Ducati Monster Forum

I was having a nervous breakdown watching the weather reports for the last month. Easter was supposed to be sunny and 75F. Then it was going to snow, no wait, rain, no, partly sunny Sunday... like that. I decided to go no matter and deal. I packed everything. Thanks to DesmoQuattro's truck and tow.

The track, easily half the width of Laguna Seca, set in a landscape liken to Scotland. The green hills were dotted with sheep as far as you can see.

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5145/5653712927_117fe5e5c0.jpg)

I site lapped it on bicycle the night before. Wow. fun stuff, Sweeper after sweeper, then there's this crazy ski jump in the middle they call the "Cyclone." Lot's off blind hills and corners, many off-camber. A short back straight and one very long long front straight.

I met Enzo and Bell' and we dumped gear in the covered pits. Which incidentally you'd think was the cabana of a beach with all the locals BBQing and hanging out after hours. This is clearly a country hospitality kind of place. Everyone was really friendly and interested to meet and share what-ever. Total strangers helped each other load, unload, set up and figure it out. We'll get back to that later.

After MexiCal diner we hit the hay. I was so psyched I couldn't sleep. Classic. I woke up at 3AM, 4, 5, then just got up.

Back at the track, a couple more MOBsters start rolling in left and right. The morning was spent sight-lapping and watching everyone fix stuff. Coffee was helping give me the tired jitters. Perfect for staying in control and making 140MPH decisions.  :P I was out to have some fun and stay very chill. A few riders seemed to like to go 11tyb MPH down the "endless" straight that actually does end at a very fast left. It was like fly paper at the end of the track with a stack of bikes and dust clouds. I don't think anyone got hurt though. Most everyone picked up and kept going. The backside before the straight was the same. Everyone was running off there. But very minor get off's it seemed.

Finally after a couple of sessions 'Bell and I went out together. I was getting to know the track and caught up to her group. We blasted through a patch or two of slower riders and we were off. A couple of fast guys in front of us were beating their way through the crowd for us.

After a couple of laps we got past them mas well. I was right on 'Bell's hindquarter the whole time which was an awesome get around T-Hill lesson. [evil] Amazing what a little camaraderie will do for tired spirits.  [evil]

I got up to show her a wheel then found a polite moment and got passed her just to show off my new shoes. The pace, let's say, quickened. A few turns later she got around me and the chase was on full blast. We each seemed to have our favorite spots where we excelled. That 1/2 weightless pilot on that 853 got around those sweepers with some delicate touch I tell you. I caught her in the trickier sections and threw the hammer down on the straights. The rest of the session was lunge, dodge and parry fencing, neck and neck.

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5221/5654379574_4d038178a5_b.jpg)

The photographer Seemed to like to snap photos when the cute one was in front. I got POV video of the rest I'll post after some editing. That was definitely the funnest I've had on a track.   [thumbsup]

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5068/5652810568_7481d9e81a_b.jpg)
After turn 1

Adrian graciously towed me around the track a few times giving me some priceless ergo and cornering pointers. After some practice I got back out and caught Bell again after a furious balls out session passing about 10 peeps. We had some really fast guys in front of us that picked up the pace in a serious way. We stayed alone the rest of the session.

Best track day ever, except for a minor indecent loading my bike, which ended upside down.  :'(
Plastics - fixable. c'est la vie.  [coffee]

The memories will definitely be about the greenest track in the world, friends, more friends, new friends, and totally awesome riders throughout the entire weekend.  [thumbsup] [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

looks like fun
 [thumbsup]

That was heckuv fun.  I can barely walk.  When's the next one?

Ha ha  [laugh]
Me too I'm so sore. When is the next one?!?

Hope to catch you guys at the next one!  Sorry I missed it.  I was busy beating up on some WERA suckas at their Buttonwillow round.

Weather was pretty good down there, though Sunday was a bit windy... 

Eobo -- that greenery won't last.  Give it another 3-4 weeks and it'll be "brownery" as the central valley heat starts to work its magic.  True story: "sparky" knee puck sliders are prohibited at Keigwins events because an instructor was wearing them during a trackwalk demo in turn 2 and set the infield on fire!

You missed a good time!  We had a nice DMF representation.  I'm looking forward to getting back out there.  Enzo and I are talking about trading bikes for the next round to see which we like better.  I might end up taking his R6 after all the work I did on the 748.  We'll see though... I don't remember being terribly enamored by his bike the last few times I rode it. 

