Unfortunately it seems to be quite common - not just with Ducati but with all bikes. It doesn't take much for wind to get behind the fairing and rip it out; a missing bolt, badly fitted fairing or a piece missing will do it. The air pressure at 70mph is a lot more than you realise (try riding with your visor up at 70mph!) so it really will just rip the lot off.
I've seen it happen both on the track (at around 50mph) when a guy about 20 yards in front lost the side panel on his 916 and it shot a good 30 feet into the air, and also on the road when a Yamaha R1/R6 came flying past me in the car with his side panel flapping in the wind almost bent double back on itself!
The 916 fairing is slightly vulnerable as it only has 2 real mounting points each side - the two that fix into the frame. The two bolts into the top fairing will give out easily if the top fairing is not fitted well (and they are prone to cracking) and the two bolts at the bottom are also under a lot of pressure. If you have a belly pan, this adds a lot of extra weight all hanging on those two bolts!
When I fitted the track fairing to my 748, it has a seperate belly-pan which I made a couple of brackets to hold in place without it hanging on the side fairings. This also means you can take the side panels off and leave the belly pan in place. All it takes is a few hours making up some brackets with bent bits of steel (or thick alu) and some inventive bolt placing.
I'm sure that the extra heat you experience doesn't help, and will decrease the life of the fairings and make them more prone cracking as well.
If it was me, and you're using it purely as a track bike, I'd get a set of cheap and lightweight fibreglass fairings, have them painted and make some extra brackets for the bottom or bellypan to help support the weight. |