As we tech each bike, a visual of the bike and some questions posed to the rider to help us determine the bike's adherance to the safety rules of the event, which also includes asking the rider if the bike has any antifreeze in it. Of course, antifreeze or any coolant containing ethelyene glycol isn't allowed, as it cannot be cleaned up off the track surface and remains very slippery for many days, sometimes weeks.
We could of course force every rider to strip off all of their bodywork, and insist the riders bring the bikes to tech with engines cold, so that we can pull everyone's radiator cap to be sure, and this would end up delaying everyone's day, and I guess that riding might commence between 10-11 am.....so a little of it is done on the honour system, and when we ask if their is antifreeze in the bike, I expect co-operation and honesty. If you can't do that, stay home. Period.
There is another thread on here describing a bunch of riders who fell down this summer in antifreeze that their own fellow rider had denied was in their bike, had crashed at TMP, and subsequently spilled antifreeze on the track that caused the other riders to fall in her spilled coolant in her aftermath.
In that thread, I read anger from the fallen riders aimed towards the track, and their officials and tech. As I said, to find the one bike in the whole mess that may have antifreeze, they ALL have to be checked, and this can cost all of the riders and tech officials hours. If the witch hunt ends at the tech officials, then I see that as the only solution-either tech goes from 5 to 7 am, or riding begins at 11 am. However, I propose another guilty party that the witch hunt needs to end at: the rider who lies about having the antifreeze in their bike to begin with!
If you bring your bike to a trackday, and you know the rules are "NO ANTIFREEZE", and lie to the tech offical's face when asked about it, and proceed to ride onto the track surface, what you are saying is this:
"I AM MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OTHER RIDER HERE. MY WANTS OUTWEIGH THE SAFETY OF EVERY OTHER RIDER HERE. ALL OF THE RIDERS WHO COMPLIED, AND TOOK THE TIME AND MADE THE EFFORTS AND EXPENSE AND COMMITTMENT TO THE TRACKDAY, AND THE SAFETY OF THEIR FELLOW PARTICIPANTS DON'T MATTER. I AM ABOVE THE RULES, I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE ELSE BUT ME. I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR MY FELLOW TRACK RIDERS, THE TECH OFFICIALS, GTAM AND IT'S ADMINISTRATORS, AND THE RACING FACILITY ITSELF (GBM, TMP, etc).
Now this attitude is what should have all of you honest and safe trackdays riders in an uproar- 99% of you are doing what it takes, prepping the bike, paying the $, investing the time, asking for help, trying to improve your skills in the safest environment possible, and there are a few amongst you who take your $, your hard work, and your safety all for granted.....and they are KNOWINGLY risking your life This should enrage you!!
GTAM Trackday, late August 2013:
Along with 3 other members of this board who are my fellow SOAR racers, I was doing tech and control riding at the GTAM Trackday at Grand Bend. I found a black and red GSXR 1000, shared by a young couple-her signed up in green, him signed up in yellow. When the bike was teched, they were asked about the antifreeze and replied that it just had water in it-great. Until I checked and the bike had green coolant in the overflow reservoir. I told her it needed to be flushed and she insisted that her boyfriend/husband had done it, he must have just forgot the overflow. I replied that I wanted the entire system flushed or the bike wasn't going anywhere but on their trailer. Reluctantly, with snotty attitude and eye rolling they complied and the day resumed normally.
Fast forward one whole year, to this past weekend-same location, same GTAM day, same tech and control riders, and many of the same participants signed up....including the young couple I just described above (however I didn't know this until a little while later as I wasn't the one who got to tech their bike).
