Some track day prep questions

I know it's not a Panigale and the dimensions are slightly different because of the handlebar but fwiw I had two low sides at the track on my SF, one on each side... bike slid on the tarmac at least 50m on one side and much more on the other.
They were 2nd and 3rd gear corners respectively.

Only damage was to the bar-ends, foot pegs/shift/brake levers and most of all the engine case. My generator side has the CNC slide protector and lost approximately 50% of its thickness, clutch side had no protection (my CNC one didn't fit) and the slide wore through the clutch cover resulting in an oil leak. Oh and the winglets of course.

Wheels, swingarm and spindle areas were unharmed. This may have been due to luck or specific circumstances but from my humble experience I haven't seen sliders as a necessity.

Case protectors are a must.

Swingarm I think is clear from direct contact with the road unless there's a protrusion like curbs/rumble strips and also gravel traps so I'd recommend them but I don't think they need to be as robust or abrasion resistant as case protectors.

Personally I'm not a fan of sliders because I don't like the way they look and because they can be a catch point.

I'm not saying they aren't potentially beneficial but race teams don't use them.

I'd argue race teams have to funding to rebuild the entire bike on a whim and sliders in their use case only complicate tire changes and add complexity.

Various bits of protection on their way, along with fairings and some other bits and pieces, and I’ve downgraded the wheels to DP M9RS and got the low-exit Akrapovic ready to fit. I only need to do a few more downgrades and I’ll have a V4S… At least a good number of the SP2 bits will be safely tucked away and I won’t be worrying about damaging stuff quite as much.

Some bits. I’d not seen the bike for a week or so… I almost forgot how bloody gorgeous it is.

I went for fork sliders from Melotti Racing. Reflectors off the front at last. Some other bits have just shipped from WRS and the fairings should arrive in a couple of weeks, but they won’t be painted until probably April as the chap that’s been recommended is reassuringly busy. I’ve got some plastic V4S winglets to save the carbon ones as there’s a big price difference and I can’t imagine them doing well in a crash. I might have them painted as well, depending on the colour scheme that I end up with. I’m not sure how well paint would hold up on winglets.

As much as I love the carbon wheels, I really like the look of these on the bike.

The seat is from RaceSeats - flat model but rounded off a bit. I did this mostly to save the SP2 embroidered seat from getting trashed but the chap at the dealer’s said the seat is good, will help with braking and my balls will thank me.

I can’t wait for the good weather to arrive…

Thanks for all the help and tips in this thread.

much better the wheels

KarlKani said:

much better the wheels

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I’m really pleased with them.

spooky said:

I know what you mean, although I would presume they would be designed to take higher temperatures than that and the autoclaves run at far higher temperatures to create them.

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Can i assume you either haven't seen, or they were removed before you got the bike.... the warning stickers limiting temps on your expensive Carbon wheels?

I took mine off, but they were definitely there, if you use your carbon wheels make sure you use tyre blankets with adjustable temp settings and son't trust them without actually checking them....

SuperDomestique said:

The real weight difference will be in the wallet.

Racing: mag
Trackdays: alu

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Are you sure Ducati are the bike for you? you should probably get a DRZ-400 or something considering how focussed you are on costs.....

spooky said:

Some bits. I’d not seen the bike for a week or so… I almost forgot how bloody gorgeous it is.

I went for fork sliders from Melotti Racing. Reflectors off the front at last. Some other bits have just shipped from WRS and the fairings should arrive in a couple of weeks, but they won’t be painted until probably April as the chap that’s been recommended is reassuringly busy. I’ve got some plastic V4S winglets to save the carbon ones as there’s a big price difference and I can’t imagine them doing well in a crash. I might have them painted as well, depending on the colour scheme that I end up with. I’m not sure how well paint would hold up on winglets.

As much as I love the carbon wheels, I really like the look of these on the bike.

