Cause of Kato's accident announced

sprint · 11-28-2003, 8:54 PM

Can be read here.

ND4SPD · 11-29-2003, 12:45 AM

RIP Kato

*moment of silence*

Bacchus · 11-29-2003, 12:53 AM

Sorry I didn't reply earlier to this post sprint, when I read it the first time. Guess I was just still so bummed out about such a young person/talent being taken from us that I immediately went into mourning again. Interesting info - thanks!

Warchild · 11-29-2003, 1:03 AM

Quote:

The course was also certified by FIM, all final checks were completed for staging the race, and no one, including the riders, perceived that the area was dangerous.”

Say whaaaaat? That directly conflicts with some of the stuff I've read by MotoGP riders about this track.

ratter · 11-29-2003, 8:13 AM

RIP Katoh

abtech · 11-29-2003, 8:59 AM

Interesting to note the data that says he was in first gear at the time with the front brake engaged all while traveling in excess of 170 KPH. I have ridden bikes with a tall first gear, but 170 KPH (105 MPH)?

ND4SPD · 11-29-2003, 10:59 AM

I picked up on that too abtech, but I wouldn't outrule it completely. The F1 cars will do 130mph in first gear. I know it's a whole different animal, but definitely possible

thecollectabletrader · 11-29-2003, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by abtech
Interesting to note the data that says he was in first gear at the time with the front brake engaged all while traveling in excess of 170 KPH. I have ridden bikes with a tall first gear, but 170 KPH (105 MPH)?

That is not hard to believe. First gears on GP/race bikes are very tall. I raced a Honda RS125 and first gear was good for around 70mph. The rest of the gears are very close ratio so the bike can be kept in the proper RPM range.

abtech · 11-29-2003, 11:19 AM

Oh I believe it, it just sort of puts things into perspective when I hear someone going on about how fast they are, or how awesome their bike is . . . These guys are downshifting into first at over 100 mph, and even with traction control and slipper clutches, they state that rear wheel slippage was ~ 30%.

I have people tell me about using the engine for braking, well here is an example of how the big boys do it . . .

I just wonder since Kato was a 250 pilot and the bulk of his experience was spent on 2 strokes, if the old habits came back and bit him in the ass. My last TZ would pull 90 in first gear without any problem, and I regularly used to stuff it into first going into the hairpin at Grattan (downshifting from fifth without releasing the clutch until I hit first gear). On a two stroke you can get away with stuff like that . . .

Crash · 12-01-2003, 1:16 AM

I find it odd that there is no mention of the corner workers just picking him up by his arms and dragging him off the track! Watch the tape of the race.. it'll piss you off.

R.I.P Kato

lfg929 · 12-01-2003, 1:50 AM

Yep, I am sure those things can go over 100MPH in 1st (hell our street bikes can do 75MPH).

As for the using the engine to brake, there was an interesting articule in one of the mags a couple of months ago comparing engine braking between several engine configurations. It was interesting to note that at high RPM an R1 has almost as much engine braking as using the rear brake itself. I thought that was pretty amazing. I am used to the RC engine braking pretty hard but had never really noticed it so much in the 929. I guess the difference is at mid-RPM the 929 isn't nearly as bad, but at 12,000 RPM there isn't much difference than an RC at 10,500.

RIP Kato