, what quickly becomes apparent is that slower riders keeping right enables the quicker lads to make progress down the middle/left of the track and out-brake slower riders if needed into the chicane safely. I've lost count the number of times I've ridden Donington & that is always the case. It's just how it's evolved.

 

Lucky escape mate, that guy was way too slow, you we're unsighted and if he was coasting/waiting for a mate, I agree with your comment. But may be he'd just had an engine issue or something? Gotta say though that you sure you chose the best line for what you were trying to do at the speed you were trying to do it? To be fair, unless you've ridden Donington a lot, you probably wouldn't know that your goal would have been achieved with much less risk if you had gone down the middle/left of the track. I know it's a bit counter intuitive as it's not following your idea of a racing line. But at the speed of the rest of the group (was that really Inters, it looked slow) I reckon you would easily have made the chicane without too much braking. I ride in fast and I see the above manoeuvre happening a lot with minimal risk. Good luck next time you are there and hope you have a better experience as it's my favourite track.