Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm NO
I Already have two 996s, my 998 Hybrid, a 955 Corse, two 748 Bips plus four aircooled 2-valvers, I'm not really after a SPS
And I sold my 748SP race bike that I last raced in NGs SoT championship at Silverstone in October 2003 to allow me to do Desmo Due in 2004, now that bike was ready built for Thunderbikes

Yes...but the whole point of TB is a power:weight restriction. So far no-one has met the benchmark figure. By allowing the 748 in suddenly there's the means to do it easily. So why will anyone bother with anything else?

I love 748SP's. To me they are best of breed. I miss mine and they're rarer than rocking horse sh*t. Rarer than an R.

Hey !
At last !
Someone with more ducs than me :lol: (just)
But you've got a lot more valves and pistons than me ;)

Phil I only have eight Ducati's now. Including my 748sp, bought it new in 95 from Motorcycle City. They only had 3 for the whole country back in 1995! So it was pretty rare then. I track day'd it, raced it, crashed it, blew it up several times, used it for what it was originally built to do. May have to blow off the dust and let her see the sunshine again? I recon the 748RS with a nicely built SP engine would be the ultimate tool for the job? but then what do I know?

At present there are plenty of bikes either bang on the power/weight limit or not far off it. Our Buell is around 5kg over weight at the moment but still has the starter and alternator etc that could come offf if necessary. The Laverda 750S of Alto racing has to put a huge battery on just to make the weight at all and the SV700 of Rob Wittey and Sarah Jordan aren't far off it either.

Next year there will be more tricked SV's plus a couple of RC30 Hondas etc. With the power/weight limit as it stands I don't think that the 748 will run away with it at all., and it will give all those garaged 748's a series to run in too :)

In the US Thunderbike series they have allowed the 748 in this season, and even though there have been a couple of very well dealer supported bikes out there they have yet to score a victory. The dynamic of the series is certainly different here in the UK, owing in large part to the lack of manufacturer support over here (Buell puts up US$750,000 in contingency in the USA and exactly 0 here), but I think the 748 will still have a real run for it's money in this country too.

What we have seen, unsurprisingly, so far in the series is that rider ability is the biggest factor rather than bhp/weight. James Wainwright is undoubtedly the quickest rider out there and is on a ZXR400.

There has been a very disappointing showing of Ducatis in the series this year, with just one road legal Paul Smart 1000DS making an appearance at Brands Hatch. I had expected to see a few more air cooled Ducs out there and don't think that they would have been outgunned by too much.

If anyone fancies running in the series next year please e-mail me, as I am in the middle of putting a case together for BEMSEE for 2007. None of the Bemsee/MRO classes are decided yet for next year and each class has to justify its inclusion in the calendar for 2007. Thunderbikes has so far produced 55 different points scorers and some very close racing all year, so hopefully we will still have a place once the decisions have been made ;)

As you know Matt, you live around the corner from me, and I was thinking of running my 800ss in the series but, I am not at all convinced it's worthwhile.

'Worthwhile' is a very subjective term, and I suppose it can mean different things to different people. If you are looking for very close racing with a very eclectic mix of bikes, very slick organisation and excellent camaraderie then the Thunderbike series certainly provides that. The Ducati 800S may not win but it certainly wouldn't be last

We have probably spent around £15K this season just to build and get the Buell competitive and have had a few 4th and one 3rd place with it, leaving us in 9th place in the series at present (although we have effectively missed 3 rounds). Has it been worthwhile? Not from a business or results point of view I suppose, but it definitely has been froma sporting perspective and has been great fun.

Depends what you want from your racing I suppose.

Your comment is very telling re. cost. This is why I think the 748 will become the de facto bike. Buy an SPS for £3500 - instant 100+ bhp and about 400lbs in weight without spending much on it. Drop the road gear off and it's bang on the power:weight ratio limit. By comparison, to make your Buell competitive you have had to spend a fortune. The 748 all in and prepped would run to less than 6k...easy. Everything else becomes obsolete for reasons of cost.

What I want is to be reasonably competitive at a reasonable cost. Now that a 748 is eligible my 800 or a 1000 won't be able to compete without spending a fortune of getting weight down - neither can be tuned to give 748SPS power so, weight loss is the only way they can compete.

Our costs have been higher than most simply because we have had to build and develop this bike from scratch as there are no others racing in the UK. Most of the Thunderbike top 10 have spent nowhere near our budget this year.
Jamie Wainwright is as quick as the supersport 600 guys at most circuits on his ZXR400, as are a few of the other top TB runners. Personally I don't think that we will see too many 748SPS or R's in the series simply because of the cost of running one is high for club racers. If memory serves correctly a 748 Bip only makes around 80-85bhp at the rear wheel so would still need to have some money spent to make it competitive.

I think you would be surprised at how competitive a 1000DS lightweight would be.

Baines Racing are apparently building a 1000DS motored bike for the series that I am sure will be more than competitive next year ;)