Been 13 yrs since my last track day -had a couple kids- bought a house- you know- grown up stuff- but finally made it back out and went to Chuckwalla in the desert east of Los Angeles and had an amazing day- the track is fantastic- I installed the new Ohlins and raised the ride height about 3/4 inch- feels great and turns in better but now I need to get the front end equally sorted to get it perfect. Was a Ducati owners day and saw a nice mix of bikes- the newer machines where amazing to watch- Mine was the oldest by far which surprised me- 13 yrs ago I used to see more of the old carby's ripping around- it got lots of love from the young dudes though:smile2:. It has that wonderful mid corner stability I remember -get's blown away on the straights but my old self was able to make up time and pass a lot of folks in the corners. 3/4 of the way through the day it started weeping oil from the left side around the bottom where I could see a little split in the gasket I never noticed before... so i'll need get that sorted and in the meantime I'll be perusing craigslist for Panigales and RSV4's lol. That Aprilia is so damn sexy.
I find the Carby era supersports to be the new F1 on the track, people are surprised by how well they work and the classic look is often a hit. Not to mention they are now legal to race in vintage classes more people are discovering what good bikes they are all the time.
Nice looking bike. Looks like the skill set is still there. Nothing like a successful track day to put a smile on your face. And sore muscles for the next few days.
Looking good, thanks for posting up your keeper and better yet taking it to the track. I've wanted to do the same with my 03 999R, but when I did that to my 916 I crashed, low siding it. Fortunately I was well prepared for the track day, installed frame sliders and replaced the classic 95 916 fairings with a set of old fairings. I got really lucky, the tail nor tank touched the asphalt. No way do I want to crash the 999R with the carbon body work, it would be a real expensive bummer. I wanted to take it to Laguna, but I would have likely flunked the sound limits to start with and what fun is it just cruising around and not letting it all hang out? However, you got me thinking about it again.
UGH- crashing the 916 must have been a terrible feeling- that is such a special machine but good that you had the protection- It's hard I know with these older bikes to not want to wad them up... but .... I believe if they could talk they would beg to get out there and stretch their legs lol. And you only live once- F it. I have a friend with a Panigale 899 that will not track it- I think he's crazy and we've had arguments about it. He has a track beater R6 which i think is awesome for some worry free fun but personally I couldn't own a Panigale without at the very least doing a couple laps on... that one day after so long did re ignite the bug big time... I bought an Aprilia RSV4 RF this week- haha- thing is insane.
Good eye- it's nick named Crash Corner..lol. It's quite off camber indeed and I had to be very easy on the throttle once tipped in. Now pouring rain is another story- :surprise: Good practice at being smooth I guess- always like seeing the GP guys in the rain- it's incredible what they are able to do.
Glad that your out having fun. Who/What was the track day organizer? ~~ ? I'm interested.
The RSV4 is insane, congrats and great choice.
Regarding tracking or not tracking your bike, I think the answer is 100% YES. I feel everyone will benefit from tracking their bike, especially early on in ownership. The goal being to generally learn more about the bikes' characteristics and to gain confidence/familiarity in a controlled/safe environment (no oil on the road/on coming traffic/trees). Having tracked my Multi many more times than my RSV4, I'm actually faster or at least more comfortable going fast (10/10) on the Multi.
That day was organized by a Ducati club out of San Fran and was at Chuckwalla- but had all kinds of bikes and all levels of riders-
I am signed up for a day at ButtonWillow May 29th with Trackdayz- I've heard good things about this group - google Trackdayz and sign up- let me know if you do and we can meet up.
On whether to track or not it is any easy one but comes with a tougher question, Do you have any self control? If you do not or are not capable of riding over your head then I would guess you should collect bikes and not ride them anywhere. If you have some self control then you are capable of letting faster riders go and ride at your pace, this means you are safer on the track than riding on the road as you have less things to take you out on the track . Such as traffic,animals cell phones etc.
I have customers with 999r 1098r and all sorts or bikes with more money tied up in them than they are worth. Trackdays are NOT race days so there is no good reason to crash your bike. None of the factories will be hiring you and there are no trophies or cash rewards for being fastest. Trackdays are just a place to ride your bike without worries of traffic,animals cell phones and speeding tickets what better place to ride a bike?
If you do a trackday and find you want to make a bike such as a 999r into your main track bike then simply put away all of the hard to replace bits and make it crash worthy in case something does happen. If you get that far then picking up a less rare bike will be an easy decision.
On staying on a 2-valve bike vs a high hp bike everyone has their preferences based on what they enjoy. I do not enjoy riding my 853 any more than my 750ss and can actually say there is nothing better than passing high Hp bikes with a low hp one. Yes you do work a lot more than they do and you need to push limits more often as all our speed it made up in or at corners but I feel it has made me a better rider as you cannot rely on Hp once out of the corner.
Case in point a customer with a 999r picked up a 748 and got faster on the 748 than he was on the 999r, after learning to not rely on the high Hp he rides the 999r much better than before and is a very good rider today on Both bikes. Both bikes teach you something different small hp teaches corner speed and maintaining momentum and high Hp teaches you what to do when you are going much faster speeds (braking and turning at higher speeds is different than low speeds).
Now get out there and have fun on whichever bike you have because any bike will be a smile maker on the track. we teach the state police track riding and you should see these guys who are very skilled street riders have an absolute blast at speed on Harley police bikes. We also see goldwings and dual sports most anything on two wheels will be fun.
I've been reading this thread and it reminded me of a bit of advise from an amazing rider. He would EMBARRASS people on big hp bikes on his RD350 all day long. He told me this: "It's not the arrow, it's the Indian."
Depending on the tracks you ride there is a great new group of track bikes for fun. The sub-400cc bikes, KTMrc390, Yamaha R3 etc. I see a ever growing group of experienced track riders adding one to the stable and they are having a great time. I just did some work on a rc390 and think the bike is a great bike to work on , another customer just bought a R3 and it is due to come in for track prep. These bikes are available for cheap money and are plentiful.
Race classes are popping up for these bikes and they should be great in the rain as well.
I prefer not to drop one of my Ducatis so I've been doing supermoto for the last 10 years. Since there're just dirtbikes with street wheels they crash really well.
Great skills in this video, anyone remember Aron Yates.
"motolust" that is a gorgeous picture, I agree, more dinosaurs on the track creating that distinctive roar! F- the theoretical "collector" value, these bikes were made to ride, amiright?!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ducati.ms - The Ultimate Ducati Forum
2.5M posts
93.6K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to all Ducati owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, troubleshooting, superbike racing, maintenance, and more!