SMP Trackday - Monday, July 9th | GTAMotorcycle.com

SMP Trackday - Monday, July 9th

UltrA_09

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Anyone else going to the Shannonville trackday on Monday, July 9th?

I just registered to be in the beginner group; This will be my first time at SMP and I'm very excited to finally ride this track!
I'll be riding a silver SV650, hope to see some of you there!
 
Anyone else going to the Shannonville trackday on Monday, July 9th?

I just registered to be in the beginner group; This will be my first time at SMP and I'm very excited to finally ride this track!
I'll be riding a silver SV650, hope to see some of you there!
. Ah good old shanny, probably the track with the most character. Not because of the actual pavement, but what's happened on it, and who did it there. True triumph, tragedy, the highest and lowest times in Canadian racing. From the early days ( when Ken began :) ) , the kz's, the secas, rds rzs, the first fzs and gsxrs, ninjas. The good old days. Crevier,Mercier,mc Murtter, Monroe,Taylor,Piccotte, Clark, the list goes as deep as your memory. I feel somthing each time I drive into the driveway there, like I've arrived at a real racetrack, where championships were fought out, won, and lost, til next year. It's a special place, much more than some asphalt in the grass.
 
I'll be there! Never ridden there either,but I soon will! I'll be on the Black Fire Blade.
 
Hey ultra 09... I was checking your bike out today! I was the flat black sv in intermediate... I rode in novice a few times also helping my friends out.

Gonzo08 you were an absolute madman today!
 
Wondering how the afternoon went. I left early when my duc died :(

Hope dude on the BWM is okay, they were out there for a long time getting him loaded on the ambulance.
 
Day went ok, there seemed to be a lot of red flags all day long... I didn't bother going back out after the last red.

Heard some talk around that one of the riders left hospital by the afternoon but not sure if it was the bmw rider or not... what actually happened there? Again, the talk I heard was they touched and it resulted in a high side... I noticed a few people acting like it was a race, even when I went out with the novice group.

Shame either way, the BMW was a work of art. Get well soon rider.
 
BMW guy ended up with a major concussion. Will be off work for a while. The other guy involved had his foot what sounded like dislocated and facing almost the wrong way. Didn't hear about the last guy at the end of the day. From what i also heard, the guy hit the BMW rider in the exhaust with his front tire and that resulted in the melee.

ATSS2006 - I was the guy pitted beside you with the 2 primered bikes and the RC51. Right side if you were looking at the track. Hopefully you get it sorted without to much grief.
 
Good to hear everyone was okay...ish.
That BMW sure was a pretty bike. Shame. I didn't get to see it but I heard one of them cartwheeled down the track after the contact was made. I'm glad its just a concussion. Too bad there were more crashes. There seems to have been a lot of downtime throughout.

Hey Brett, Bike is still in the trailer. I didn't want to take it out and get frustrated and really break anything...It was great having a group around to shoot the **** with..first time out is a little tough..I'm learning to pack a lot of extra crap! Thank god I've got room in that trailer! Bug spray will have to be up on my list too..argh
 
Bugs were bad. The one guy we had to flush his rads, and we had about 100 flying around us at the side of the bike. They were so bad, we packed up the beers, and turned off Cheech and Chong up in smoke and went to bed. At least we finally had some good weather this year.
 
...Didn't hear about the last guy at the end of the day.....

The last guy at the end of the day was unfortunately me. I was on the wrong line and carrying too much speed. I had a minor concussion and a badly bruised right clavicle.

I straightened the bike before going off thinking I can ride it out, but there was a huge ditch that I wasn't expecting which ended up throwing me off. The bike, thankfully, didn't have too much damage. Only have to replace the right clip-on and the plastic that goes around the gauge cluster.

Overall, it was a nice fast track although a bit bumpy haha.
 
Hey ultra 09... I was checking your bike out today! I was the flat black sv in intermediate... I rode in novice a few times also helping my friends out.

