Ducati Sporting Club UK > Sport > Trackdays & Race Schools > Success!!! The first trackday on the R!

[JPM]

Well so far I've had 2 mechanicals and work get in the way of 3 trackdays I should of done, but today after fooling the bike into believing she was going for an early morning spin in a van I managed to make it onto a track!

Picture the scene, Donington National circuit, we (Lily and myself) arrive nice and early, there are a few of my friends doing the day also, and one or two are very quick boys, unfortunately mother nature played it's trump card by having constant rain until around lunch time, just as one of my mates decided to buy some full wets and stick them on, yep the rain stopped and the sun came out.

As the track started to dry Lily decided she wanted to go out, we'd only taken 208/209GP's so we hadn't been out all morning, I decided to skip it as the track was still very wet with the odd dry patch, not even a dry line. So I did my duty and timed her for about 6-7 laps, I was mightly impressed I must say first flying lap and not knowing how the track surface was and obviously getting used to the new 209's she did a 1:45, and by the end of the session down to a 1:32 still wet out there, so 13 seconds in 6 laps!!

We went out after lunch and I was a nervous wreck which caught me off guard, the guys were trying to bait me a bit but I just took it easy and trying to work on Redgate as I always lost time here, my first session was OK but I was dissapointed, the bike ran perfectly although I did feel the front was a tad vague but didn't really make any progress, as soon as I stopped I could barely move my right wrist, I've not had to brake so hard for over 9 months and the force was causing an issue, even as I type this I can feel some discomfort.

The next session I felt a million times better for about 5 laps before the red flag appeared, I'd managed to bugger off and get past Lily and the odd mate, it was like someone had flicked a switch, still trying to get used to the race shift pattern and made one or two mistakes with that i.e. going into Macleans and tipping in in 5th One of the guys was timing Lily and had her down to 1:28 in the dry so I am guessing I must of been the same or maybe marginally faster there as I'd nipped by early on.

Two more sessions remained and what I realised I was doing was holding back and waiting for a super safe spot to pass rather than carrying my speed and being more aggressive so I began to focus more and I knew I was getting faster, by the end of the day we both got down into the 1:26's with the odd 1:25 here and there, not the fastest I've been round there by a long way but happy with the 999 and also the huge boost in confidence that I gained today after recent events. Could just do with a few more before Brands

[Edited on 2-6-2005 by JPM]