First impressions of the Pani on track...

A quick update:

We ran race #5 and #6 in the Swedish Champs, and race #3 and #4 in the Scandinavian Open this past weekend, and I am getting along a bit more with the bike now...

We have tried a lot of changes during the season so far, and now I think that we have the bike set up as good as it gets. In the beginning I was trying to get it to feel and behave like the Honda, but have now realized that it will NEVER feel- and behave like that. So we have set it up as good as it gets, and now I will have to get used to it and adapt.

Still struggling a bit to get used to the power delivery, and the throttle. But with a few remaps and adjustments to the geometry of the bike, we got it to behave a bit more calm. Gearing is so much more important on this bike than other bikes we have raced making it a bit tricky. First couple of outings it was almost impossible to go fast on. The steep power curve, short and aggressive chassis, in combination with the stop- and go tracks we visited made it really hard to ride. Looked at the data from a session at the first Swedish Champs, and I didn't have 100% throttle anywhere in a 30 min session. I wheelied and wobbled all over the place. But now, it's a LOT better...

Last couple of races I have really started to enjoy the bike a lot...

Still about a second off my best pace with the Honda, but we're getting there...

Update:

Well, I am getting more and more comfortable on the bike, and last weekend it really clicked. After struggling a bit during the first couple of sessions in last race weekend in the Swedish Champs, things wet a lot better during the race in sunday.

And just a week later we were back on the same track again, working as an instructor at a trackday there. And this time I was a lot more comfortable on the bike, och did the same laptimes as I did in the latest races, with worn rubbers and without even pushing. So that felt pretty good... Starting to understand the bike a bit more, and realized that you need to ride it a bit different than the Japanese bikes I've raced before...

But then, once again, we had a bit of a break down.... Seems like this bike is cursed...

In the last session of the last day, I was riding in the Advanced group with a couple of really skilled riders. We were riding in a pretty good pace when all of a sudden I could see water coming up in the catchtank below the top fairings. Took a quick look at the dash that showed a water temperature of 150 degrees Celsius... DAMN!!!!!

Rolled off the throttle and limped back to the pits....

Once back in the box, we could see that the cooling system was just about empty. Since the logger measures the water temp, and not oil temp, and the cooling system was empty, I decided to measure the temperature of the engine with a laser/ir- thermometer, which showed 160 degrrees Celsius on the crank case cover.

We tried filling up the cooling system again, but all the water just poored right out again, thru the small hole by the waterpump on the left side of the engine. Which should indicate a broken waterpump...

So, now we are back in the workshop again and have started to take the engine apart. So far we have found a couple of broken seals/gaskets (probably due to the excessive heat and pressure), broken wter pump drive gears (the plastic ones that we already replaced once), and a broken water pump. So that's really an easy fix...

But since the engine have been running extremely hot, we really need to take everything apart and check it. Measure everything and make sure that nothing has twisted/warped/broken in the heat. So, a complete rebuild of the engine... *sigh*

But hey... It felt really good until it broke...

Do you think with an oil cooler the temps would help you out, or just a larger water radiator?

So, the verdict is in....

Delivery Oil pump
Return Oil pump
Crankshaft (plus all bearings)
Head cylinder gasket (x2)
Cylinder liner piston fit (kit) (x2)
Water pump
Drive gears for waterpump
Plus all gaskets and bits (screws, gaskets, o-rings, etc)


So, we can safely say that this season is over....

:-0 holy crap! Sorry to hear....

Yup, that sucks.... However much I like the bike on track, I can't say that I'm all that impressed with the quality of the bike. This season has just been one issue after another, and rounding off with this ....... We are very close to just selling the bike for scrap metal, and starting over next year...

Really sorry to hear that. I feel that this is an awesome bike to race, but you need serious sponsorship and 2 bikes/ motors to keep in the hunt.

I personally don't have race experience yet. I say yet, cause I was going to try a little club racing with the Pani, but at the last minute decided to jump to feet in and joined a Hornet cup series.

I figured I'd still track my Pani for fun without the headache of trying to keep it competitive and/or in one piece...lol.

I mean the whole hornet series cost me a third of my R model with tires for the season...lol.

I'm not knocking the Panigale....I think all exotics, (BMW included...lol) are hard to keep competitive at competition level just cause of the price and cost of racing...sourcing parts, ETC.

Good luck

let us know what you decide.

That's really disappointing! This bike seems like it requires a full-time mechanic just to keep it from coming apart for the people who track it. Makes me worry about making it my track-hobby bike.....

Macke said:

Yup, that sucks.... However much I like the bike on track, I can't say that I'm all that impressed with the quality of the bike. This season has just been one issue after another, and rounding off with this ....... We are very close to just selling the bike for scrap metal, and starting over next year...

Click to expand...

Sorry to here about your engine problems AGAIN mate

Don't expect you get much weighing it in, because as we all know the panigale is quite a light bike

When your racing for championships on a tight budget with the goal of advanceing your career, you have to have reliability, and bang for the buck. Something you can run hard and put up wet, I don't think the DUC fits that description, you have to be Howard Huge to run one of those things "competitively?" Fra-gee-lay is not what you want.

Really sorry to hear that. I though the Pani was bullet proof. At least compared to 1098/999 etc.

so Macke, how do you like the Beemer?