Yep, bit of a commitment, but like you I like the idea of having all my track gear in one place and ready to go. As time is money, if you know what I mean.. I'll get a few pictures up on a new thread when I pick it up in a week or so
If you are doing lots of Trackdays or racing, being able to leave everything loaded between roads so it's just put bike on and go is essential imho. Having had a big box trailer and a van, I'm with royal: van for me every time. But a caravan is probably more comfy when you're there
I guess it's the time old discussion between caravan and motor home owners, the benefit of both and the negatives are rounded down to speed of the journey and transport when your on site. I'm lucky enough to have a Vito long so I can mix and match where things are loaded. I used to have a T4 camper and trailer, but now having a 3 year old daughter the caravan makes more sense... Or at least weighs up with my 'man maths'
Man maths. Works every time. No exception I have a lease vehicle, big vulva thing, with a tow bar as I don't do much track stuff now and can use a trailer. But miss my van. When it goes in 2 1/2 yrs, and with funds hopefully then being available, I'll be getting a t6 or similar kitted out and use that as most days transport I think.
We've had a Toyota hiace for a couple years now and it's been great and was fairly cheap. It's perfect for one bike but with two bikes it takes forever loading and unloading he gear. I've avoided a big van as I had a Tranny for the drift car and trailer and it was a snail to drive. This t460 is perfect as it's big but still goes like a rocket.
Posted on the shared thread but figured I might as well put this here. I've been so busy with the R6 and racing that I've not touched the Pani since Mugello last August and the BMW since being punted by the car at the Nordschleife last April! I've been getting the itch to get back to the Ring so got them out for a shakedown. I've also been wondering what to do next year; in many ways the R6 ticks all the boxes I need and I'm learning so much from riding it. My lap times are about the same as I was getting on the R now which is awesome as it's all from faster corner speed. Two R6 would be just the job for next year but I do enjoy the big bikes so might have to dip my toe into some litre bike sprints perhaps before the year is out. We're off to Brno in August and Catalunya in September so decided to get a belly pan and few other bits fitted to the R to have it properly track prepped. I was a bit shocked to see how minging the radiator was when I took everything apart! I've no idea why it was so dirty other than perhaps Portimao in the rain a while back but it couldn't have been as effective as it should have been? Turns out my black carbon side panels are for the 1299 so dont match the 1199 nose that I am using (cheaper and easier to buy second hand) so thats another thing that needs sorting out along with the missing tail panel. I dont really want to use my 1199 tail fairings as the 1299 ones look way better. Hopefully I'll get it all back together again tomorrow! View attachment 123315 View attachment 123316 View attachment 123318
Welcome to give it a go @bradders. They hurt my knees more than the Pani when riding long distances but the engine is stupendous. I keep thinking about stripping it down and racing it but its the only bike I have thats road legal and can go to the Nordschleife!
Noice! Brno’s An amazing circuit. My fave, I really liked it after the 1st lap! Where did you get your CF bodywork? Been looking at FullSix which is beautiful but bloody eyewateringly expensive
Yeah it’s Fullsix from MotoRapido. It was mainly because it was already painted but I smashed a couple sets now and these were the last I had. The CF is an awesome material and lovely and stiff but its bloody expensive to smash up. Definitely isn't what comes to mind. If anything the R6 feels more like the Pani but more sat in the bike just because it is so agile. The BMW feels quite lumbersome in comparison to the Pani or R6. It might just be because it's in road trim though, it turns a bit sharper than the understeering Panigale but you really feel the weight difference getting it cranked over.
Had a coffee on the balcony this morning and realised I'd left my akros in the flower bed after cleaning them!! someone could have had a nice freebie there if they spotted them!
So one of my reasons for the strip down was to sort out a bunch of rattling that I could hear on the exhaust. The carbon covers on the cans were missing a rubber grommet which must have killed itself and also this heart shield was missing two bolts and probably the main source of the noise. I removed my foot stand when I got the bike but never bothered removing the bracket. I didn't even realise what these metal parts were in the Ducati Performance pack that came with the race fairings and electrical blanking units. This was really irritating. My main reason for doing all this work was to fit a belly pan. Turns out the stock R akrovopics will not accommodate the belly pan. I'd already removed the whole fan assembly and fitted a modified radiator plastic surround thats needed when doing the belly pan. You can see the difference in the cans when comparing to my older 1199 race cans (sorry both need a polish!). There's no gap for the belly pan in the akros. You can excuse it on a normal base model or S but it's a bit of a p*ss take when you spend £28k on a 'R' for race model
Damn good idea I thought but chances of it being successful are maybe a bit slim?! I got my quick change rear sprocket carrier fitted after over a year of it sitting on the shelf in the garage! I really could have done with longer gearing at Mugello last year.
