Ducati club racing questions

He joined the Ducati cult.

 

Wow, I didnt expect to see this thread again.

As an update, I am no longer considering using a Ducati for race purposes, and as soon as I get rid of my current M1200R (for sale btw), I am done with Ducati.

I have learned with owning now 3 Ducati's, Multi (had electronics issues and shift return spring), 1199R(the most reliable, but still had to change the gear position sensor and actually traded it in for the M1200R due to the water pump eating itself, all common issues btw) and M1200R (bought brand new and Ive had 4-5 days of hard starts up to 10 times with the starter before it would hold idle, mirror glass flew out, body panel pieces have fallen off, false neutrals etc...), they are just NOT reliable enough to be used for racing, at least for what I am looking for. I am currently looking at R1 or RSV4 or FZ/MT07 or RS660, I am leaning toward the Aprilia purely from my experience of owning 3 Aprilia's and literally changing oil and wear parts, as well as between 4 of my friends we have 10 total Aprilia's and they have all been amazingly reliable machines, granted we are all racers and moto nuts we we maintain our gear but they have seemed to prove themselves again and again.

 

I really enjoyed racing my 848. Was it moire expensive than other bikes to fix, yes. If I was going to run c-class though, I think it could still be competitive though. The 848 EVO motor is strong and you can make some killer power with it on race fuel. To each their own I suppose.

 

Rule #1 with a duc is loctite. Lots of it

 

But it sounds like the panigale either baby or adult models are easier to setup than the 848/1098. Is this the general consensus? I thought the 848 was notorious for being a tractor out of turns unless you did triples. The clutchless downshifts sounds like a nice feature, I just don’t have any idea how good the stock traction control is, or if you just ride with it turned off. I’ve only raced a 675.

 

I’ve talked a to a few track guys with 959’s and they are very happy with them. Manageable
Power, and lots of mods. The only major complaints I heard were just wishes that some of the nicer amenities (gauge cluster, wheels) that were on the big bikes came on the 959’s.

The 848 took a lot of heat for being difficult to turn. Was it a R6, nope. Was it manageable, yep. You just had to ride it differently and take advantage of the positives. Overall, it was just really too underpowered to be competitive at big tracks.