Paul,
My Italian friend Luigi Landi , who is also quite a radical architect, suggested a glass wall in the side of the garage. His Electrical Installations Manager, also named Davide, has about 15 Ducatis, all superbikes and one of them is actually one of Mike Hailwoods race bikes (Real - not just a paint job), another garage with MVs - some vintage -and countless artifacts. If ever you are in the Imola area let me know and I'll sort out an intro. He's an amazing character and one of his sidelines is accepting a lot of new Ducs for various people and then they only collect them after Davide has finished with the factory getting each of them perfect. He wanted to mod my 999 to R spec but it wasn't something I wanted to do. He got the last rites once after a crash on the circuit in Imola but pulled though but is just as wild a rider on the circuit as I have ever seen.
2011 Ducati 1198SP first ride
By MCN -
New bikes
19 October 2010 14:03
MCN Senior Road Tester, Michael Neeves, is currently at Imola in Italy testing the new
Ducati 1198SP. Here’s his first impressions:
"This is the replacement for the Ducati
1198S, costing an estimated £17,495. Like the Ducati 1198S it has traction control, datalogging, Ohlins forks, Brembo monoblock brakes, an Ohlins adjustable steering damper and carbon fibre front mudguard.
"But this new model also has a larger and lighter 18-litre fuel tank (which reduces all up weight by 1kg to 168kg), a quick-shifter, a slipper clutch and the latest generation Ohlins TTX rear shock.
“Riding the SP around Imola the most obvious improvement is the quick-shifter, which lets you change gear faster and with less effort, this in turn lets you concentrate on going faster round the track.
"The slipper clutch keeps the large capacity engine from making the bike unstable on downshifts into corners and the larger fuel tank will be a relief to road riders who have had to put up with a 15 litre tank up until now.
“Ducati has only given us one session to try the bike, the rest of the time we have been riding the Ducati
848 Evo (which MCN has already tested) so we have had no time to adjust the suspension or the traction control.
"Our test bike is also on standard suspension settings which are far too soft for the track – with the Pirelli race tyres fitted the bike is tying itself in knots on the straights and through the corners.
"There is undoubtedly the range of adjustment in the Ohlins forks and new shock to dial this out but unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity."
See Michael’s full test in next week’s MCN – out October 27.