Believe in Yourself

But don't become #5 of, "Five Reasons Why We Crash"

Author

Scott Clayton
August 12, 2024

I had my first off track excursion at The Ridge, at my last track event, July 29th and 30th. Monday the 29th started off very wet, but then got less wet. As I was coming down turn seven, I performed a timid downshift which caused a false neutral. Why timid? Because I was getting tired, it had been raining all morning, and I was having fun riding in it. And I was slightly off line. You quickly realized how much engine braking you rely on when entering a corner, when you’ve got a false neutral.

Engine Braking: Zero percent throttle or closed throttle and the rear tire is spinning the engine, but the engine’s compression is the resistance. The resistance is higher at higher engine speeds (Revolutions Per Minute). For four wheeled manual transmission drivers think about a very long down hill, where you don’t want to ride the brakes the whole way down. You downshift to use the engine’s compression to slow down the vehicle. Higher engine speeds equals more compressions per second. Hence, more resistance.

False Neutral: I don’t know if you can get a false neutral in a car. But on a motorcycle, it’s when the transmission is in between two gears creating a sense of neutral. Such as, the motorcycle is not in second or third and the rear wheel is disconnected from the engine. Just like when you intentionally put your vehicle into neutral.

Since it had been raining all morning, the grass off track was wet and the number one thing you DON’T want to do in this situation is touch the front brake. Which is the complete opposite of what you do on track. Once I realized I had too much speed for turn eight and wasn’t going to make the turn. I knew I was going off track and onto that slippery wet grass. Oh shit!

The Ridge Track Map

But somehow the first thing that came to mind was: Rear brake. Rear brake. Rear brake. So that’s what I did. But it didn’t seem like it was going to be enough, I had already blown through the sand trap. And my suspension was bottoming out over the imperfections on the infield. Because of my inability to stop sooner than I’d like. I thought I was going to blow through the entry to turn five also. Luckily I didn’t! I had enough room to rear brake my way to a stop just before turn five and return back on track where I came off.

How is it that I remembered what you are supposed to do when you run off track onto wet grass? I have never had any experience with this type of situation.

I talked in previous newsletters about feeling the front tire slide, a little, in turn two because I released the brake lever too quickly. I didn’t crash, the tire hooked back up and regained grip. At the mini one-day champs school my rear tire spun up and kicked out exiting turn eleven when it started to sprinkle in that corner. In that situation, my body (hands and legs) reacted before I had realized what had happened. On the second day of my most recent event I felt the front tire slide (a tiny bit) three different times in turn eleven. Probably from releasing the brake lever too quickly or going in with an under loaded front tire from over-slowing caused by my inability to cope with the mixed condition on track. Either way in each of these situations I didn’t panic and/or knew what to do.

How is it that we know what to do? Is it our training? Maybe it’s our ability to naturally do the opposite when things go bad because we have done it correctly so many times in the past? Again, training.

The question then becomes, at which point can you start relying on your training? I don’t think it’s not a ones and zeros. I think it’s a ratio. The more experience you have, the more you can rely on your training.

Ken Hill’s Five Reasons Why WE Crash:

  1. Loss or Lack of Focus (no plan)

  2. Abrupt Inputs (no 5%’s)

  3. Rushing Direction

  4. Repeating a Mistake

  5. Overconfidence (emotion)

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