So I had my first track experience weekend before last at a local ARD which was an incredible experience but a couple of issues have developed. The small one, after I came back in from the first two sessions, I noticed that brake fluid had sprayed all over the rear of the bike, mainly the exhaust shield. After the first session, I presumed it was a loose cap from where Snells had given the bike a once over the week before but it was the same after the second session. I cut a microfibre and cable tied it around the reservoir as a makeshift sock to stop it from spraying over the bike as we couldn't see what the issue could be at all. I then had a thought and wondered if it was the ABS setting. I was using my normal road settings so had it in 2 so wondered if it was triggering the rear ABS causing it to pulse without any actual brake pressure. Turned it down to level 1 and all good for the rest of the weekend and the sock remained dry. So presuming it was the ABS setting but would be interested to know if anyone can shed any light on this as confirmation? Now to the annoying part. I progressed from Novice to Inters for day 2 and the first three sessions of the day were incredible, the pace in inters was much better and I wasn't getting held up, some of the closing speeds in novice were pretty dangerous, to say the least! Halfway through the fourth session of the day, I started to lose top-end power on the mile-long strip of the runway that they use to form part of the circuit. I first noticed it at the top of 5th where it was like it hit a soft limiter at around 10k rpm, shift to 6th and all was fine until the same point again. With the mile-long straight I was hitting consistent 180-185mph both days but now couldn't get past 178mph according to the laptimer. Bike felt perfect everywhere else, it only seemed to be on the straight but that was also the only real place that you got that high in the rev range. Checked the bike over after that session, all looked and seemed perfect. Couldn't spot a thing, ran fine everywhere else. One of the guys suggested perhaps it was a traction control thing and I wondered if I'd worn the rear enough that I needed to recalibrate again so did that before the next session but it made no difference. Pulled onto the straight and the same happened again so I just short shifted at 10k. Then through the back section, I was convinced I had this RSV4 on my tail as it had been loud all day and seemed like it was right next to me. The session that second got red-flagged and I realised I was on my own and that sound was me. Bollocks. Went straight back to the paddock to find that the header off the rear cylinder had clean cracked off so my day was over. I nursed the bike home as was only a short journey and then started researching and found this thread with pics identical to what's happened on mine - https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/cracked-rear-exhaust-header.51936/ Here's the best I could take: Luckily, I had another 9 days on my warranty with the dealer I bought it from and he's been great, didn't question at all and picked the bike up last Wednesday so now a waiting game to get the bike back. From more research, it seems this issue has happened a fair amount and it looks like Ducati change the part number for the vertical header which I imagine was down to this issue. Apart from that, the bike was incredible and left everything for dead on the straight. I fitted Brembo SC pads last month in prep for this having seen how many recommendations there were for them on here. Consistent stops from 180mph down to around 45mph did cause a bit of fade after say 4-5 laps but they then stayed consistent for the rest of the sessions and was the same every time so really pleased with them. My Rosso 3's also survived very well, the surface isn't that abrasive from what I'm told and my talent was unlikely to be punishing them that much but recent suspension setup at Steve Jordan's would have also helped. I did need to add a total of three turns of fork preload and one click of compression in the end on the front as I was pushing harder each session I was sitting pretty close to bottom out on the forks. So just got to get the bike fixed and back to me now, toying with the idea of a quick day at Brands in October. A couple of pics for you if you made it this far!!!
The exhausts cracking is pretty common even on the new panigale’s to be honest. Might be a sweeping statement but I’ve personally seen a lot of them crack / sheer anyway. The brake fluid thing may just be where it’s got so hot and expanded perhaps ? Or a loose cap/ill fitting seal ?