The seat is from RaceSeats - flat model but rounded off a bit. I did this mostly to save the SP2 embroidered seat from getting trashed but the chap at the dealer’s said the seat is good, will help with braking and my balls will thank me.

I can’t wait for the good weather to arrive…

Thanks for all the help and tips in this thread.

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Looks good!
but.....
I'm assuming you got the dealer to do all the work because you caved in (good man!) and got the full system and upmap installed at the same time?

Be aware that track bikes are not like track cars, and unless you have a mechanic coming with you to track days it's really important to know your bike well, changing wheels is such a basic task that you need to know almost blindfolded because changing tyres often (especially on that) will be the norm. Along with that if you do have a fall it's almost certain you will need to make repairs to continue, unless you plan on loading up and going home embarrassed? with a car if you make a mistake it needs a dust off, maybe the front splitter needs reattaching properly......

The other major issue with track bikes is things vibrate loose, a LOT! I change my oil/filter every 2nd day and i make a habit of removing all my fairings (track stuff, so much easier than yours, but still, it needs to be done and checking everything is snug, if it isn't then tighten it, if it's critical medium strength thread locker used sparingly is your friend.

Everything is fine until it isn't, and when it isn't and you have to pull your fairing apart in a pit, in leathers, hot, flustered, sweaty and your next session is coming and Faaaaark! why won't this F, ing thing come off!!!!???? you need to know you can do it, if you struggle at home in the garage, the pits will be a disaster, i've seen people get flustered to the point one guy accidentally knocked his bike off it's stands, not pretty!

Don't rely on dealers to do basic work, even if you're time poor, invest the time to understand how to do the basics, even if you never have an incident and never need to pull it apart at the track, knowing you can and getting into the habit of stripping the bodywork and checking when you do an oil/filter change will make your track days run smoother and be much more enjoyable than struggling....

Oh, and get a base set up, sag and tyre pressures, know them and stick with them, it will take a while before you're even comfortable on the bike and enjoying the session from start to finish, so know your hot pressures (check them immediately after your first session (i'm assuming you know your cold or hot off the warmer starting pressures) and stick with that, don't be tempted to experiment, for a long while the progress will come from you, not the bike.

Is the mechanic just selecting another washer to put under that seat?

andyb said:

Is the mechanic just selecting another washer to put under that seat?

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They ran out!

The good thing is that it fitted perfectly. I’ve taken if off to put it on the trickle charger and before connecting tried to put it back on and it fits easily, even without having to push it in the centre to line up the holes as others have mentioned having to do, so I guess they’ve fixed whatever issues they had.

Loony888 said:

Can i assume you either haven't seen, or they were removed before you got the bike.... the warning stickers limiting temps on your expensive Carbon wheels?

I took mine off, but they were definitely there, if you use your carbon wheels make sure you use tyre blankets with adjustable temp settings and son't trust them without actually checking them....

Click to expand...

There weren’t any on there. As you can see, I’ve swapped them out for mags. I have also bought some tyre warmers - the Thermal Dynamics Tri-Zone ones - and they are adjustable.

Loony888 said:

Looks good!
but.....
I'm assuming you got the dealer to do all the work because you caved in (good man!) and got the full system and upmap installed at the same time?

Click to expand...

Correct. It’s a big job and the cost for the exhaust installation was just over £300 (due to the exchange rate being terrible), which is a good price for the amount of work involved. I loved seeing it like this… amazing.

Loony888 said:

Be aware that track bikes are not like track cars, and unless you have a mechanic coming with you to track days it's really important to know your bike well, changing wheels is such a basic task that you need to know almost blindfolded because changing tyres often (especially on that) will be the norm. Along with that if you do have a fall it's almost certain you will need to make repairs to continue, unless you plan on loading up and going home embarrassed? with a car if you make a mistake it needs a dust off, maybe the front splitter needs reattaching properly......

