Your probably right about the maintenance on a R6 being less Tim, they are also less hassle when it comes to changing gearing for different tracks, no quick change sprocket carrier need, just the sprockets and no ride height to worry about. Plus the major saving on not having to replace cambelts.
Last time out which was Darley moor I was one second a lap slower on my R6 than I was on my 916 Strada, with the R6 in Proddy spec (No tuning, no rearsets etc) where as the 916 has 54mm Exhaust, cast floating brakes, Radial M/cylinder, Harris rearsets etc. And that was my first time racing the R6.
I will be comparing the two bikes again at Donington this coming Saturday, to find out if a bit more time on the R6 will close the gap in lap times.
I suspect even in proddy trim the R6 is a better short circuit bike than my old V&M CBR600, which allowed me to lap Brands Indy circuit in 57 secs back in 1999, so I would hope to go quicker on the R6.
And as for on the road check out the bike in 25th place in the 1000cc Proddy TT ( http://www.iomtt.com/results/2003/Prod.pdf ) I know it says 1000 Yamaha, but I can assure you its my R6 and yes the organisers do know we got caught, hence no Bronze replica or start money for that race. Just needsa a bloddy good rider to get the best out of one and of course a bit of tuning wouldn't hurt

Spooky.....
 

.....I was thinking about a Mille too!!!!

Phil - it seems that you are ahead of me on this one.

So - I just need to find a race Ducati now!!!

Tim

Tim,

I'm no track day man, but I have been keeping an eye on the MCN race section and like Philippe says, you can pick up a 'proper' race bike for very little cash, especially towards the end of the season. There was a set of two Dukes, the whole tyre warming bit and the tour bus!

I know that's not what you're after, but I would keep one for the road, to avoid repeating the same of tasks every time you take it to the track and to avoid detracting from the originality of the bike - lets face it we all lose cash on after market stuff.

There's all sorts in the race section - and if you bide your time, you'll drop on a real beauty. There are a lot of cash strapped race teams out there.

My humble opinion anyway - that's how I'd do it.

Andy

Oh and while we are at it, another thing to consider... Once you have a track bike, you will do a lot of the maintenance yourself because it would be too expensive letting the service shop to do all the basic things (very often).

I believe it is better sticking with what you have started knowing and trouble shooting on the road. Also once you start being equiped with the relevant tools for the job for one make, you don't want to double everything up with another make!

Some will argue that Jap stuff doesn't go wrong and is easy to fix with simple tools. They are probably right but I have not ventured in this unknown. Just learning a lot about Ducatis at the moment!

SP engine in RS chassis
 

Thanks, skidlids. Yes, I would not think the RS engine would be too enjoyable n the road. 7k and no serious offers?! That's a bargain!

theres a crash damaged 916 for sale here
www.bandwmotorcycles.com

Thanks Dobber1.....
 

......but t'is already sold!!!

Tim