Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Desmo Due 2005 Q & A

[skidlids]

WJB you left out the £1k plus spent by some on CSS etc

[lizzie]

Why should a 620ie owner be any different just because their base bike is closer to the regs than mine?

and
Who in the DSC has a 620ie and is gagging to race it? I bet there's no-one

That first point is a joke right Jools? I know quite a few of you who have more than one Ducati in the garage - either spouses with a bike each or maybe two bikes with separate characters which are used for different purposes eg KeefyB and his missus with a 999, Multistrada and Monster in the garage. Do you honestly expect someone who wants to take part in this series to keep two 6*0 monsters at the same time? Err which bike shall I use today - am I in the mood to take my 600 Monster to work or shall I take the country roads which are so much better for my..... 620 Monster? Doesn't quite work does it? Remember that just because one of these bikes is a race bike it doesn't preclude it being used on the road too, so you are effectively requiring someone to sell (and take a financial hit no doubt on) their 620.

And your second point, no I don't suppose there are many. But the only cheque I've so far seen belongs to a DSC member in exactly that position.

There is another aspect to this which no-one has raised. Before I raise it, though, I should make it clear that this is a personal comment, nothing whatsoever to do with the Management Team; I've had nothing to do with the proposed race series. Maybe Ducati UK would be interested in what we are doing; maybe they might even be persuaded to provide support in some fashion or other. Maybe not, I don't know. But if they might be interested, would they be more or less interested in promoting a series which precluded every single current Ducati model - or one which only allows 'out-dated' bikes?

FFS, this series is aimed at novice racers, not at the WJBs of this world: from what I understand, the fastest racer will win whatever he's riding. For most of you, if you want to go faster, stop eating all the pies

[AK]

Brakes??????

Ask any of the guys who threw their 600's around at Mallory earlier this year - or even those who rode/ride them on the road (Mutters & Doug are the most nearest ones to me, to recall) - they dont USE their brakes, road or track!
Whereas the larger monsters will need a bit of a tweak/yank occasionally on the brake (or a 'flutter' ) the M600 rider when tanking it relies totally on the gears, to keep the momentum going to enable him (or her) to keep up with, and maybe overtake his mates.

Mutters? - maybe you can help out here?

I was hoping to 'assist' AK in 'having a go' for this next year - will forwards dosh as soon as rules have been DEFINATELY confirmed.

Like WJB, we think the 600 is the way to go, as there is a greater amount to meddle with otherwise. Also: We could run to getting an M600 - and prob do at least one season of racing, for less than the cost of getting a 620ie.

C

[Rattler]

Originally posted by lizzie

That first point is a joke right Jools? I know quite a few of you who have more than one Ducati in the garage - either spouses with a bike each or maybe two bikes with separate characters which are used for different purposes eg KeefyB and his missus with a 999, Multistrada and Monster in the garage. Do you honestly expect someone who wants to take part in this series to keep two 6*0 monsters at the same time? Err which bike shall I use today - am I in the mood to take my 600 Monster to work or shall I take the country roads which are so much better for my..... 620 Monster? Doesn't quite work does it? Remember that just because one of these bikes is a race bike it doesn't preclude it being used on the road too, so you are effectively requiring someone to sell (and take a financial hit no doubt on) their 620.

And your second point, no I don't suppose there are many. But the only cheque I've so far seen belongs to a DSC member in exactly that position.

There is another aspect to this which no-one has raised. Before I raise it, though, I should make it clear that this is a personal comment, nothing whatsoever to do with the Management Team; I've had nothing to do with the proposed race series. Maybe Ducati UK would be interested in what we are doing; maybe they might even be persuaded to provide support in some fashion or other. Maybe not, I don't know. But if they might be interested, would they be more or less interested in promoting a series which precluded every single current Ducati model - or one which only allows 'out-dated' bikes?

FFS, this series is aimed at novice racers, not at the WJBs of this world: from what I understand, the fastest racer will win whatever he's riding. For most of you, if you want to go faster, stop eating all the pies

I agree mostly with Jools, WJB and Weeksy on this one. (they've made so many points can't be sure to agree with all of them!!) Not sure I agree with your point about 620 owners now though Lizzie - we might all be in the same boat, whether we own a monster laready or not!!