The other major issue with track bikes is things vibrate loose, a LOT! I change my oil/filter every 2nd day and i make a habit of removing all my fairings (track stuff, so much easier than yours, but still, it needs to be done and checking everything is snug, if it isn't then tighten it, if it's critical medium strength thread locker used sparingly is your friend.

Everything is fine until it isn't, and when it isn't and you have to pull your fairing apart in a pit, in leathers, hot, flustered, sweaty and your next session is coming and Faaaaark! why won't this F, ing thing come off!!!!???? you need to know you can do it, if you struggle at home in the garage, the pits will be a disaster, i've seen people get flustered to the point one guy accidentally knocked his bike off it's stands, not pretty!

Don't rely on dealers to do basic work, even if you're time poor, invest the time to understand how to do the basics, even if you never have an incident and never need to pull it apart at the track, knowing you can and getting into the habit of stripping the bodywork and checking when you do an oil/filter change will make your track days run smoother and be much more enjoyable than struggling....

Oh, and get a base set up, sag and tyre pressures, know them and stick with them, it will take a while before you're even comfortable on the bike and enjoying the session from start to finish, so know your hot pressures (check them immediately after your first session (i'm assuming you know your cold or hot off the warmer starting pressures) and stick with that, don't be tempted to experiment, for a long while the progress will come from you, not the bike.

Click to expand...

I’ll definitely want to get the sag checked and set.

I never ran a dedicated track car - just road cars that I would use on track. I expect this might be the same unless I really get into it, although I think I might like something different for road use as this really is rather quick for the road. The last car I tracked was a 911 991.2 GTS that was my daily driver - you can happily drive them there, thrash them round the track all day and then drive them home again. A bit dull on the road though - far too capable and fast to be fun on the road. It’s the modern car problem.

On the cars you would have a few bolts that were marked so you could see if they had loosened - on the bike it seems like the majority of bolts are marked and I assumed that’s for a reason. I’ve got threadlock from working on my car and used it when fitting the rear hugger. I do basic maintenance on my car - old 911, oil changes and other bits and pieces done, sunroof out and seals refreshed, steering wheel changes, etc. I’m capable but will get a dealer to do things when I feel it’s beyond me or takes more time than I have. The local dealer seems to look after a number of bikes that are track-only bikes, and the work they have done so far appears to be solid.

I’ve had the fairings off before and I’ll be doing it again today to fit a couple of bits - a bit of a pain but not difficult.

You have a nice bike
Brno is my home track. My best time is 2:15xx. I definitely recommend SC track tires with warm up.
The surface of the track has already seen something and in recent years he has been quite slippery.
Since the motogp ended, they haven't even put a euro on the track. Last year I had a big accident on my V4 on the approach to the "B" section. Loss of front wheel.
No need to worry about wheel weights. Put a slick and warm it up, watch the pressures and enjoy it

Doucha said:

You have a nice bike
Brno is my home track. My best time is 2:15xx. I definitely recommend SC track tires with warm up.
The surface of the track has already seen something and in recent years he has been quite slippery.
Since the motogp ended, they haven't even put a euro on the track. Last year I had a big accident on my V4 on the approach to the "B" section. Loss of front wheel.
No need to worry about wheel weights. Put a slick and warm it up, watch the pressures and enjoy it

Click to expand...

Thanks for the local knowledge.

Is it easy to keep temperature in the SC? Your time is faster than average for Brno.

Time 2:15 is on the border of group A-B (very fast - fast)
In June, it will not be a problem to keep the temperature in the tire

Doucha said:

Time 2:15 is on the border of group A-B (very fast - fast)
In June, it will not be a problem to keep the temperature in the tire

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I’ve got SP V4 on the bike but maybe I’ll try SC. I have bought some good tyre warmers. Which SC do you use at Brno?

When the air temperature is 25+, then front SC2 rear sc1. If it is 28-30 then front SC3

That’s quite interesting .. I’m there end of June..

U