So after starting the day in Birmingham, I ventured up to Donington and now I'm back in London, thankfully all in one piece. It has to be said that I have never ridden is such bad weather before, the amount of spray on the M42 there and the M1 on the way back was almost unbelievable.
The trackday itself was wet all day, with surface water all over the track. My Ducati was far from happy especially as she was still wearing her Italian designer boots in the shape of a pair of Pirelli Rosso Corsos. Awesome tyres in the dry, frankly dangerous in the wet.
To give you some idea of the conditions, have a look at this photo. This is one very scared rider
The trackday itself was wet all day, with surface water all over the track. My Ducati was far from happy especially as she was still wearing her Italian designer boots in the shape of a pair of Pirelli Rosso Corsos. Awesome tyres in the dry, frankly dangerous in the wet.
To give you some idea of the conditions, have a look at this photo. This is one very scared rider
It has to be said, a huge level of praise has to go to Focussed Events and Ducati UK who both made the very best of a bad day. Both Niall MacKenzie and Neil Hodgson were both on hand and were both very approachable, admittedly thou, I just approached them as a fan because today, for me anyway, wasn't the kind of day to learn anything on track. In total I did six laps. Three in the morning and three after lunch. I'm uploading some raw footage to Youtube as I type and I'll get a link on here so you can see just how wet it was out there. The food at lunch was miles above the normal shite you get at a trackday and best of all it was included in the price. I spent some time over the lunch break talking to Neil Spalding of Sigma Performance fame, a very nice man who was very patient with an amateur like myself.
Ducati UK brought along some members of their race teams including Ayrton Badovini and the Superbike Project Director Ernesto Marinell. In the following Q&A session I won a fleece for asking a question about having particular riders from certain countries in order to enhance Ducati's market share. To be honest thou, the bloke that asked if hiring Rossi for two years was a mistake should have won it instead of me.
Bosch were also on hard to demonstrate the ABS on two Ducati bikes; the Diavel and the Multistrada. For those who took part, the process was three fold for each bike. On the first run, we were asked to accelerate to 50mph in 2nd gear and stamp on the back break. The second run, we were told to again get up to 50mph and grab a massive handful of front brake and finally on the third run, use a combination of the front and back. Jesus! All I can say is I want ABS on my next bike, its utterly fabulous.
Finally, there was a nice range of Ducatis on show which ranged from top spec 1199rs, to 999s, to Superlights to the super rare and frankly amazing Supermono Strada built by Alistair Wager. Check out his website www.britaliamoto.com for more on this amazing bike.
Finally finally, here just two nice pics of two older Ducatis
Ducati UK brought along some members of their race teams including Ayrton Badovini and the Superbike Project Director Ernesto Marinell. In the following Q&A session I won a fleece for asking a question about having particular riders from certain countries in order to enhance Ducati's market share. To be honest thou, the bloke that asked if hiring Rossi for two years was a mistake should have won it instead of me.
Bosch were also on hard to demonstrate the ABS on two Ducati bikes; the Diavel and the Multistrada. For those who took part, the process was three fold for each bike. On the first run, we were asked to accelerate to 50mph in 2nd gear and stamp on the back break. The second run, we were told to again get up to 50mph and grab a massive handful of front brake and finally on the third run, use a combination of the front and back. Jesus! All I can say is I want ABS on my next bike, its utterly fabulous.
Finally, there was a nice range of Ducatis on show which ranged from top spec 1199rs, to 999s, to Superlights to the super rare and frankly amazing Supermono Strada built by Alistair Wager. Check out his website www.britaliamoto.com for more on this amazing bike.
Finally finally, here just two nice pics of two older Ducatis
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