Quote:
Makes depressing reading if you've got a 583 engine... |
Ahhhhh...the gamesmanship starts early.
I don't think that engines are the big thing to concentrate on. I quote from Neils article...
"The idea is to focus people on everything else except power; there is a much bigger difference in lap times to come from a bike that has been set up well than from a few extra horsepower".
I also like his assertion that the ST2 chassis (from which Monsters and Multistradas are derived) is one of the best that Ducati make. It's blown the ST boys secret out into the open, that an ST on stilts (with the ride height raised to stupid degrees - like mine) can handle like a good 'un. That is one of the reasons that I can keep up with more powerful bikes.
At our TA2 Cadwell trackday, a bloke on a 748 came flying past me on the start/finish straight when I backed off for a yellow flag and was 75-100 yards in front of me going into Coppice. I managed to catch him round the top end of the circuit and took him round the outside at the Gooseneck and down the hill towards Mansfield. You know who you are
He had the inside line at Mansfield and took me back, but that wasn't the point, I had reeled in 75-100 yards on a bloke with 20 bhp more than me within half a lap, so a good handling bike will make much more difference than the extra few horsepower of a 620 or even 675.