My bike actually ran almost the entire trackday, so that was huge for me.  2nd session I developed a leak at my clutch.  I thought that was going to be it for me, but it ended up sort of settling down and I was able to ride after all.  I still need to fix the leak though.  The tuning of the 748 is OK--there's a weird flat spot that I seemed to keep hitting in the middle of turns.  That's unnerving...  Everything else on it is good to great.  I'm not quite as happy with the ergos as I thought I would be.  I feel like my upper body is really stretched out on the bike, but not as much as it was on the 400.  I did notice that I'm about 1000X less sore than I usually am and while a slower pace might be part of it, I think that the bike just fits better. 

The best part of course was goofing around with Desmostro on the track.  I gave him a few tips and he gave me some.  He told me to start taking wider lines--I'm so used to riding the 400 and keeping tight lines that he thinks it might be holding me back a bit.  I think he might be right.  After he and I had our session together I backed off a bit and tried some new lines.  That's tough to do at the end of the day and I found myself riding a little squirrelly.  It didn't matter though--the B- group was so empty that I had open track for 95% of the day.  I'm signing up for the slow group from now on!  I'll give up my pride for open tarmac any day of the week!

The cherry on top was the two up with Corey Call.  I can finally say I've done it.   [thumbsup]  Insane doesn't begin to describe the ride...it was three laps of sheer terror and exhilaration.   He was on a borrowed bike with 115 lbs. of chick he'd never ridden with doing wheelies, stoppies, and grazing the k-wall down the front straight.  Just nuts.  The guy has amazing control.  I never bother to pay attention to the pilot's lines when I ride--I just walk away with a feeling of "if he can do *that* then I can certainly pick it up a notch." 

Sorry about the loading mishap, Eric.  Bummer...

I'll load up my picts soon.  Unfortunately I don't have any of my ride with Corey, but I have witnesses! 

Looking forward to the next day.  I need to get the bike fixed, but Enzo and I are talking about heading out there in another 4-6 weeks.   [thumbsup]

Sounds awesome.   [thumbsup]

Desmostro, this is your first time at T-hill?.  Isn't Turn 2 a blast?

MB, glad to see ya got the 748 up n' running.  And at triple digit speeds.

Ya first time at Thunder Hill. Turn everything was a blast! I liked all of it really. 9 was always a challenge. Sometimes I'd hit it right sometimes I'd almost head for the dirt over that blind summit.
2 is a blast, 3 I always floundered trying to find the right line/lean on that off-camber hoop. It was weird, I think I had a really easy time at the places where everyone else had a hard time with. I always caught people on turn 1, 5, 10 -11 -13. Then they'd get away from me at other places no one says is hard, like 2, 6, 7.

I need to get on the gas sooner out of turns I think. Also just getting to know the track and how fast i can go on the big swoopy curves  [drool] loved that though.
I tended to be a lot smoother behind mostrobelle, or DaTV seeing the good lines + speed. I figured it out by the end of the day, but I could use a few more days like that.
 [thumbsup]

Let's see... when can I get back there...

I have no idea how fast I was going--no speedo on either the 400 or the 748.  Eric said he was going 135/140 on the front straight.  Didn't feel like I was going that fast--it was quicker than the 400.  The front straight used to last about 5 minutes on that bike.  The 748 makes it end a little sooner. 

You're definitely at triple digit speeds on the 748, but I seriously doubt you were going 140. 

I'm pretty sure I got around in less than 3 minutes.  Beyond that, no clue.   [cheeky]

real close though. I was on her ass much of the time. My speedo read 130-135 almost every lap.
Now someone is going to say the speedo's are off and all that. What-ev. It was pretty quick. I had a GPS on my new camera. But I haven't figured it out how to download data yet.

On the back straight no one seemed to be trying, but the front just begs to be a drag strip.
The air was very heavy, and wet. We'd go quite a bit easier in the dry thinner Summer air. Can't wait for that.

The Ducati superbike speedos claim to have a built-in 8% downward error. So at 135MPH indicated, that'd put you at 124MPH actual.

I told you.

You're a god at predicting the obvious. I hereby predict that you'll get on a plane to China tonight ;D

Time to re-gear the 748 and R6, cap the leak in the 748 clutch and get back out.

