Wavey discs...

The original concept of these was so that the edges of the the disc would run across the surface of the pads and shave a tiny layer off, this was supposed to stop the pads glazing. Negative effect of course was the pads didn't last very long!
I may be wrong, but I think the first team to use them was Padgetts? Kev is gonna tell me I'm wrong!

But we have them on road bikes just cos they look flash!

You need nice narrow tyres on snow. Big wide four x four things dont exert enough pressure on the road to cut through the snow to the road below. Look at rally cars used in snowy events. They run tyres that are only about 100mm wide.
Also most four wheel drive things dont have diff locks which makes them a bit pointless in my opinion.

Who owns Ducati (the company) these days? Or who has a controlling interest?

Last minute question:

Lots of discussion going on about length of inlet manifolds for 600/900 2v, the theory being that the shorter manifold (on the 900) gives better top end power than the shorter. This is (in theory) because the 900 has more torque low-down, so can afford to be tuned for top end power.

My question is 'If I fit the shorter inlet manifolds to my 600, what do I use to connect the carbs to the airbox??'

I spoke to Nelly about this, and confused him greatly.:lol: He'd just fitted Mort's even-shorter manifolds to the blue beast, but couldn't remember using anything different from standard to connect the injector bodies to the airbox!

Cheers,

Ali

i might be talking b*******s but can you not do away with the air box and fit a couple of K+N filters straight on to carb intakes?
something like these ;
http://www.knfilters.com/universal/universal.htm

i appreciate that these may upset the dyno kit if you have one etc
i dont know if there is enough room to do this its too cold to have a quick look at my own bike to check but i would consider it to acheive what i think you are trying to do i have used these on several cars in the past with a bit of main jet and needle tinkering i had good results

or is this against the rules?

[Edited on 26-2-2005 by monstermob 998]

edited due to correction from Ali

Ducati is owned by shareholders, as Ali says below a major holder is Texas Pacific Group who'm it appears have controlling interest in DMH.

In addition, Ducati Motor Holdings S.p.A. operate the following subsidaries (percentage of ownership in brackets):

Ducati Deutschland G.m.b.h. (100%)
Ducati France S.A.S. (100%)
Ducati Japan K.K. (100%)
Ducati Benelux B.V. (100%)
Ducati U.K. Limited (100%)
Ducati North America Inc. (100%)
Ducati Corse S.r.l. (100%)
Ducati Retail S.r.l. (85%)
Ducati Consulting S.r.l. (99%)

[Edited on 27-2-2005 by NBs996]

The most recent info I can find: Ducati Holdings Group is owned, at least 33.4%, by Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a venture capital company in the U.S.

How much of the company is public I don't know, but a quick look makes me think most of the rest is, and it's owned by find managers, etc.

Ali you could always dump the airbox and CV carbs and fit a set of nice exspensive Kiehin smoothbores.
I understand from reading the rules that to fit the shorter inlet tracts you need to cut the cross brace out of the frame.

Being as I sold my 748 track/race bike to Old Yella for just over £2k I have no intention of spending any more than that on my 600SS so that rules out getting to much done to the bike especially on the tuning front as I just sold a more powerful V-twin race bike that has been out playing with the big fish/sharks in SoT, Powerbike and Open.
I’m still going on the maxim “don’t race what you can’t afford to trash” after chucking a £4k bike in the skip at last years TT I think i'll try and restrict myself to a £2k bike this year.

Ali...this is one way to do it......

Ok a last question then.....

Apart from the obvious expense - I cant help wondering why Ducati didnt make a gear driven cam train for the belt drive bikes ??? If H0nda could do it with the VFR range, couldnt Ducati - or does the Desmodromics (?) prevent this in someway?

I was just thinking about the carnage (Bikeage ???) that could be produced if a belt ever snapped :o