There’s space on a two-day event at Brno coming up in mid-August but apparently the novice group has 40 people so far and a maximum of 48… that seems like rather a lot of people to me? Or maybe I’ve been spoiled on the two events I’ve attended thus far? Does that seem like a busy track? At my last event there was someone who was quite happy to hammer the throttle on the straights and would then shit himself when the corner arrived, stuffing it up the inside and then just sitting there, forcing me wide on one corner. Eventually he did an endo on a straight about 150m before a corner… I found that people were being more aggressive than me with the throttle but then being really slow through the corners. Once I started overtaking some of them things got a bit less stressful. The number of people mentioned for this event has me a little bit concerned.
So I want to that event and it was fine - I think they meant 48 riders in total across all groups... I've since done a three-day event at Most - amazing circuit and I think I made some improvements with my technique. My fastest lap was actually with five degree less than my maximum lean angle (maximum now being 51.69 degrees), maximum 90% throttle and 25kph slower on the straight - just concentrating on lines and body position gained me six seconds. Seeing Troy Corser go flying past you into a corner and then disappearing down the straight on his back wheel with a pillion on his bike puts things in perspective... one of the instructors told me that he went on the back of the bike with Troy and he got 58 degrees of lean angle... Unfortunately someone put some graffiti on my bike so I had to buy a new battery cover... Now the black fairing doesn't match the battery cover, which is making me think... I'm going to have a miserable winter... I've absolutely loved being on track and just want to do it all the time. I also tried the Supercorsa SC3, which I liked a lot. I'd love to try slicks at some point in the future. Still loads of tyre left, but I'm slowly getting there. 38 seconds off the lap records at Most and Brno, so at least I'm consistent!
I've been looking at chains and sprockets. Sitta seems to be a decent option? DID or RK for chains, although WRS sell Regina, which seem to be quite expensive and I'm not sure of the benefits, if any. The weight difference just with the carbon battery cover has me toying with the idea of putting carbon bodywork on it. Entirely unnecessary of course but... tempting. And that Pierobon rear subframe looks pretty awesome... Lighter weight must always be a good thing. And then there's the telemetry... if I could find a simple way to get the DDA data out to make overlays then I'd probably be happy enough but the AIM stuff is also very tempting so that videos can be captured with the data overlays already there... With the other changes I've made I would have probably got a base V4 and upgraded everything to how I wanted it rather than getting the SP2 if I had known I would only want to ride it on track. I guess I could still do that, but it's easy to revert the bike to standard when I want to sell it and it should hold it's value a bit better than a standard version of the bike. Dreading winter... it's going to feel very, very long.
How did you get insurance on that beautiful machine after 25 years? I can't get any after 8 years, perhaps I need to move to the Czech Republic.
I was very surprised to find I could insure it for something just over £900 per year, fully comprehensive. I was especially surprised because car insurance is horrendous here because cars are insured for any driver to use and the premiums reflect this.
Wow yes very lucky, trouble is it’s normally computer risk assessed even when they ‘personal quote’ as you can’t check 60 insurers in 3 mins, so clearly not to many people make horrendous personal injury claims over there because that’s what costs the insurers the money, value of the bike is the least of their true costs. Oh well I’m pleased for you, have fun!
So it looks like I’ll be selling the SP2. I’ve absolutely loved it - it was a great way back into biking and it was awesome and confidence inspiring on track, but there were some very compelling deals put forward and so I’ve got a 2023 V4R coming in the next week or two. Exciting! I haven’t got garage space to keep the SP2 and have no intention of riding it on the road so it’s seems silly to keep it as I don’t need two track bikes. Lots of the stuff I added to the SP2 for riding it on track will transfer over to the V4R, which is good news (I believe the fairings will also fit just fine). I’ve found a reasonable deal for an Akrapovic and so I’ll probably get one, despite it being far more expensive than it should be. I believe my low-exit Akrapovic would fit on the V4R but I’m not sure about a tune for it and there’s certainly no official Ducati one so I think it’s better to go the official route and preserve warranty without issues. Two years extra warranty would add 993 Euros to the cost and I might do that for a bit of peace of mind. Not sure about that.
Will be very interested to hear how you think the two compare. I think the R needs its nuts revving off it, but has got insane power when you do!
That’s sort of what I have heard. I fancied experiencing the R engine while I can and the price was right. I’m looking forward to it and I’ll update when we are finally out of winter and I’ve been out on track with it. Winter sucks…
I collected the V4R today. I won’t get to ride it for ages but the throttle is different for starters - zero slop and it seems to have a shorter throw. Can’t wait to use it! It’s going to be a long, long winter…
I got home and chucked it in the garage, so all I have is this one so far. I can’t start putting my bits and pieces on it and returning the SP2 to stock yet as I need to get the V4R registered. I was considering not registering it yet but it will need to be done before Euro5+ starts and I wouldn’t get the magic 6,000km required here to import without VAT before that happens, so I might as well get it done.
