Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Race > Woohoo! First race outing for the 800 this weekend

[twpd]

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.

[domski]

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

All the best dude

[Grib]

Best of luck, let us know how you get on

[TP]

I'll be awaiting your report with keen interest.



Good luck.

[twpd]

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.

[TP]

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.

[KeefyB]

Originally Posted by twpd

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.

You are right,.it does'nt matter.What does matter is that its a Ducati.
Best of luck for the racing.Let us know how you get on.

[twpd]

Thanks KeefyB.

I've had the 800's clutch apart this evening. The plates looked fine, however, as a precaution, I fitted the pack out of my spare engine. I tried fitting an extra plate in but, there's no room for it - it locks the clutch up solid because it removes all clearance from the clutch - it looks like Ducati fitted extra plates to cope with the increased shove that it puts out anyway. The problem would appear to be the exceedingly gay clutch springs that Ducati have fitted to appease the whingers who complain about heavy clutch action - they are so lightweight. So, I popped in a proper set of manly 748RS springs. Result - much heavier clutch that is hard work

It shouldn't slip now - if it does then it's a set of Barnett plates next.

[twpd]

Qualifying:

Qualified 14th, got gridded 34th. Ummm...go figure. Protested - got it sorted.

Race 1: Good start, lead Minitwin, about 6th overall, got punted off the track at the hairpin by some tit who outbraked himself and used me as a crash barrier. Quite how he thought he was gonna get round the hairpin on that line is beyond me. I went grasstracking, somehow stayed on and recovered my composure to come 10th overall and 3rd in class.

Damage: wrecked boot left boot, scratched left exhaust, scratched front carbon guard, broken fairing mid-panel, broken upper fairing, broken bellypan, scratched swinging arm..

Gord' worked wonders and got the bike sorted for race 2 - held together with duct tape.

Race 2: The recent late nights (especially last night trying to fix a slipping clutch) were taking their toll and I was popping Pro-Plus to keep me awake.

Got a good start and was in contention until lap 4 when I seemed to lose the plot and went backwards for some reason. I struggled a bit simply with being too tired. 10th overall, 3rd in class.

Mixed bag then - I'm still not up to what I call good race pace with my lap times being in the 1:37-1:38 bracket. The bike was fine - fast and competitive. I wasn't but, then that's my first race in 10 months so, maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself.

[KeefyB]

Nice one,great little report.
When are you planning to be out next?