Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Trackdays & Race Schools > silverstone gp 12th march

[andyb]

I was cursing you lot all day...looks like you had good enough weather!!!

[deej]

just to let you all know i got home ok in the end, stayed in towcester travelodge on the sunday night, then coughed up £700 to get the van towed home after the garage quoted me from £1200 + vat to fix the head gasket on my van !!! robbing *******s !!! can get the parts and head skimmed for £250 home here.

had a great day on track and met some great people just a shame id oubt i'll be able to afford to meet you guys again soon.

thanks for all your help and fun on track, andy and natty especially it was good to do battle !!

simon thanks for your help with the aa just a shame we couldnt pull it off

[skidlids]

£1200 that is costly for a head gasket job and £700 is hell of lot for a tow. Living down your neck of the woods and doing trackdays is never going to be cheap but you certainly don't ned the extra costs. A hire van comes to mind

Still it was good to meet you and see that you were enjoying the trackday, hopefully your next one will be less costly and more enjoyable

[andys 900ss]

Yep, good to see you get back ok Deej, although they certainly lightenened your pocket, b-stards.... I'd be parking the van in the sellers front room window by now... Hope to see you again on another one,

Andy

[deej]

going to argue like hell with direct line and try to get a refund for the truck. theyve sent me a customer satisfaction questionnaire which has been filled in, all positively of course !!! :lol::lol::lol:

i'll compare the pricesthat freeways motors were quoting to what ive been quoted now im home.

freeways. locallly
radiator £210 £95
water pump £95 £25
thermostat £65 £15
head gasket set £150 £85
head gasket bolts £150 £15
skimmed head £400 £40

this is all with vat to be added so you can see why i paid to get it recovered rather than be robbed blind by those cowboys. the radiator doesnt even need replacing:flame::flame:

kev a hire van isnt cheap these days as they all have a mileage charge if you do over so many !!!

andy would be good to meet up with you guys again but unless direct line cough up i wont be on any more trackdays this year

[deej]

quick update on the van

the engine is beyond econimical repair so it means either a new engine or scrap it !!! not really sure what to do for the best, spend the money or cut my losses

[Edited on 27-3-2006 by deej]

[andys 900ss]

Bugger... thats not good Deej.

Have you checked over the rest of the van? If its all good and not done starship miles, I would look at a recon engine, although it has brpught you a fair degree of bad luck and maybe due to scrap,

Andy

[marchesini]

Originally posted by deej
the engine is beyond econimical repair so it means either a new engine or scrap it !!! not really sure what to do for the best, spend the money or cut my losses
[Edited on 27-3-2006 by deej]

I used to own a van with a mate. He used it on an everyday basis and I had dibs on it whenever I did trackdays or motocrossing. It was great at first but when it started costing me money, we decided to get rid of it. I now have a trailer - very little to go wrong with it and it folds up out of the way when not in use. If you only use the van for trackdays, I wouldn't bother with it. The amount it costs to keep on the road in terms of insurance, road tax, tyres etc doesn't make a lot of sense.

Buy a two/three bike trailer with a group of mates, split the cost and get a removeable towbar on your car. All of this is assuming you have a reliable car of course. I would recommend this route as this is exactly what I have done and have no regrets. The added benefit is you don't have an eyesore of a vehicle sitting leaking oil on your driveway and taking up space for 98% of the year.

Oh, a couple more things: check that your car can have a towbar fitted. I didn't and ended up changing my car when I found out - from an M3 to an M5 and don't forget the RAC cover.

Good luck anyway and hope to meet you at a track again (hopefully soon).

simon

[andys 900ss]

Thats exactly my setup too Marchesini, but not the BMW type.

Bleedin eck M5!! Dad used to have one and if its similar, it would leave the trailer behind at lights !!!

Andy

[marchesini]

Originally posted by andys 900ss
Thats exactly my setup too Marchesini, but not the BMW type.

Bleedin eck M5!! Dad used to have one and if its similar, it would leave the trailer behind at lights !!!

Andy

Yes, it is a bit weird being in this 400bhp saloon car and stuck in the slow/middle lane of the motorway pulling a trailer doing no more than 60mph officer.

I still have to get used to the fact that the bike isn't going to topple over on roundabouts - I have never checked my mirrors so much!

What trailer did you get? I got one of the BikeLug foldup jobbies, quite pricey but dismantles into 4 pieces and three locking pins and takes no longer than 3 minutes to put together. Really nice bit of kit and they have just redesigned it so it looks even nicer now (and also may be cheaper??)

When's your next trackday then?

simon