Hey 172Driver, good to see more sv riders taking it to the track! It was really nice to talk everyone during trackday, I would say that was the most enjoyable part of my day.


As for the trackday, I have to say that I didn't enjoy myself nearly as much as I thought I would, even before my unfortunate low-side crash. Here's my take on things; just as a disclaimer, I know there are a lot of riders that love Shannonville for what it is, though what is being said is only my opinion of my first (and probably my last) day at SMP, so please don't take it personally. I can only compare the trackday to those run by Racer5 at TMP and GBM, though there were still some major things that I found troubling;...

First thing was the rider's meeting in the morning. Other than the fact that they didn't use any bell, whistle or horn to signify that it had begun as far as I'm aware of (I only realized it had started after noticing that people around me slowly started to disappear one by one), I found it to be as though the trackday was almost unplanned/unexpected. An example of this is when the organizer first wanted to run 2 groups instead of 3, when there were clearly more than 50 or so riders there which is quite ridiculous. I'm glad someone spoke up and suggested running 3 groups otherwise things would have definitely ended very badly. With such a large number of riders, that should have been established very early on. Also, the idea of having only the first 15 riders to the lineup allowed on the track was absurd, the trackday is not supposed to be a race to the start of the line. That would mean if I'm the 16th rider, I would have to wait another hour before actually getting any track time? I'm glad that idea was dismissed, I'm just surprised that it was suggested by the organizer himself. As for the rules on the track, the organizer made it seem far too 'relaxed' in my opinion. Passing rules should have been made clear to everyone, as well as the differences between each of the groups.

Lastly, and what I feel was very important, there was NO TECH?! I knew that my motorcycle would pass tech without any issues, but what about other bikes, especially those who were new to the track? I consider the tech inspection to be a safety measure for all riders participating in the trackday, and should always be performed. The same principle applies to the 'rules' of the track, which everyone on the track should know and should have a clear and common understanding for. Seemed like other's would agree that the riders meeting was poorly run and made some of us more nervous than comfortable before the trackday had even begun.

The other thing that I really found troubling was the lack of immediate action taken by the organizers concerning riders going down while on the track. I unfortunately had the opportunity to experience this first hand during this trackday after low-siding in the second session of the day. Between the time I actually low-sided, and having someone from the crew come by to help me out/ask if I'm alright, it took a full 7 minutes. 7 MINUTES! I may not be an expert racer with countless crash experiences, but I personally think that's far too long of a wait. I actually noticed riders lapping me while my bike and I were resting a few feet from the track, the last rider passing me 4 minutes after the fall (in hindsight I should have moved away from the track to avoid potential injury. I'll be sure to do that next time).

Even when RedDemon went down, I saw the incident while sitting on the bleachers and it was clear to me and anyone else that witnessed the incident that the rider needed immediate assistance, whether just the marshals or actual EMS, yet it took far longer than what I think is necessary to actually get anyone there. THAT is the main reason I don't plan on returning to SMP in the near future. I don't think the organizers are going through the effort of actually taking the necessary precautions in order to make this sport as reasonably safe as it can be.

As for the track itself, this being the first time at SMP, I found the track to be very bumpy. That's not so much a knock to the track, I just thought it would be worth mentioning for anyone else that has never been there. It's got a lot of character, that's for sure. I personally enjoy the smoother asphalt, though that may be just due to lack of experience on very bumpy tracks. The condition of the track had only a slight impact to the overall satisfaction of the trackday.


The reason for writing this partial review/summary was just to inform others of my experience during this trackday. That's not to take away from anyone who had a good time during the trackday, after all that's what everyone is there for. I hope this is helpful in some way, if not to riders, then maybe to the SMP organizers.


Ride safe everyone, whether on or off the track!
 
