Woohoo! First race outing for the 800 this weekend
 

Got my entries back for Croft this weekend. It's 10 months since I last raced and I'm looking forward to it again.

It's the race debut for my 800ss. I'm about to realise a long-held ambition to race a Ducati. Ok so, it's not a 4-valver but, somehow that doesn't matter.

Cool, nice one Nige - at long bloody last!!!!

All the best dude :D

Best of luck, let us know how you get on :)

I'll be awaiting your report with keen interest.

:D

Good luck.

Well I am just back from practice and I have to say I am impressed. It's taking me a while to find my race legs again. Slowly but surely I am getting there. In the last session I had an epic dice with an Honda RS250GP bike. The 800 had it out of corners on grunt, stayed with it all the way down the straight and could just squeeze past on top end!!!!!! How impressive is that?

The rider and his mechanic came over afterwards to shake my hand and said "WTF is that?" ;)

The other SV650s were destroyed by it - they didn't get close. No contest. And this was all with a slipping clutch which, I have to fix this evening :(

All that remains is for me to ride it to its full potential. I've got no doubt that this is a superior race package compared to the SV.

The clutch ... in my DD bike we had an extra plate, semi-synth oil and 748RS clutch springs.

It was a muthaf***** on the left forearm but the clutch didn't slip after that. :D

Goddamn I want to race your 800 now!!!!

:lol:

Guess who is robbing his 748 this evening? :o

It's awesome Tony. That RS could not pull away anywhere - even through the fast kneedown Jim Clarke Esses at the back of the circuit where the 250 should be able to make use of it's corner speed and lightweight. The 800 clung to it all the way.

I think the relatively gentle power, lots of grunt and lightweight really works well for it. The only criticism I have of the bike is that it needs a fair heave on the bars to get it to change direction through those esses but, once it's on its ear it is exemplary.

What plate and where did you put it in the clutch pack?