Hi All, I am new to Ducati and also quite new to track days so please bare with me if my questions are a little daft! I have been looking at what I need to do to prep a 959 for track days. Specifically around engine / frame protection and also track fairings. The engine protection is an easy one with the R&G or GB options. I have decided not use the frame crash mushrooms as I will use track day fairings and figure no mushrooms would mean less chance of something snagging and flipping the bike up. I'll buy some frame covers and some front and rear bobbins for fork and swing arm protection. So the questions I have are around fitting the track fairings. I have seen a few about and from what I can make out there a couple of nose fairing types. One with cut outs for the lights and one without. I assume that if I bought the nose fairing without the cut outs then I would have to remove the headlights? How much of a ball ache is this? And do I have to do anything with the electronics? I assume that unplugging the lights would cause some warnings to flash? (Could I just ignore the warnings?) Any other tips?
The headlights are really quite heavy, so you're better off without them (although I've never seen track fairings that retain the lights, personally) I've crashed with both R&G and GB engine protectors, the GB ones fair much better in a crash, and are worth paying that little bit more for. Crash bungs can, as you say, cause the bike to flip, but the little Bullet sliders from GB work really well and don't have much to dig in, whereas without them you run the risk of the slider going through the fairings and damaging a lot more. I've used them on my ZX10R race bikes and crashed on them a couple of times, and neither times have they caused the bike to flip. It's worth getting your suspension sorted properly too, but get a professional to set them up
Perfect thanks for the reply. I was leaning toward the GB protection so will probably go with them. I haven spotted the bullet sliders but will have a look into them. I'm fine with having to take my lights off, but I can't find any info about it. My worry is about the impact it will have on the rest of the bikes electronics and if I need to pull fuses. I also need to consider the fact that this isn't going to be a dedicated track bike so have to keep things as simple as possible. Saying that, having the lights will probably save them from certain doom in the event of an off! Unfortunately where I live (Jersey), I would have to travel with the bike to have the suspension setup properly. I am hoping that a decent suspension guy will be at a track day I go to so I can get some help. Would be a shame to have ohlins (never had them before on any bike) and not have them working properly for me
Choose one based on availability, or contact a specialist who may be able to give you some personal service on the day be more expensive but better than letting some like tyres r us get within 50 feet!
Start off with the stiff setting out the hand book for suspension. I took mine on track with these and didnt feel too bad and tyres wore fine. I wasn't going full tilt though as it was 5 degrees and bike was brand new. If you'e going full track I'd also tell you to sort the brakes. My lever was back to the bar after only a few laps. I have a track only honda 600rr with everything upgraded brakes wise and 959 doesn't come close.
Ducati Performance fairing May be your best bet. You can leave your lights in or put some light weigh replacements in instead (that come with the kit). The kit also comes with plug-ins for the loom where you remove the lights to prevent any errors. You also don’t need to change the front fairing mount (you do with some race fairings), and they come with the DP mirror blanking plates that are about £70 normally. They are not as light as proper race fairings (they are unpainted OE fairings), but they are very straight forward. The front set (nose/side/belly) is around £440 and the tail is around £140. They come up on eBay occasionally and I have just picked up a complete set already wrapped for £260....
Limitations with the bike for track setup are the front forks. There are some relatively cheap improvements to them so that the adjustments actually make any difference. I was told to soften the front a little so you can load it up into the corner.... but honestly, the fork adjustment is terribly limited.
Hey jersey959 I'm in Jersey with a 959 also and rode it last year to Donington and Le mans. I've go with the OE fairings and figure if I have an off ill get cheap fairings in good condition off eBay. I've got r&g tank and tail sliders, t-Rex (from USA) fork & swingarm sliders along with engine case covers that are so thick they stick out further than the fairings, also folding evotech levers. I use the track settings in the manual , some supercorsa sp's to get there and still have grippy rubber and fingers crossed You thinking about Val de vienne and Le Mans next year ? I'm in st ouen if you wanted to take a look at mine otherwise I could send you pics
Cheers I'll keep an eye out for these on eBay. Bit pricey to buy new. I've seen an Italian firm does a set and I can get a tank cover made too for roughly the same money as the Ducati one.
Hi! Would love to pop up and have a look at it, maybe take a seat? I've ordered the corse so definitely don't want to take them panels on track. Don't imagine they would be easy to replace. I'm booked on val de vienne and will be booking Le Mans as soon as I can. Are you going?
(sorry in work so can't read all the thread) Dont leave your lights in, they are one of the most expensive components on the bike and very easy to damage. There's no issue with just taking the front and back off. If you search my threads there's one from a while back where I fit the Ducati Performance track fairings. If you are not sure what you are doing then these are the best option as they come with all the electronic plug blanks, as well as plastic head light and tail light blanks. They do take a good day or evening to get fitted and they use all the existing plastics and bolts and other bits and bobs so not a completely straight forward task but you at least know that there is nothing to catch you out and the bike looks exactly like stock if you get them painted before fitting. Look in my pictures for the white body work for some shots of what they look like from the factory. Overall for a track bike I prefer proper race fairings because you can remove the whole lot in about two minutes but then you have to deal with all the electrical blanking plugs, possibly nose fairing frame and a bit of fabrication in some cases. It's a much better solution if you end up crashing as all the other parts are removed.
