Nurburgring And Spa 2016!

I reckon the BMW just about matches the 1199R on speed and power. It's just missing the Panigale low down grunt of the new Ducatis. Pretty impressive considering the price of the BMW. It feels pretty fat in comparison though.

 

Just got back last night from an amazing two days at Spa. What an epic fast track! Crazy stats: 174mph around a corner into Blanchimont, 169mph down the hill into Eau Rouge. Unfortunate stat is you have to use baffles on the Panigale to not trip the drive by noise meters. I got two laps in on full power before being black flagged. I was losing 15mph on the main fast sections but still managed to put in 2'46.2'' lap times so very happy with that.

I decided to take the BMW out for the last couple of sessions as I've not had it on track and considering getting rid of it. The BMW has no noise problems and I managed to match and possibly the better my best lap time second lap on full road setup! It's very impressive as the Panigale is on race fairings and full slicks.

I prefer the Panigale for sure but the ability to go out without baffles makes a massive difference on the fast tracks. I didn't even notice they were there at Oulton park as it didn't have the terminal high speed sections of the bigger tracks like Spa and Silverstone and probably Brands Hatch GP (?). The BMW turns a bit sharper than the Panigale but the Pani feels more stable so overal I reckon I'm faster in the corners on the Panigale but the BMW is a missile on the straights and always seems to have power for exiting the corners whereas my gearing wasn't the best for the track on the Pani. I reckon if I had a few more laps on the Panigale with full power that I would have got down into the low 2'45'' and quicker than the BMW but still I'm super impressed with the German missile.

I had a couple of massive moments on the BMW in the second session. The rear tyre had overheated and the pressure had got up to about > 36psi hot which is about 10 more than it should be and skidded out a few times. More alarming was the front was having problems. Coming out of Blanchimont which is a really fast top of fifth gear corner the front tyre chattered and skidded out nearly low siding me. I only went wide onto the run off area but it was a proper scare! I'm not sure if it's because of the rear getting too hot or just me hitting the limits of the Supercorsa SP road legal tyres? I've noticed on the Panigale lately that my turning goes wide if my rear tyre is knackered. To start with I thought it was my front tyres wearing out but it's actually the rear because I'm using quite a bit of oversteer to turn the bike now.



I've got Panigale vids as well but having problems with corrupted files on the GoPro so will try and recover those first.

 

Yes, Pouhan was awesome. The Panigale around there felt amazing. It seemed like I could go quicker and quicker the more I got the line sorted in my head. I think I was around 100mph through the outside apex on that part from looking at the vids but would definitely have more if I could learn to take it better.

 

I just remembered I went wide at Pouhan on one occasion as I was upping the speed and there's Astro turf on the outside apex. It was absolutely full of water and quite exciting to go through it!

I also managed to pop my wet weather cherry on slicks! I brought wets with me but the rain wasn't hard enough to warrant putting them on so I figured it was time to get out there and see how hard it would be to keep warmth in the slicks. Needless to say the pace was pretty pedestrian compared to the dry; adding about 40 secs.