Ducati Monster Forum

Too bad I couldn't think of it at the time.  Yep, this is going to be a crash report.

I was taking Cornerspeed Level 1 at VIR Full Course.  I had been there before on the North Course, but this was my first time on any part of the South Course.  For those who don't know, the back straight is looooooooong and must be somewhere on the order of 3500+ feet long.  I was topped out in 6th, crested the hill before the brake markers for 14, and realized in downshifting and braking that my brakes weren't feeling right.  I wasn't stopping very well.  I thought maybe my glove was bound, so released the controls for a split second.  The bike accelerated wildly and I realized that the brakes weren't the problem.  My throttle was stuck wide open.  F***!!!

The correct answer didn't dawn on me at the moment.  The textbook solution is to hit the kill switch and then pull in the clutch.  That didn't dawn on me as I was staring at my fate down that long steep hill.  I slowed the bike down as much as I could before the front tucked in the second turn, 14a. 

The rest of the report is here:

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=7128

WOW! 

Hindsight is always much more clear.  Glad you are pretty much OK. 

WOW glad you were able to get right back on that is some scary stuff!

If it's a fuel injected Ducati, pull in the clutch, then worry about the kill switch.  The rev limiter will prevent you from hurting the engine.

The track tool is a 2003 SV650, and I wouldn't have killed the motor, so it's preference which order to do it in.  My biggest mistake was in my mindset of deciding that there was no way not to crash, even though I did stay committed to asphalt.

you did well ! what a nightmare...thanks for the tips - I hope I never have to use them - but you're right - I've never needed the kill switch before - I really should put some thought into it's use.

Hope you heal quickly.

Spider

Thank you for sharing your story!  The stories are soo valuable.  Stories stick in my head as a learning tool - simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional stories have all the content of something that sticks (with acedemic research to validate).  Firemen telling stories at the bar, oral history, urban legends, etc.  It's how you get to write the ending that counts - courage, confidence, greater leeps in performance, creativity, humor.

Now, I know why the kill switch is right there.    ;D

johno

I am confused with this statement, why wouldn't you have killed the motor?  And second, wouldn't pulling the clutch in be effectively the same as hitting the kill button, and thus the two options would be equally acceptable alternatives - why would one hit the kill button and then pull in the clutch?  I am thinking it is an either or scanerio, but not both? 

It seems to me that to have some tension on the chain is better than none, at first.  I was heading into a series of turns and if I pulled in the clutch, my suspension would have been terribly unsettled if I just pulled in the clutch.  If I hit the kill switch first, I would have had tension on the chain (albeit the wrong side), but if I pulled in the clutch before killing the motor, I would have maintained some kind of drive (even if backward) to get the bike through the turn and then pulled in the clutch *gently* to try to get off track without crashing. 

Has anyone ever had to hit the kill turn at ~100 mph going into turns and not crashed?  Can you share your experience?

If you pull the clutch in with a stuck wide open throttle the engine will over rev.  If you were to shut the engine without pulling in the clutch the back wheel will lock.

I'm not sure it locks.  I've seen someone on the street experience a stall at full throttle.  The back wheel just behaved as it would if you closed the throttle all the way.  It didn't lock.  Had I been in first, it would have probably locked, but since I was already in 4th, I think it may have been okay, but again, I chose the wrong option, so we'll never know.

If it's a fuel injected engine, it will not over rev.  It will bounce off of the rev limiter and won't actually hurt a thing.  Older engines that had needle bearings on the connecting rods, either on the small end or small and large ends, could be damaged that way, but engines with plain bearings, like all recent Ducati engines, are not hurt by doing that.  And we know that the valves aren't moving fast enough to hurt anything.

In the MSF course, the instructor said to use the kill switch every time so that it's automatic in an emergency.

By the same token, if you use the rear brake for your normal braking, you will use it, hard, in an emergency, with the usual J-turn skid mark at the end.

Develop the right habits for normal riding, and you'll use them automatically when things go wrong.

Funny you bring this up.  I hit the kill switch every single last time to turn off the bike.  It doesn't matter if it's my track bike, pit bike, street bike, or borrowed bike.  I ALWAYS use the kill switch to turn it off.  This muscle memory is for when I've come to a stop and want to shut off the bike.  This muscle memory obviously has not transferred to the ZOMFGICAN'TGETTHISmake the beast with two backsINGBIKETOSTOP kind of situation.  I guess I'm just not that smart. 

It won't lock up.  The rear tire will just drive the engine internals.  6th gear has the most mechanical advantage of the engine, from the rear tire's perspective.

With the bike on a rear stand, put it in first gear, try to roll the engine by rotating the rear tire.

Can't?

Now try putting it in 5th or 6th (top gear)

Works better ;)

To the OP, my vote is pull the clutch and then use the hell out of that front brake.  Who cares if the suspension gets upset, it's not like that makes the wheels fall off ;)  I don't know this turn, or your speed but you can brake all the way to the apex of a turn.  Actually, you can brake all the way to the corner exit if you want.  As long as you don't get greedy with that brake lever you'll stay up.  IME the line between too much brake and not too much brake really isn't that thin.  I've found I can get away with quite a bit of front brake while leaned over.