There's a Keigwins Sunday at T-Hill in late May that I have my eye on... [moto]

Finally I got this to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejA_xXbu6xs

Here is a little chase video starring the illustrious mostrobelle on her new to her 748!
I got around her,  [evil] then she got around me  [evil] and the fun began, however, the brand new camera stopped working for the best part!  >:(
Super duper awesome fun day though.

Damn we look slow.   [laugh]  I hope that's partly the camera.  Still fun though.   [moto]

That was the third lap. We got way faster after that and then the camera stopped.  :-[

nope, slow, very slow. Desmo, you wern't able to blow by her on the straights? Or were you holding off the throttle a little? I would expect the new sexy to have a little more juice than the old sexy.

 You didn't watch it obviously.
I passed her coming out of 11. She passed me back a lap later on the outside around 2, then we got going fast. That was a beautiful pass btw MB, kudos.

I was there too.  It was the best Easter ever!  Weather turned out perfect and the b- group actually had very little traffic.  I have some video as well but I haven't had a chance to post it anywhere yet.  I'll try and get it posted somewhere this weekend.

Turn 5 (Eric's sky jump)
(http://mandirigma.hypermart.net/JR1N8143.JPG)

Turn 2
(http://mandirigma.hypermart.net/JR1N8757.JPG)

You're looking great, Matt.   [thumbsup]  I tried to follow you for a bit, but that lasted about two turns. 

I love videos.  Eric, from the vid, your lines look a little tight.  Rather than hitting some of the apexes late and getting a good drive, you're doing a beeline from one apex to another and then keeping it tight.   That works sometimes, but at others, it gets you to the next apex too early.  Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt cuz it's been a while since I've been on a normal-sized bike at T-hill.  And don't start taking those super swoopy lines that are so f'n annoying. 

IIRC, your upstairs neighbor showed him those lines ;D

Then follow what datv said.   [thumbsup]

Hmm. Thanks, something to think about.
I posted the best video over rhe best riding ha ha. That vid was from early in the day.  When I got out in front my lines were a little experimental. I followed DaTV and 'Bell a bit  until I found some things that worked pretty well. Mostly a very late apex kind of track it seems. Turn 3 I think I had the worst time with. It was a Zoolander moment with that right turn! DaTv gave me some awesome knee dragging advise I'll need to work into mussel memory before owning.

Maybe I'll post some more video when I get back from Shanghai. No Youtube access here.
 I got a couple more laps riding with 'Bell again that's pretty nice.


Hey good seeing you out there Matt. Awesome photos!

Turn 3 just sucks.  Focus on getting through it and not crashing rather than trying to go fast through there.  Entry and exit are good places for race passes, but not a place to pick up a lot of speed at a trackday. 

I always hated that turn...and 5B. Right hand off-camber sucks.

I don't know man, I finally figured out how to open the GPS files on the videos.
The GPS is saying the same thing the Speedo was saying going down the straight.
Have a looksee 8)

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5148/5683378162_2a5d3e24f3_b.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5145/5683377110_367fbd1b38_b.jpg)

Then I need to be extra careful on the freeway and assume I don't have any margin when I roll past speed traps :-X

What camera is that?

MB -- You should stand up the bike and drive out of turns harder.  E.g. T15 -- you hold your lean angle and exit mid-track.  You should take advantage of the bigger motor on your bike by taking away lean angle and then (with the reduced lean angle) rolling on the throttle harder.

Eobo -- looked like you were pushing a bit wide on the exit of T11.  Hold the turn a little longer / wait to get on the gas coming out of T11 so you can open up 12/13 and start your drive on to the back straight earlier.

Contour GPS 1080p HD
sort of works. It kept shutting off after 3-4 laps.
Tigre has one too. I wonder how his is working.

Not so great...  I think I'm figuring it out.  A few things:

1) cover one side of your battery with electrical tape in a thin layer.  The vibration from your bike can be a problem.
2) probably better to disable the GPS function -- I read today it can lead to corrupted video files (I had this happen to me a bunch today)
3) upgrade to the latest firmware

What's the point of having the GPS then geez ?
Too bad they don't have the bugs worked out. My old contour is bomb proof but only 720p

Been thinking about this one though it's king of big.
http://driftinnovation.com/hd170-stealth-camera/ (http://driftinnovation.com/hd170-stealth-camera/)
Same price better sensor.

Definitely still working on learning this bike.  Next trackday I'm taking some different lines--I started doing that at the end of the day last time.   [thumbsup]