Desmo Due 2010
 

Just a thought after a couple of announcements about other Ducati based series

Desmo Due is Still the cheapest Ducati based raced series in the UK
Ideal for those that want to get into racing and want to race a Ducati especially if they are only hold a Novice Licence as they will be restricted to what cc of bike they can ride

Where else can you turn up on the grid with a bike costing less £1500 and stand a chance of qualifying on the front row and finishing on the podium.

Although the bike may look different to others on the grid under the bodywork they are all essentially the same with a power limited to an achievable level that most engines are capable of making for close racing on a budget.

No question you're right Kev. And you forgot to mention it's a hoot.

Plus it improves street riding in a way that riding with slicks and warmers just doesn't. Highly recommended!!

Hear hear....:D


Craig

Absolutely.
I only did 6 races last year and cannot wait for next March to arrive and the full season ahead.

But once you've whet your appetite for racing, where do you go from there?

The Desmo Due series was always about taking the fast trackday rider into racing, keeping within the Ducati marque. I remember lining up on that first grid all those years ago and of the 38(?) entries I think there were at most 5 of those that were not wearing a novice vest!

It was, and remains, a fantastic taster of what racing is about, with cheap machines, good venues and great paddock spirit.

But there's no denying that once you've "mastered" the awesome 60bhp of a DD bike, there will always be the next rung of the ladder that you want to climb onto and push yourself further.

I've always seen Sound of Thunder as the next (only?) step up from DD as there are very few other classes where you can ride a Ducati. Any step up is going to see you having to switch bikes/engines, whether it's to Thundersport with the KRRs, or straight into Sound of Thunder, because otherwise you're not going to be competitive on a DD bike - simple as that. Even running a decent Ducati out in Sound of Thunder will see you against much stronger bikes of other makes, in a very competitive environment. There's far too much scope to spend a lot of money to be competitive!

Hopefully the new 848 series will have the same ethos that DD has shown and proven over the last 5 years (only one of those I didn't race in) and will be seen as the "big brother" league of DD and hopefully something for budding racers to aspire to.

I believe you're missing the point Ant, that 99% of DD riders have no ambition/will/need/desire/money [delete as necessary] to climb the next rung of the ladder.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I dont know of a DD champion that has gone on to supposedly bigger things (a few have come 'down' from better things for sure), and very few other riders who have taken another, bigger series seriously. Sure, there's the KRR team, and of course the KMR team* in which Phill Clarke and I rode, Rattler, Couchy. But you get my drift.

This 848 series will not be any kind of "big brother" series to DD. I wager that it wont have more than 1 or 2 ex-DD riders, tops. For the simple reason that DD is all that the majority of us want to do - cheap racing, with good mates who respect and help each other, on hassle-free bikes, where for the most part common sense prevails.


* reminds me of the Monty Python sketch..."whatever happended to the RMK team?"

Desire and Opportunity are two different things.

The point I was trying to make is that there is now a path open to go from racing in a "low level" Ducati series into a similar "medium level" Ducati series, that keeps the same ethos, whereas before you had to effectively "jump ship" into a series that wasn't all Ducatis.

Hope that makes sense!

The 848 could be cheap racing - buy the bike with all the extras and sell them on immediately if you don't need them, could pay for the exhaust and fairing. Put the road gear in the loft. Race for a year with a race exhaust and fairing. Sell it on as a race bike if the series continues or put it back on the road and sell the fairing and exhaust. (it'll have quite low milage if you only do practice and race 8 rounds).

One careful owner:lol:

WeeJohnyB

John,

Chassis and engine numbers of bikes that go on the grid will be maintained to avoid the problems of "one carefull owner"!

..and the problems of warranty claims...

Chris, can you clarify whether new bikes entered will have any warranty? If not, can DUK do anything on the price to reflect that significant issue? That's how the program works (worked?) in the States. Licensed racer, new SBK: no warranty, dealer pricing.