"What a brilliant couple of days!" thread in "Motorbike Chat"
Last night we got back from a two day trackday at Cadwell Park with the Ducati Sporting Club. They run one every year and they're ...

Last night we got back from a two day trackday at Cadwell Park with the Ducati Sporting Club. They run one every year and they're always a laugh.

Anyway, I had the 996 for it's first full trackday and it was superb. Once I'd got used to it a bit I could turn in some decent lap times (for me, anyway ) and got bumped up a group as the Inters were quite steady. Chased a mate round on his Desmo Due race bike for one session, managed to get past him in traffic on another and felt a bit bad for him because it must be a complete nightmare getting by fast bikes on something with 60bhp (not that it hinders him much!). Unfortunately somebody fell off at the hairpin when he passed them...they panicked, locked the front brake and went down and spent the rest of the two days giving him the finger and calling him a wanker at every opportunity, LOL I could understand if he'd done a dodgy race move or actually touched the guy, but he was nowhere near. I reckon it was more the ego bashing of being 'done' by a 620SS when he was on a 1098R

Spent the night drinking vodka and listening to some tunes with mates, then had the worst night's sleep ever on an air bed in the back of the van. Ducati UK were there with their fleet of press bikes and everyone that had ridden the 848 had come back in raving about it, so I went down first thing and signed my life away for a go on one. I'm both glad I did and wished I hadn't Glad because it's probably one of the best bikes I've ridden. I was instantly at home on it, dragging a knee in places I don't usually and loving thrashing the hell out of it. It was so light and handled so perfectly, no more of these slow steering Ducati's, it was spot on. The only things I do to it would be to fit rearsets as I don't like it when my toes drag and maybe fit a slipper clutch, just because I love the one in the 996. Wished I hadn't, because now I really want one and I haven't got a spare £9K

A few others had tried the Monster 696 and liked it, so I thought sod it, I'll give the little Monster a go too It's a great bike, again, it handled beautifully and the little engine revved like hell! I wasn't keen on it on track because the brake pedal would drag on the right and the sidestand on the left, so I did a few steady laps and came back in. I liked it, but the 848 was much more my thing.
Also took CC's Super Duke for a bit, but it's just waaay too big for me and the levers were set all wrong so I couldn't change gear easily and got in a bit of a flap, so just brought it back in. I can see why he likes it, he's big enough to man handle it about...I'm not

Back to earth with a bump today, work sucks. I want to be at a track in the sunshine again. Nicely sunburnt and achey muscles should keep reminding me of a good couple of days for a short while

Attached Images

	superduke.jpg (51.3 KB, 38 views)
	848.jpg (53.3 KB, 41 views)
	996.jpg (56.6 KB, 33 views)

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PB Round The World Guinea Pig Blog

nice one missus, shame we couldn't come but two trips to Pembrey in a week are enough for anyone!!

you look hot on that SD

who were the DD racer and crasher then?

Them Superdukes are a heavy tool but I love mine on track and cadwell will suit it well

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Great time, multi was out its depth on track, SD was great, 848 was great and the surprise package the new monster 696 which was a laugh albeit a bit small for me

Attached Images

	monster1.JPG (56.2 KB, 24 views)
	multi1.JPG (54.4 KB, 20 views)
	848-1.JPG (43.3 KB, 19 views)
	sd-2.JPG (53.0 KB, 25 views)
	sd-3.JPG (54.5 KB, 19 views)

Shame you guys weren't there, it was great fun Could have done with another fast girly to try and keep up with! Mr Sheppard was the DD racer...poor guy was really shunned after the 1098 guy fell off (dunno who he was), he felt bad about it, but it really wasn't his fault.

The only 1098 I've ridden was an ex Superstock bike, on race shift (I use road), so it's hard to compare them. All I remember of the 1098 was trying to get the throttle to the stop on the short straights at Guadix and failing miserably when the world went into reverse and I scared myself a wee bit! The 848 does lack a bit of torque, but I'd been riding the 996 which has loads. It loves to rev, it's very fast, but you can still thrash it a bit without it sticking you on your backside. I love it, such a good bike.

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PB Round The World Guinea Pig Blog

sounds like you had a great time, i'm not jealous at all...

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Wear your salt as a badge of AWB pride

Not talking to you until the scary clown face is gone

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PB Round The World Guinea Pig Blog

Glad you two had a good time. Would have gone myself, but uh, you know how it is

The 848 is nice, though, apart from the weedy wet clutch.

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stray cat in a mad dog city

Fair play - won't catch me racing around on anything less than 4 wheels these days.

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