The 4 of us proceeded to tech bikes before the rider's meeting, and afterwards, one of my fellow control riders approached me and said that when he asked a dark haired guy with the red and black GSXR about antifreeze, the guy said it contained water only, but wouldn't make eye contact. So the control rider asked again, and got the same reply-again no eye contact. Once he pointed down the paddock to the bike and guy in question, I immediately recognized who it was from the year prior. We went down to their pit area to poke a little deeper and more closely , only to find green antifreeze. The exact same story as the year before unfolded- He claimed it was just the overflow and not the rest of the system, and he then drained the overflow into a water bottle....but of course a running bike will mix the overflow's contents into the whole cooling system, so again we insisted on pulling a clamp off the water pump hose to see what was inside, and he said why bother.......because it would be clear water because he swore he had changed it at home before coming- of course once the hose was undone it flowed pure green 50/50 coolant.......2 lies to the tech, then a couple more to Paul and the Admin makes at least 4 straight faced outright lies, a second year in a row, by the same 2 offenders, on the same bike, who obviously think they are above the rules, and that everyone else's efforts to abide by the rules don't matter. Furthermore, they have no repsect for the safety of their fellow riders, or the continuation of the other rider's trackday should a crash occur. You can only plead ignorance once- the next time it's intentional. It would be different the first time....but again the very next time, byt the same people? Really? Why? Why not just put water in the bike? What are you saving yourself by lying? If you got burned for it last time, don't you know better for next time?
A couple of the Admin were angry enough that they wanted us to tell them to put the bike on the trailer and go, however, we voted to give them the opportunity to flush the entire system. When the guy was asked to drain the antifreeze into a container , flush and refill with clean water from one of the many hoses provided at Grand Bend Motorplex, he proceeded to drain all of his antifreeze onto the ground, even after he was told that was dangerous and deadly to the many pet dogs that are always in attendance, as well as illegal and environmentally hazardous......to which he shrugged and said "So".
Had this couple just spent a half hr at home prepping their bike properly, we could have saved alot of time and aggravation for us, and some hopeful embarassment for themselves. A public shaming is what needs to happen when grown adults act like children, and their immediate wants outweigh the safety of others.
It's this type of behaviour that should have the rest of the riders up in arms. We need peer pressure from within the fold of trackday riders to weed out these types of people, and sooner or later, they will realize that they either have to play by the rules, or they will be unwelcome and will be black-balled by the facilty, the trackday providers, the tech and control riders, and most importantly, their fellow participants.
We could of course force every rider to strip off all of their bodywork, and insist the riders bring the bikes to tech with engines cold, so that we can pull everyone's radiator cap to be sure, and this would end up delaying everyone's day, and I guess that riding might commence between 10-11 am.....so a little of it is done on the honour system, and when we ask if their is antifreeze in the bike, I expect co-operation and honesty. If you can't do that, stay home. Period.
There is another thread on here describing a bunch of riders who fell down this summer in antifreeze that their own fellow rider had denied was in their bike, had crashed at TMP, and subsequently spilled antifreeze on the track that caused the other riders to fall in her spilled coolant in her aftermath.
In that thread, I read anger from the fallen riders aimed towards the track, and their officials and tech. As I said, to find the one bike in the whole mess that may have antifreeze, they ALL have to be checked, and this can cost all of the riders and tech officials hours. If the witch hunt ends at the tech officials, then I see that as the only solution-either tech goes from 5 to 7 am, or riding begins at 11 am. However, I propose another guilty party that the witch hunt needs to end at: the rider who lies about having the antifreeze in their bike to begin with!
If you bring your bike to a trackday, and you know the rules are "NO ANTIFREEZE", and lie to the tech offical's face when asked about it, and proceed to ride onto the track surface, what you are saying is this:
"I AM MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OTHER RIDER HERE. MY WANTS OUTWEIGH THE SAFETY OF EVERY OTHER RIDER HERE. ALL OF THE RIDERS WHO COMPLIED, AND TOOK THE TIME AND MADE THE EFFORTS AND EXPENSE AND COMMITTMENT TO THE TRACKDAY, AND THE SAFETY OF THEIR FELLOW PARTICIPANTS DON'T MATTER. I AM ABOVE THE RULES, I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE ELSE BUT ME. I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR MY FELLOW TRACK RIDERS, THE TECH OFFICIALS, GTAM AND IT'S ADMINISTRATORS, AND THE RACING FACILITY ITSELF (GBM, TMP, etc).