For me, if I do take part, then it'll be on a stock (but fully serviced) 600 or 620 (if they're allowed) with the bare minimum mods to make it raceworthy and then we're off!! I don;t want to change any parts or fit big-bore kits etc, just get out there and smile - its all getting a bit serious!!!

Tim

[Edited on 12-10-2004 by Rattler]

[paynep]

I've read and though some more!

Keeping aside the realities of racing as succinctly put by WJB, it seems that one school of thought is that we keep everything standard-ish and thus apparently cheap. The other is that we try to even up the performance by having selected mods.
With the first way, the smart money is on it soon needing a "standard" 620ie with 6speed box, slipper clutch etc to be at the front - not exactly cheap and not exactly fun for the carbed brigade to spend money and know that they wont be competitive.
With the second way the same applies to bigbore kits, flat-slides etc and again a stock 600 will look a bit slow.

Using rules as applied to CB500s wouldn't work as the models are too different to not need ridiculously complex model based exceptions.

So I'm starting to feel that maybe we should have 2 classes - one for carbed bikes with a few engine mods (dynojet,K&N etc) but no overbores and the other for injected bikes.

That way we keep the fun for those of a "strip off the lights and get out the lockwire" persuasion, we can cater for those with later bikes/bigger budgets, use current models to maybe gain Ducati interest and above all, have some good RACING.

Tyres and brakes are possibly another debate again, but I think it is the 600 vs 620 issue which will make or break this fantastic idea.

Oh, and no carbon microns should be allowed!!

Cheers, Paul

[bradders]

just spotted this thread...NOW I understand Skids comment sunday re race numbers....do you think I should have a go Kev???

[Edited on 12-10-2004 by bradders]

[antonye]

can ... worms ... everywhere!

[WeeJohnyB]

Quote from Lizzie, (and not the first time) boo hoo, (no offence Lizzie, honest)

"FFS, this series is aimed at novice racers, not at the WJBs of this world"

Is it really? So anyone that races is not welcome? As someone that has put a lot into this club, I'm not sure how I feel about this. As soon as this is up and running, there could easily be 20 people come out of nowhere, proper racers maybe, that want nothing to do with the DSC, they just want to race. If they get positions 1 to 20, how will this impact on it? As I've said already, I've not decided what to race next year. What I do know is that I still have £000's on credit cards from the last two years, so whatever I do, it'll have to be cheap. If you're even doing the basic one model formula, say goodbye to £6,000 for a season. I would love to race with all my DSC friends, many of whom have never raced, but I have a sneaky feeling are quicker than me already, eg Rattler, Desmondo, JPMercer to name just three. Felix is a prime example, what happens if Chillo enters? I may well be off to join the big boys in 600's, but I might also decide to buy a crappy old Monster and rev the nuts off it for a laugh

Oh and....nobody I know rides the same bike on the road as they race. Some put all the road kit back on and use the bike in the winter or more likely sell it, but to race the same bike as you want to use on the road is a non starter - it's very time consuming and you've simply GOT to be prepared to totally wreck it, or don't bother turning up. When that red light goes out, all bets are off, (thinking of Snatch) The first few corners and indeed throughout the race, it's elbows, knees, bashing bars and deliberately running people off the track - think of every person that has come under you on a trackday or cut you up, move them 2 feet closer until they're touching you and then multiply them by 40 - if you want to get people into racing on the cheap, you ain't gonna do that on your shiney road bike.

"from what I understand, the fastest racer will win whatever he's riding. "

er...no!!! Corser is the best rider by FAR in WSB. The best rider/driver on the best bike/car normally wins, but there are plenty of examples where the bike wins. There are people in front of me on the GP250 grid that I KNOW I'm quicker than, but they've got 10-15bhp more than me and they're gone. If I had another 5bhp on my CB500, I'd win the championship with ease.

WeeJohnyB
PS - whatever happenned to the brilliant idea of sponsoring MEMBERS that was voted over 50:3 at the AGM?

[TP]

Originally posted by WeeJohnyB
Corser is the best rider by FAR in WSB.

I have ALWAYS like you WJB

[antonye]

I have a cunning plan...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...tem=7107267739