I did an SMP trackday earlier in the year and would have done this one as well but my gf had made plans for us. I've never been summoned by a bell or horn for the meetings. Usually they're around the same time at each track and you'll see them there with the flags. When you see riders converging with staff it's a good indication the meeting is beginning.
The SMP meeting I went to recently was well done. The days "schedule" was well conveyed and even though all members present were experienced they still went over flags, procedure, EMS, etc. There was no tech on that day either but again there were no first-timers present. If there had I'd hope to see their bike looked at.
From your review I can easily see why you'd feel let down by SMP but I'd suggest giving them another shot.
 
Me and my brother have done Shannonville run days earlier in the summer, and that riders meeting was the worst by far. Usually its very straight forward, to the point and very clear what is going on. I think some of the problem was the questions about things he had covered, and talking amongst the group albeit that is no reason for that meeting being poor. The reason it was likely 7 minutes, and excuse me if i'm wrong from what i read, is that you were up and moving. Last year with pro6, my brother went down and was out there for most of the session because he was out of the way and up and moving.

My HUGE problem was when someone went down and they decided that person needed help (can't remember what part of the day, before lunch though), and they decided to red flag it. But only for 2 people on the front straight, and then waved the checkered for everyone else. So now they have 2 guys sitting in the middle of turn 1, one on the outside, one on the inside because of the red and then about 5 people go flying by as they got the checkered. That was a big mistake and could have resulted in BIG trouble. Luckily those poor souls who got red flagged noticed what was going on and got the hell out of there.

Usually the shannonville run days go off no problem, this one seemed to be doomed from the start. Luckily it didn't turn out too bad.
 
Agreed. If up and moving, I wouldn't expect the session to be stopped for me. Unless my bike was in an impact zone. However, I would immediately pick it up and move it if I was able. If not, it probably means I need the ambulance. Ultra_09: had you picked your bike back up? If so, they may have been waiting for you to move.
As far as no tech, I certainly can't explain that one. I've done a few of the SMP-run days, and we always had a typical tech inspection. I'd be very wary of participating without knowing everyone had been tech'd, unless I new all of the riders and/or they were experienced racers.
Looking at the red/chekers situation; I also have no idea how that happened. Were you guys told to stop on the track for a red? I've never seen that at past SMP days. A red has always meant continue circulating and either exit up at Fabi or at the Nelson pit.
 
Agreed. If up and moving, I wouldn't expect the session to be stopped for me. Unless my bike was in an impact zone. However, I would immediately pick it up and move it if I was able. If not, it probably means I need the ambulance. Ultra_09: had you picked your bike back up? If so, they may have been waiting for you to move.

I suppose you guys are right about that. I guess at the time it happened, it was clear to me that I needed some help to get going again. I did eventually pick up my bike (after gaining back my energy after the tumble), though I let it back down when I realized that the bike won't start, and the kickstand had completely snapped off (there was a lot of damage to the rear of the motorcycle due to hitting the turtle; the subframe got mangled).

From your review I can easily see why you'd feel let down by SMP but I'd suggest giving them another shot.

I was let down, though I do understand that there are both good and bad days at the track. I may give SMP another try, though probably not any time soon.

I do have to say that after this trackday, I gained a lot more respect and appreciation for what Racer5 does.
 
Ultra, I think your ****** experience was more due to the organizers...
I went a few weeks ago and my experience was completely opposite...
 
Were you guys told to stop on the track for a red? I've never seen that at past SMP days. A red has always meant continue circulating and either exit up at Fabi or at the Nelson pit.

We were told to roll off, and stop when red was waved. It depends what track day organizer you go with. Pro6 has always been continue circulating and get off wherever closest, SMP run days have been stop on track.
 
Ultra, I think your ****** experience was more due to the organizers...
I went a few weeks ago and my experience was completely opposite...

+1

The riders choice and pro6 run days at SMP are a completely different experience.

I was there, and I have never seen the guy running the meeting and I have done other SMP run days. They are usually less organized than other providers, but this was the worst I have seen. Ultra - you are right, on July 9th the riders meeting/rule negotiation session was a joke.
 

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