Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Couch's castle combe report

[couchcommando]

Well it was peaceful and relaxed, Griff obviously thought too relaxed so decided to have a brake failure at Quarry, Luckily he was okish but his bike wasn't. Once we'd blagged/borrowed the bits (thanks Kev,Phil and Alan) we set about building it back up. Got it done by about 11 on saturday by torchlight.
Got it scrutineered Sunday and griff was out for the race. That lasted 1/2 a lap as the oil cooler had ruptured and put oil all over the back tyre. We'd ran it round the paddock a few times and no oil had appeared, I guess the extra pressure forced it out.
Griff was ok but the bike had yet more scrapes

To top it off he was called into race control by the clerk of the course who preceeded to give him a bollicking, apparently brakes don't fail in 2006 (who was to know the ducati was a 1995 bike), his bike prep is awful and not up to NE standards (god help the rest of us) !!!

Apart from that my weekend was peaceful and relaxing

Well done to everyone out there, DD makes a great spectacle

[twpd]

Don't you just love race officials? Maybe he should have looked at my SV650 then? Throughout most of 2004 and a large part of 2005 I was suffering brake failure/fade - damn things needed rebuilding every meeting.

[skidlids]

Most manufacturers recommend a bedding in procedure for their Race pads and how you are meant to do this at Race meetings where you have no free or untimed practice I don't know. I had to scrub a new front tyre during timed qualifying and a New rear in race one. I had discussed with friends about changing my pads but decided against it as I was worried about getting them bedded in according to the instructions on the packet they come in
I use Ferodo CP911* Race pads and providing I follow the bedding in procedure they always work well for me, but this procedure is not something I want to be doing during the only timed practice especially when I'm already scrubbing in a new tyre.

Got this off the web
WHAT DOES "BEDDING-IN" BRAKE PADS REALLY MEAN?
..... Looking at the ground surface of a new brake pad and rotor [new or used] under magnification, the surface looks like a bunch of hills and valleys. Until these parts are mated, only the peaks are making contact. If you try to use the brakes hard before they bed-in, you run the risk of over-heating and carbonizing the surface of the pad. This means performance will suffer dramatically and a glazed surface will likely result...you'll probably hear your brakes complaining via a loud annoying brake squeal. ............. Allow some time to bed-in your new brakes by following the manufacturer recommendations and you'll find they'll work much better.
• Racers: contact us for specifics.

well Griffs pads were certainly carbonised

Luckily I carry a few spares with me to race meetings
for Griffs bike we used my spare Clip-ons, Brake Master cylinder, my Fibreclass kit and my tub of P40 fibreglass filler, Fil2 donated brake pads and a caliper and rear brake lever came from AK

I lent Paul Payne a rear wheel (one where the bearings don't fall out) and Dominic Clegg a front disc

A couple of days before Senna3 had my 16T front sprocket and i even got another Shell Oils sponsorship package out of the van, which Ali proceeded to use on friday evening to make sure his bike was ready for a race win on saturday.

[domski]

You need to start dishing out "Supported by Kev Ellis" stickers then

[skidlids]

more Like start a "Rent a spare" business

[Dominic Clegg]

thanks kevin for all your help