Desmo Due at Oulton Park

Drove up to Oulton Park on Friday afternoon for the Ducati Desmo Due qualifying and racing on Saturday. Lovely sunshine, but a cold breeze kept it at about 12 degrees. Through skrootinering, sound test and signing-on. Bike fuelled, tyre pressures checked and pretty soon we’re out for qualifying.

Oh dear - all that winter effort and now she's bent...

 

Just about all the guys have been out for a few sessions in the morning practice. I need to take it easy and work it up to speed. We get waved onto track at about 17h00. I go out last, leaving a big gap to the next guy. I hang back… testing the new clutch, scrubbing the new brake pads and discs in. Lap one done… lap two with a bit more welly to get some heat into those tyres. 

Postman Pat engineering vs. metal. Postman Pat wins!

 

The Wee Monster is pulling well… maybe it’s just the placebo effect, having spent money on her I believe she is faster :-) The corners are rushing toward me a bit faster than I expected - a bit rusty. Lap two… all’s steady. She’s feeling a bit too much on the front – falling into corners and then having to stand her up before reach the apex. Need to sort that. 

 

Half-way through lap three and into the second chicane… tight right, tight left, short-shift and bring her around the next right… clunk! Screeeeeeessssshhhhhhh... My shoulder hits the tar and I'm sliding down the track on my side... I come to a stop on my back just a metre into the gravel. 

Gravel down the poor girl's throat...

 Surgically removed with a chewed wine-gum.

“Shit! Fuck! Bollocks! What the hell happened there?!” I wasn’t pushing or going hard… tyres not up to temp… maybe. The front just washed out as I passed the apex. Never had that before.  Even on a Ducati. I’m fuming and stalk across the gravel to sulk behind the barrier.

Ploughing the field...

I go through it umpteen times in my head. I don’t know what happened… front just washed out. Maybe I should have been taking it even easier on those new tyres. Dunno. After the session, the recover van comes around. They’ve already collected Kevin Ellis whose bike and body looks a lot worse for wear than mine. Load the bike and get back to skrootineering.

Doing!

Damage didn’t look too bad at first, but it took me a good few hours to get it straightened out. Gravel and chunks off grassy soil everywhere – cleaned. Tank front clip broken – repaired with lock-wire. Airbox ripped off – gravel cleaned out of throttle bodies and cable tied back. Throttle damaged – repaired. Number-board broken – fixed. Brake master cylinder ripped off and pipe stuffed with soil – cleaned, repaired and brakes bled. Rear-set and foot-peg okay but brake lever not returning – repaired from bits of other rear-set parts. Rear hub filled with gravel – cleaned out. Seat lock broken – cable-tied. Tank dented and handle-bar bent – gonna have to live with that. Looks like there is some sort of fluid on the front-right tyre... but hard to see with all the gravel dust and soil. I spot a bit of weepage from the brake calliper nipple. Think it must have been that so I sort it. 

 

Miraculously the footpeg survived... but rear-brake was binding so needed changing

 

Three spare rear-sets... and they're all for the left side! Doh!

I find a local eatery in the dark. Fill my belly, get back to the paddock and hunker-down in the van for some shut-eye. It's only 3 degrees outside and am just barely warm enough - not a great night;s rest. I wake to a glorious sunrise and frost... I forgot to cover the bike and she's a bit frozen. Sorry old girl. 

Early morning frost

I only qualified 29th of 31. Starting form the back of the grid… all I was going for was a finish. Didn't go to all this effort and expense to not get a qualifying signature for the Manx GP. 3 lap warm-up goes okay. I think I fixed my turning in problem... but not comfortable on the bike. Pretty soon and we're lining up on the grid. It's been a while since I've been near the back of the grid... it's miles to the front row. A confidence boost knowing that things can only get better :-) 

Breakfast of Champions!

Celebrity racers. Jakub Smrz (beanie) and the Padgett's Team using the race day at Oulton as a test for BSB in 2 weeks

 

That new clutch is a dream. The Wee Monster wheelies off the line and I'm up to the next row before carnage unfolds ahead of me. I see bikes and bodies going down and sliding across the track. Off the gas, onto the brakes and pick my way through the strewn bikes, bodies and debris. At least 3 bikes are down. 

A bit wonky... but functional... kinda

Within 15 minutes, we are back on the grid for a restart. I don't get as good as start, but am still up to the next row by the time I join the first corner melee. I make a pass or two but generally keep out of trouble. I need that finish. I'm not riding with confidence... don't feel great on the bike... and the bike is very slow for some reason. I get passed by class 'B' bikes down the straights and land up battling for the lower positions. I finish 17th. My fastest lap is 10 seconds slower than the fastest of the race - I'm a million miles off the pace... but I get that signature!

There's something on my front tyre... not good for grip.

 

After the race I find oil on my boot... and some on the front wheel. The front fork had popped a seal and was pissing oil. Could explain the crash I had in qualifying. My hopes of doing better in Race 2 are dashed. I pack up and leave Oulton Park with what I came for - a Manx GP qualifying race. Five done... just one to go.

