Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > My Oulton experience 2014

[skidlids]

Despite the morning test sessions not going to well I'm well happy with my overall performance at Oulton Park

Friday morning I had real problems getting the bike started and as I had just changed the coils I suspected this was the issue, swapped back one of the coils and the bike started, as we still had a bit of time to go before our first session I turned the bike off. Then as our session start time got closer I tried to start the bike again but again no joy, after pulling connectors apart and plugging them back together along with changing the fuel pump relay the bike sprang into life and out I went for the first session.
Last season I didn't do the morning test sessions and come the afternoon Timed quallifying I had a fast crash on my first flying lap so this time my main aim was to stay on and get myself dialed in.

With the first session done and dusted and happy with how things went, I was looking forward to the second session. In the end I had to give this session a miss as the bike again refused to run, so while the others were out on track we got to the route of the problem, a blocking up fuel filter that is inside the petrol tank and a blocked quick release fuel coupling on the return line. With these both changed and the pump assembly back in the tank the bike barked into life at the first prod of the button.

As the third and final test session approached I hoped the bike would again start on the first attempt, this it did and I took to the track for my second outing of the day. All was going well until I decided to test how late I could brake for the Down Hill entry into Hizzy's chicane when I got a little shock as the right clipon moved under the force/weight I was putting into it. So rather than try and negotiate the chicane I picked the bike up and weaved my way through the barriers, not a hard task as they are a bit lacking and offer a faster route around the circuit. So that was testing over as I pulled into the pits at the first opportunity.

With the bar repositioned and the Allen bolts tightened, gearing changed and baffles removed it was time for technical inspection. With that out of the way it was just a matter of waiting around for our timed qualifying session.

We eventually took to the track at our allotted time of 15:40 and set about getting the lap times, not an easy task due to the amount of riders out on track and meeting a slower rider in the middle of a chicane doesn't do a lot for your lap times and as i found out back in 2006 it's easy to crash on the brakes mid chicane trying to avoid them, so it was a matter of being patient and trying to get one good lap. My best time was a very low 2m 09s which is 2 seconds faster than I managed last year in the races and a second faster than i managed in 2010 when I hadn't crashed the bike, so i was happy with that although 15th on the grid and 5th row does seem along way back.

Next up was another tooth off the rear sprocket size and fitment of a new rear tyre ready for scrubbing in the Saturday morning warm up session.

Saturday mornings warm up was only 3 laps just enough to scrub the tyre and try the different gearing, I was nearly happy with what i had but the brakes didn't seem as good as they had in previos meetings so i decided to change front wheel to my favoured set of discs, while doing this I noticed a couple of the front pads were a bit low and as they have no retaining pins they can drop out if they get to thin. trouble is I had no spare SBS Dual Carbon pads with me so opted for fitting some Lucas pads I had and try and bed them in on the warm up lap of Race 1

So on leaving the grid on the warm up lap for race 1 I got a bit of a shock at the lack of braking I had as I approached the first corner so spent a lot of time dragging the brakes for the rest of the lap in an attemp to get the pads bedded in.

Can't say i got a great start but was Ok ish, as we approached Island Bend for the first time Simon Morris decided to brake test me as he cut across the track nearly taking my front wheel with him. this as it turned out may have been a good thing as I just avoided running off the track or collecting Kev Palmer after Pete Pritchard had side swiped him. But with these two instances the group ahead had got the jump and were a extra few seconds up the track. Trying to close riders down is never easy especially those that have out qualified you by a few seconds. As such you end up trying to brake later and as a consequence miss the odd apex and run to deep into corners, not helped by brakes that had a lot more grab than i was use to. This resulted in most of my laps being slower than my qualifying until I gave up on making any progress, smoothed everything out and then did a 2m 07s on the final lap. it was nice to know exiting the track that I could lap a couple of seconds faster than I qualified in. Trouble is Phil Daruvalla out scored me by 2 points narrowing my lead over him in the championship as we both vie for runner up spot in Class A, the upside I was now down to the times he did in qualifying and the race,

Race 2 came around quickly enough and this time I knew how to get the best out of my brake setup. When the lights went out I got a better start and by lap 2 I was down in the 2m 07s bracket and turned out a near identical time for the remaining laps of the race with all but the standing start first lap in that 2m 07s bracket taking something like 22 seconds off my Race 1 time and finishing just 1 place and 1 point behind Phil

So with times 4 seconds faster than 2013 and 3 seconds faster than 2012 I went home pleased with my overall performance
Now its on to Croft in just under 3 weeks time for the final round of the Championships

[skidlids]

Originally Posted by skidlids

Friday morning I had real problems getting the bike started and as I had just changed the coils I suspected this was the issue, swapped back one of the coils and the bike started,

New Coils arrived from America on Friday, so I have just fitted one to the race bike ready for testing at Croft in just under 2 weeks time. At the moment the bike is starting first push of the button so lets hope it remains so when I get to Croft.
At least we have a full day of testing as Oulton was only half a day and not the time to have problems