Thanks. I am rather excited… Yes, that’s the SP2 on the right. It’s due a service and then I’ll put the original stuff back on it and sell it with the low-exit Akrapovic and a few other nice extras. I can’t see the point in having the V4R and SP2 and I’ve got the SportClassic for the road. The garage does look nice at the moment though (apart from the general mess of course).
I’m bored and there’s a foot of snow outside, so I thought I’d post a pic of collection day. Interesting that it’s number 613 - lower than I expected and it hadn’t been sitting in their showroom. Akrapovic exhaust ordered and on its way, although it’s taking ages to arrive. They had a SP2 there - number 1,346. I don’t think I’ve seen much higher numbers than that. It’s tempting to keep it because I like it and it was my first bike after so long away from biking, but I think I’d hardly ever ride it so it seems daft to keep it. They had a V2 Bayliss as well, which was numbered somewhere over 3,600 (can’t remember the last two digits). I’ve got radiator guards on their way from CNC Racing instead of the Evotech I used on the SP2. Hopefully they are ok. Also FullSix fairings - I have their battery cover, needed a new tail cover and got carried away with Black Friday sales… I’m tempted to try a bit of vinyl wrapping… Only four months or so until I can have my first ride on the new bike… aaaarrrgh!!!!!
Thanks @dmc12 - I probably wouldn’t have done it if there weren’t good discounts being offered but I’m very happy with it. The next few months waiting for my first ride are going to be torture… I was amazed how different the throttle feels. Someone on another forum said it feels the same as the Domino quick-action throttle. No throttle spacers needed on this one! It’s going to be used pretty much exclusively on track, although I expect I will do some running in km on the road. Parts that I will transfer over from the SP2 are: - DP clutch cover. - GB Racing generator cover. - CNC Racing rearsets. - CNC Racing filler cap. - DP Marchesini M9 magnesium wheels (they have Supercorsa SC3 tyres on and so I’ll use the OEM wheels and tyres for some road miles). - Melotti Racing fork sliders. - WRS screen. - RaceSeats.it seat. - DP brake lever guard. For riding on the road I have the following parts available: - Evotech tail tidy. - DB Race sequential indicators (really nice). - CRG Arrow bar-end mirrors (they live on my SportClassic, which is the bike I nearly always ride on the road). I’ve ordered new tank grips from StompGrip and I’ve got the centre pad on it’s way from DP and radiator guards from CNC Racing. I have CNC Racing tie-down attachments that go where pillion pegs can attach on the rear subframe but I have a feeling that the Akrapovic will use those mounting points and so I’ll probably not be able to use them unless I find longer bolts that will fit. They are really useful for securing the bike in a van. Very tempted to get a van rather than renting each time. I could have taken the carbon swingarm cover off the SP2 and put it on the new bike but it’s stuck on and a it would be a bit of a pain to remove it without damaging it, which would also mean it would look odd if I transferred the carbon rear hugger and put the plastic one back on but left the carbon swingarm cover, so I ordered those items from FullSix in satin to match the front hugger. I had damaged the rear tail cover in the garage so I needed a new one of those and I also needed a bellypan for the exhaust, so I ordered a fairings set from FullSix in gloss (I chose gloss simply because it was far cheaper and I reckon I can vinyl wrap over it or put matt PPF on if I want a matt look). I’ll see what I think once I get it. Vinyl wrap for some colour with some ‘Ducati’ and ‘Panigale’, etc, stickers and some gloss carbon showing through in parts could look nice. I could have just transferred my current fairings over but I’d still need a new bellypan and tail and FullSix had a Black Friday thing going so I went for it. Oh, and I’ve ordered the carbon fuel tank cover like I have on the SP2 (goes under the fuel tank under the seat) as I don’t like the silver tank showing from behind and I think it looks a lot better with the cover. Entirely cosmetic of course. I like the GoEleven winter test design but something like that might be a bit ambitious for a first attempt at vinyl wrapping… I’ve got Rizoma Stealth mirrors and indicators that I no longer use and I’ll probably include them with the SP2 when I sell it. I’ll leave the low-exit Akrapovic on it as well, along with the Evotech radiator covers, carbon rear hugger and swingarm cover, so it will be a pretty cool buy for someone with those accessories, plus the fairings, carbon wheels, Rizoma rearsets, mirrors, etc, are like new and the number is quite cool (215 - same as the stock hp, albeit without the ‘0.5’) and I’ll include the Ducati lithium battery charger.