Oily boot - bad sign

The downfall...

Monster Ready for Battle

This afternoon I head up to Oulton Park for the first round of the Desmo Due Championship (the original first round from 5 weeks ago was abandoned because of weather). The Wee Monster is all prepped and ready her first outing - looking forward to seeing how she fares after all the winter improvements.

 

New ally swing-arm, brake master cylinder and lightweight disc... 

...carbon mudguard robbed off my road Monster, lightweight disks and new sooper-dooper race pads... 

 ...custom lightweight belly-pan...

 



 ...ECU flashed - ditched the old clocks and ignition key...

 



...massive thanks to Mike at MD Racing for the sponsorship and engine work... 

... my first bit of carbon lay-up... ignition switch has built-in neutral light... 

...lookin' mean and hungry...

...some old nose-art stickerage from a few years back...

... cables and springs are too heavy... some elastic bands from the postman will do...

...single exhaust saves at least 2kg...

...ready to rumble!

Oulton Park - Some Silverware

I wrote up a whole long story about what happened at Oulton Park 10 days ago becasue I had some time. Trying to add photos in this blog editor, I managed to lose it... all. So here's the short version... short? Yeah right!

The Wee Monster handles brilliantly... who needs adjustable forks?

Two Friday nights ago, I get back from Oxford flattracking, unpack the flattrack bike and gear, pack my road race bikes and gear, three hours sleep and then I leave for the 2.5 hour trip to Oulton Park. Only to find it all starts 1/2 an hour earlier than normal. It's going to be tight...

Despite all the bling, the Aprilia feels like a big boat compared with the Wee Monster

Arrive, unload Wee Monster (class: Ducati Desmo Due or 'DD') and the Aprilia RSV (class: Classic Superbikes), Monster thru scrootineering, Aprilia thru scrootineering (short queues because most riders were at the track on Friday testing and had thier bikes scrootineered then), gear thru scrootineering, sign on, noise test monster, straight out to qualifying, wet track, come in a lap earlier to noise get Aprilia noise tested, straight out to qualifying, raining, everone else on wets, me on road tyres, slither around, back to paddock early.

Aprilia wearing a brand new set of Dunlops that have been preserved for the last 5 years in my dining-room.

Rain doesn't look like it'll clear... so I go about fitting my wets on the Aprilia. Rain stops and it all starts drying quickly in the howling wind. I gamble that it'll rain again so leave the wets on. It doesn't rain and I run out of time to change the wheels myself. I roll out onto the back of the grid on a set of wets... everyone else on dry tyres... I'm praying for rain.

Nobody was listening and within 2 laps the tyres are overheating. Aweful feeling of pushing the front everywhere... horrendous on the brakes. After another 2 laps of trying I decide to not take any more chances, save my tyres, finish the race and save my energy for the DD race straight after this one. I settle to a steady rhythm and get passed by one, two, three riders. I'm glad the race ends.

In the rain, on road tyres... trying to go fast!

I come into the paddock and junp straight onto Wee Monster. She shouts 'COLD' from the dash... but I don;t have time to listen to her complaints and head out onto the grid. I qualified 2nd and when the lights go out I remembered that I had forgotten something after my last races on the Monster. The clutch is knackered... we judder all the way to the first turn and am in about 10th by the time we get there.

It's minging out there!

I cut my way through the pack and by the 3rd lap with a few fights along the way, I take the lead! Andy Chalis fights me and we swap the lead a few times before I make a mistake and run wide. He gaps me... I push hard to make up the gap. As soon as I have in in my sights, I make another mistake and he gaps me again... I go through this whole process again.

Some lunch and a cosy, dry space in the van to catch-up on some sleep between races... knackered look in the eyes...

I'm getting really tired and my riding is starting to get ragged. As a result I have to push harder to get back at him... so I make more mistakes. The last two laps I fade... happy to take a comfortable 2nd without too many risks. 2nd! Whooo-hooo!

I decide not to go out in the second Classic Superbike race and conserve my energy for the DD race. By the time we start the race it's raining.

Ready to rock 'n Roll on the Wee Monster

Again, I can't get off the line cleanly and the clutch making all sorts of terrible grinding noises. I'm even further down the pack into turn 1 than in the first race. A lot of work to do. I fight through the pack and within a few laps I have a clear track ahead and Andy Chalis in the far distance. He had 12 seconds on me.

Lovein' the Monster!

I push on... each lap he gets closer as I reel him in. I take seconds out of his lead every lap... last lap and I push hard... sliding the Wee Monster out of almost every turn. I catch him on the last corner. I stretch out but I only just reach him with my fingertips. We cross the line together... but too little, too late and I'm pipped by a few yards. Next corner and he would have been mine!

Every corner counts in these short races and I should have been a little more agressve getting through the pack. Oh well... still pretty happy with another 2nd!

I set the fatstest lap of the second race by 1.5 seconds!