Five do Donington - Superdukes vs RC8s!

Excellent day out at Donington today (tripodave, fuel, Cerec1, BLB and myself), 3 Superdukes and 2 RC8s. The initial ropey forecast turned into glorious sunshine. Bit of a delayed start with SBK having not left the circuit but we still managed to get all 6 sessions in and No Limits made up for it with free bacon cobs for starters!

My first proper ride on the SDR, nightmare to start with changing tyres (long story ) and a bit weird to start with coming from a rice rocket but set the suspension to race track and it was much more settled. Even managed to take 3 seconds of my previous best laptime and had a good battle with Fuel in the process.

Will link some videos up as soon as I've downloaded the GoPro

Glad you had fun

Cadwell for me tomorrow, weather is a bit more ropey

Goo day indeed , think the SD's were quite a bit faster than the RC8's

Good work fella's. I was quite jealous yesterday when I watched WSB and thought of you guys there today.

I found there's a lot at the first half of the lap that's throttle to the stop.

I can't wait for trackday followed by race day in 4 weeks time. Then just 2 more weeks and its Crashfest will be a great 2 weeks of bike action.

what sort of times then gentlemen ?

That sucks.
What zorst / baffle did you have?

I was getting 1.59,s would have been a few seconds faster but was handicapped by noise restrictions!

I've no idea if 1.59 is good time or not!

Hmm better repack my Evos before Donny then.

Unedited video and not the best session but in case anyone is interested:
http://youtu.be/1WYJIFkuovI?t=1m

(Still can't link videos with a preview?)

I am ashamed to admit it but the SDRs were faster than me yesterday.
Having said that, I had a good day.
First couple of laps - I thought I was going to die! The bike felt completely unrideable so I took it to Parkitt Racing for a suspension setup really because I wanted someone to take a look at the bike for me.
They were really helpful and transformed the bike over the course of the day.

First full session out all bar one of the SDRs came past me and Nigel was lining me up so I was saved by the bell (or flag).

To start off with the RC8 was bottoming out under braking which took a couple of goes getting it right but is now fantastic - it is now really good on the brakes although there is a bit too much movement at the lever for me so that's the next thing.
After that it was tying itself in knots through the chicane - it would hit the bump on the exit and bounce and wobble itself out towards the curb. We ended with a lot more compression damping on the front and a bit more on the back which worked superbly.

As I edged towards the sort of scorching lap times that would were about 10s off my Superduke pace(!) I was starting to get some minor front end slides especially through Hollywood which were a little disconcerting especially as the lean angle I was generating wasn't that great at all. The advice was to drop the pressure in the front tyre by another couple of psi to help the tyre deform more - generating more heat and helping it work better.
In the penultimate session I followed Neil and Nigel out and they immediately gapped me as they were on sticky tyres straight off warmers but I was able to keep them in sight and then maintain the gap despite the font end issues but no-doubt helped by the fact that I didn't have to back off down the s/f straight.

Didn't do the last session as the zip on my leathers was broken (too many pies) amongst a number of factors.
All in all a good day, great company, bright but windy conditions that never quite got to be warm and loads of work to do on both me and the bike.

Noisy days ONLY from now on.
(although that db killer from MHP was incredibly effective taking it from 106 - 96dba)

There you are

See below as copied from Youtube

http://youtu.be/1WYJIFkuovI

Press Youtube button on subject page and paste the above between brackets

Then delete first part so you just have 1WYJIFkuovI
between the youtube brakets

Nice looking circuit - did you all stay as guests at Stuart Garner's castle?

Had a weird old day really, started badly qeueing in the van waiting to get in because the WSBK guys wouldn't leave. Some guy in a van up front was losing his temper waiting so they made all of us wait even longer while security calmed him down. Cock. Just meant I was in a real rush to get ready for first session.

First TD after crash at Silverstone and had also made lots of changes to the bike on top of a cold and jet lag from coming home from the Caribbean just all added up to a not very happy BLB really. Apologies to everybody especially to Mike. Message from home fooked with my head too..

Got Parkitt to sort my suspension after my spring change and it did feel much better but I just couldn't find a rythm. Footrests and seat being higher meant I couldn't get my knee down so had no gauge of lean which was playing a little on my mind too. Did 4 out of the 6 sessions and just put it down to being a bad day at the office and I should walk away before I bin it trying too hard.

Probably should have gone out in novice group, the overtaking would have built confidence but I just couldn't keep up this time and never felt so slow

Anyway its a learning experience, need to fiddle with my rearsets to find a better position. Also found that my boots were catching the heelguards so whipped that off, the gearchange peg was working loose... When the Ducati went boom in front and I had a small twitch on his oil.. list is endless..

On a much more positive note the bike works really well and handles beautifully now and doesn't tear up the rear tyre anymore. The quicker throttle was a positive change and I got lots of comments on how good the bike looked. Also I did get to top up my tan from the caribbean a little and the company was great. Just got to find my mojo somewhere between now and Cadwell so I can get set up for Almeria baby!!

Cheers to Neil for his hospitality on Sunday night. It was really nice to see Nigel and Dave again. And finally thanks to Mike for listening to me being all positive about life on the way to Donny and listening to me moan all the way home!!

The photos are online and I've ordered my set - let the photo whoring commence......well in a couple of days when I get them

Here we go!
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Panigale hunting....
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Desmo hunting!

Good pics Woody

Good pictures.....Seems everyone has a Panigale

Love donington, under 2 mins is a good time there, took my sd there a few weeks back and managed a 1m51, bike is totally standard with racetecs, still 10secs off my best time on my 1098SF race bike but I'm not racing so more than happy with my pace on the sd, taking the R there on Thursday this week