Now this attitude is what should have all of you honest and safe trackdays riders in an uproar- 99% of you are doing what it takes, prepping the bike, paying the $, investing the time, asking for help, trying to improve your skills in the safest environment possible, and there are a few amongst you who take your $, your hard work, and your safety all for granted.....and they are KNOWINGLY risking your life This should enrage you!!
GTAM Trackday, late August 2013:
Along with 3 other members of this board who are my fellow SOAR racers, I was doing tech and control riding at the GTAM Trackday at Grand Bend. I found a black and red GSXR 1000, shared by a young couple-her signed up in green, him signed up in yellow. When the bike was teched, they were asked about the antifreeze and replied that it just had water in it-great. Until I checked and the bike had green coolant in the overflow reservoir. I told her it needed to be flushed and she insisted that her boyfriend/husband had done it, he must have just forgot the overflow. I replied that I wanted the entire system flushed or the bike wasn't going anywhere but on their trailer. Reluctantly, with snotty attitude and eye rolling they complied and the day resumed normally.
Fast forward one whole year, to this past weekend-same location, same GTAM day, same tech and control riders, and many of the same participants signed up....including the young couple I just described above (however I didn't know this until a little while later as I wasn't the one who got to tech their bike).
The 4 of us proceeded to tech bikes before the rider's meeting, and afterwards, one of my fellow control riders approached me and said that when he asked a dark haired guy with the red and black GSXR about antifreeze, the guy said it contained water only, but wouldn't make eye contact. So the control rider asked again, and got the same reply-again no eye contact. Once he pointed down the paddock to the bike and guy in question, I immediately recognized who it was from the year prior. We went down to their pit area to poke a little deeper and more closely , only to find green antifreeze. The exact same story as the year before unfolded- He claimed it was just the overflow and not the rest of the system, and he then drained the overflow into a water bottle....but of course a running bike will mix the overflow's contents into the whole cooling system, so again we insisted on pulling a clamp off the water pump hose to see what was inside, and he said why bother.......because it would be clear water because he swore he had changed it at home before coming- of course once the hose was undone it flowed pure green 50/50 coolant.......2 lies to the tech, then a couple more to Paul and the Admin makes at least 4 straight faced outright lies, a second year in a row, by the same 2 offenders, on the same bike, who obviously think they are above the rules, and that everyone else's efforts to abide by the rules don't matter. Furthermore, they have no repsect for the safety of their fellow riders, or the continuation of the other rider's trackday should a crash occur. You can only plead ignorance once- the next time it's intentional. It would be different the first time....but again the very next time, byt the same people? Really? Why? Why not just put water in the bike? What are you saving yourself by lying? If you got burned for it last time, don't you know better for next time?
A couple of the Admin were angry enough that they wanted us to tell them to put the bike on the trailer and go, however, we voted to give them the opportunity to flush the entire system. When the guy was asked to drain the antifreeze into a container , flush and refill with clean water from one of the many hoses provided at Grand Bend Motorplex, he proceeded to drain all of his antifreeze onto the ground, even after he was told that was dangerous and deadly to the many pet dogs that are always in attendance, as well as illegal and environmentally hazardous......to which he shrugged and said "So".
Had this couple just spent a half hr at home prepping their bike properly, we could have saved alot of time and aggravation for us, and some hopeful embarassment for themselves. A public shaming is what needs to happen when grown adults act like children, and their immediate wants outweigh the safety of others.
It's this type of behaviour that should have the rest of the riders up in arms. We need peer pressure from within the fold of trackday riders to weed out these types of people, and sooner or later, they will realize that they either have to play by the rules, or they will be unwelcome and will be black-balled by the facilty, the trackday providers, the tech and control riders, and most importantly, their fellow participants.
Last edited:
