Ducati were super cool about the offs. It wasn't as exciting as Sams but I had a low side coming off of the GP track onto the national straight where the tarmac changes. Took a long slide hanging onto the bars as I didn't want it to go into the grass and flip! Damage was the engine case, foot brake , bar end and lever so not so bad. Overall a really good day and the bikes were beautiful. We had a choice of any Ducati bike for the road test in the morning and I took the 1299S, and my mates took the base 1299 and Diavel for some fun. The amount of extra low down power in the 1299 over any bike I've rode is ridiculous, it's has way more grunt low down than my 1199S. The road test was controlled by the instructor but quick enough to get a decent feel for the bikes. The route was well thought out to include everything from twisty bumpy country roads to sweeping corners to dual carriage way and the active suspension works very well on the S. Me and my mate swapped midway and I thought the base model felt quite trashy after the S. On the Base you still knew you were on a high end bike, it was just that the S suspension is so good in comparison on varying UK country roads and it gives you the best of everything without needing to swap settings like you do on the 1199S, it's stiff for the good quality roads and softer for the bumpy roads. For sure the S is the no-brainer choice for a road bike. We all would have liked to try the 959 but didn't want to sacrifice time on the 1299. I'd also really like to have tried the Monster R as that's something I've considered in the past but not gone for it due to it seeming over priced. The organisation was very good as always from Ducati, just being part of the day made us all want to buy the bikes! A guy called Paul who is the Panigale product manager from Bologna gave technical talks in between sessions and it was really interesting to hear details of how the bike has developed at the factory, and also about how all the tech and mechanical details work and the thought behind them. He mentioned the whole 'one bike for everything' mentality that people are asking for and manufacturers are often trying to do at the moment. I asked him about their thoughts on the competition such as the S1000RR as that is probably still the benchmark for an all rounder and he said we may see cruise control but never heated grips due to Claudio Dominicalis background in racing. The racing heritage is definitely the most important part of Ducati for me but they have obviously not spent time in the UK winter or autumn on a bike in the rain The track sessions were good and essential to get the hang of what the bike could do but I don't think the Silverstone national is a very good track for the event as the sessions are very mixed and the group instructors (who you have to stay behind) do not pass other groups in the corners which are pretty much the whole circuit. After the first afternoon session went at a snails pace, literally slow novices, we had words and Ducati and CSS were really helpful at sorting us into a group that could go quicker which was a big improvement but the pace was still only around inters level and we'd get stuck behind groups all the time. It was obviously too fast for me and Sam1199S as we crashed anyhow! On the forms CSS/Ducati asked how many trackdays people had done but not what groups they run in which seemed to be the main reason for such badly matched up groups. The experience was enough to see just how good the Panigale is in the corners and I think everyone who hadn't rode one before was pretty blown away. It was only slight but I did notice the weight of the bigger engine in quick direction changes over my 1199S and the R that I rode recently (My S1000RR felt very heavy in comparison). Of the three of us who went together, one is definitely buying a new 1299S, a second is almost decided, and I'll certainly be trading in my 1199S for either a 1299S or an R so Ducati have done well out of having us along for the day!
Awesome to meet you guys, always better in real life than on the wibbly wobbly web I wish I could join you at Donnington this week but unfortunately work messed up my timings this year.
The geometry was interesting for me as I expected a bit more of a change between the 1299S and my 1199S (which does have the 1/2 degree altered steering head angle mod ) but it felt very similar, albeit more refined and 'finished article'. I've never experienced the 'pumping' that some journalists have mentioned coming out of a corner hard but that is supposed to have been fixed on the 1299 over the 1199. Paul the product manager was explaining that the 1299S has the rear swing arm setup like the bottom (-2 or -4mm I think?) setting on the R. The R seemed to turn a little sharper than the 1299S and my 1199S despite having a slightly longer wheelbase than the 1299S so I guess this is a result of the swingarm position being a little higher. I dont understand why the higher setting would make the bike turn more (and the lower setting be more stable presumable) as I expected it to be the other way around so need to do some homework on that side of things. Probably the best thing would be to buy an R and experiment Edit - just found this which will hopefully make things clearer once I get a chance to study it: More Fun With Geometry | Sport Rider
Having had 24hrs to reflect, the 1299s is growing on me, but £22k is a lot of cash to put into what's basically going to be a track bike It didn't blow me away like I expected it to, and I always felt that the electronics were doing as much of the riding as I was The pace of my group seemed pretty decent and although we got stuck behind other groups, our instructor was pretty good at just nailing past them on the straights if whether they were expecting it or not I'm not sure I was asked any questions about experience for the grouping, but I guess they know me from being at CSS, so they possibly grouped me based on that and I was lucky to get a group where we all seemed equally paced. I was chatting to a guy after, who I know is significantly faster than I am, and he was in a group with guys that had never ridden on a track before, and he's raced and has an ACU license. He's quite a low key guy off the bike, so was probably too shy to ask to move It was my first chance to ride my 899 on track too, which I've been reluctant to do as I wasn't sure if turn want to go back my 600 track bike, but it was drizzly first session in the morning on it and I was so nervous of binning it, I didn't really thrash it Looking forward to taking it to donnington on Tuesday though Good to meet a couple of you too and always nice to put faces to forum names See you all at Donny or back at Silverstone next month
Royalwithcream, not sure what you thought, but I found the 1299S lacked a bit of front end grip? [emoji23][emoji23]
Haha yeah, I think the early summer solar flare activity probably contributed to it as well, pesky planetary events.
at least its not your own bikes you are destroying proper gutted I didn't go know. Think of the piss taking?!
Unfortunately I've had to delete/amend some of the posts here at the request of @Sam1199S - If you have any questions please pm him Thanks for your understanding.
Well, this week I spent my £100 voucher on a rather nice ducati carbon pen, a tshirt, a mug and a Desmo model for my Son
I asked the girl in the shop if I could use it on servicing, and she said it had to be something win the shop with the Ducati name on it, so my 9yr old and I went trawling for shiny things