So time for some updates! I've only used the R for a couple of trips since I started racing the Yamaha R6 two years back but they have been the most exciting trips we have done. Mugello and Imola in 2016 as already posted were incredible and then the bike sat in the garage for pretty much a year whilst I went racing. Brno with Redline Trackdays did not disappoint at all. The track is up there close to Mugello as one of the best in the world for sure. The scale is full Grand Prix level so it definitely helps to have a big fast litre size bike like the Pani or a BMW. We made the mistake of flying from Luton and getting the train from London with a set of wets on my back was not fun! Brno has a feel of atmosphere and history like all the best tracks such as Mugello and Spa. Take your average UK track and add at least one gear to every corner and you get an idea of the average speed of Brno! I have the setup of the Panigale R pretty wired these days but it has not always been easy. I struggled big time with the rear end on the power using the soft Pirellis so Dunlops are always my top choice. The Pirellis and Metzellers always worked really well on the 1199S as they have great feel and grip despite the older ones grip dropping off a cliff after a half days hard use. The newer ones from 2018 fortunately dont do this so badly. If you don't get the rear hooking up well and not wheel spinning it will not support the front well enough and you can get terrible head shake on corner exits and in general when on the power. Its squat angle - the balance of where the swing arm angle when you get on the power, the chain pull and the tyre grip on the road pushing the swing arm down and forward under the bike (despite it feeling like it 'squats', it actually lifts at the rear). You want it to be just enough to support the bike and the front wheel to hover above the ground on acceleration. If it doesn't do it quite enough the front skips on bumps in the track and you get head shake. Sometimes it will grip and then wheel spin and you lose the support so the bike pumps at the back as it gains the grip again and loses it so it's near impossible to get on the power hard. The Dunlops with their stiffer core pretty much solved the problem at most tracks. Theoretically you shouldn't be solving suspension issues with tyres and I reckon I would have a better crack with the Pirellis now I've raced for a few years but the Dunlops are just way easier all round on 1199R and despite being expensive to buy are usually cheaper in the long run because they last longer. Anyway after this long explanation the head shake was back with a vengeance at Brno out of the slightly bumpy first corner to the point I could hardly ride it. I had to go right back to square one to work out what was happening. It turned out when I had stripped and cleaned the bike recently I had dropped the yokes down an extra couple of mm so the front was slightly lower than normal. After putting the forks near flush to the yoke again it transformed the bike; its amazing how much difference a few mm can make to the ride ability of a bike. With everything sorted again and a few good sessions under our belt obviously it started raining! Luckily as with most Euro tracks the surface drains well, is very grippy and we were back up and running soon enough in the dry. Incidentally the numbers are due to the weekend organisers rather than racing. The weekend was a couple days of testing and a race day for one of the european domestic series so they asked you to use the numbers and you could enter a few fun races if you wished on the sunday. I had been considering racing the Panigale for the next season so considered entering the endurance race as a fun low pressure way to see how it felt. Unfortunately Ducati had other ideas. The titanium exhaust had vibrated on it's fittings until it wore through and blew in the last session of the day! Amazingly there was a guy on site selling his exhausts and he took it back to his workshop and welded it up in only a couple of hours! I was expecting a bill for hundreds to get me going again and it only cost £50! Never something that happens with Ducati!!! Here you can see the other exhaust tube also wearing through. It's an obvious design fault and luckily Snell Performance had a chat with Ducati who were really good and sent me a whole new exhaust system not long after I got home. Hats off to Ducati for doing the right thing. Back running again for the last day and everything was finally perfect. The bike was transformed and it was elbows scraping left and right where only the day before I could hardly control it due to the setup changes. View attachment 153511 View attachment 153511
A vid from Brno! Next we were off to Australia to ride probably the best circuit in the world; Phillip Island.
