I think I was the first to pass you... I could see your indecision about going past, so made the decision for us! Found it on the camera… around 31-32mph, so most likely calibration!… I saw you in some later sessions and you were hustling that thing along. It just didn't quite have the straightline speed of the Panigales.
Snetterton last month was absolutely terrifying in Inters! And I say that as someone who was probably fair comfortably one of the faster riders in the group. I could catch a lot of riders, but any time I was even slightly respectful towards an overtake I’d have someone fly underneath me and try to wipe me out literally at the apex, mostly BEMSEE racers tbh!!! I’ve never had my arm literally bashed into so much on track in my life, that’s how close the passing was! I was doing plenty of passing but finding space to do it. I was also on my road bike so when I passed captain racer he inevitably took it badly and like I was calling him less of a man, it was brutal.
Yes, sorry. I’m terrible for knowing who is who on track! I found the clip and put it in the post above.
Yeah, that was me. I was probably being too polite, but followed you through anyway That streetfighter's a good bike, just a bit cumbersome and lacks in feel, which didn't seem to improve when I fitted some scrub slicks after lunch It's definitely not fast in my hands though, and my best lap of the day was a 1:42 which is 7 seconds slower than I've done on my R1. My 17year old son went out for a session on it later in the day and did a 38 though, so it's perhaps just my old age
A couple of photos of me from the DucatiUK day at Donington taken by the Ducati Nottingham photographer…. https://www.instagram.com/p/DAq2p3wMD4R/?igsh=MWMzY2doYXJjNjN5eQ==
It's a real mixed bag. The first 90% of the track is really good, and flows really well with lots of elevation change and nice sweeping corners. The last 100m is crap, and like a go kart track with a couple of really unnecessarily tight corners that force you to basically stop/start (I believe this was a late addition to slow people down as the last corner is almost on the main road) No one liked that section, so I understand they're redesigning it soon. The tarmac is really smooth, but the paint is really slippery, so there was a significant amount of crashes and red flags over the 3 days compared to most Euros It takes some learning as there's lots of blind crests, so go easy on the first day and get your head around where you're going as lots of the crashes were people trying a bit too hard too soon, and you have to let the lap come to you Ultimately, it's a decent little track and once they have that last section sorted, it'll be worth going back to. It's no Jerez or Portimao, but it's up there with your Almerias, cartagenas or Andalucia circuits. It feels like it's been rushed together to be open, and last week there was no numbers on garages, dryers in toilets, and was missing a few windows and finishing bits you'll enjoy it though
Also worth noting that a lot of sports bike type guys were complaining about front tyre wear My street fighter doesn’t have much weight over the front, so my tyre wear was actually suprisingly good front/rear for a new circuit in 30+ deg
A couple from Mugello this year. Mixed bag this year for me as it in i didn't improve my times but still a ton of fun. I travel out there on my own and hook up with the local organisers. My first day i had to miss out, got stung on the throttle hand by a wasp. (I am allergic to them) and that knocked me for the week. Then i did 2 days training a week later with Palix a local school, learnt a lot in both riding and upped my Italian language skills. But the bike started leaking from the rockers day two and then the rear tyre started to disintegrate (it's gone back to Pirelli) Hence in the pic it has a SBK slick SC0 rear and treaded SC2 front So with all that and taking in all the new stuff i had learned my head certainly was full of eh information overload. Still some of the follow footage was great to see.
Agree with all comments but you forgot the dust clouds we had to endure from T5 to T8 from the neighbouring construction site
Got a day and a half at Portimao due to rain. Finally met the legend Fairy Cringe. nothing broke. Hero pics on Tuesday.
Great meeting you, Paul… You were smokin’ maan!! I very quickly gave up on the idea of trying to follow you… Forgot to tell you- I was involved in red flag incident. Lad behind me had total brake failure and shunted me. I managed to stay on but he wasn’t so lucky. The corner approaching the cylindrical building… So fast! Eeeeek…. It was the young lad in our party. On his dad’s blade…. Oops… He was fine btw..
Turn 5, heavy braking even when they work. Glad you and the Koji escaped unharmed. I will get some pics up tomorrow.
