Racing For Dummies

The Stupid Guide to guide Dummies through a “racing career” with the most uncompetitive Ducati around.

The Ducati parallel twin models are famous for there unreliability, bad looks as some might say and really bad electrics. So why start racing with a Ducati parallel twin you may think ?
Imagine you’re getting on a bike and everything functions perfect all the time, where is the fun in that!
We are taking up the challenge that few people did back in te ’80-s when some riders took there 500 SD or 500 GTV to the tracks.
We hope it will not be easy and our goal is to finish at least at some track-days without breaking too many times. Of course our bikes will be slightly modified and upgraded. These Ducati Parallel Twins leave a lot room for improvement.

Getting started

So now you just got your bike down to your garage and you realize how bloody heavy the thing is. Not to mention that for some serious racing you’ll need to fit on the bike. As you might noticed lately in motorcycle racing most of the riders are quite small and do not have any access baggage in front of there body.
Believe me, these extra kilo’s you have gained during wintertime is the first step of the total bike upgrade.
In racing weight is you worst enemy. The first thing you should do is go on a diet, it is the cheapest way to lose weight on the bike. Exotic parts are hard to come by and cost a fortune and if your engine seizes or you crash your bike than you can start all over again. When funds are unlimited just do or buy whatever you want but when you are on a tight budget it is an art in getting things right and in my opinion that is what it is all about.

Start thinking what you want to accomplish when you get your bike to the track. You might just want to get to the finish, have a lot of fun and return home safely at the end of the day. Or . . . .  you are quite serious about racing on track days and you want to get he best out of your bike and your self. In the first case there isn’t much to tell, just get out there and do it  and make the best of it. But in the second case there is loads of stuff you can think about and do.

 

Deciding where to go

In Europe there are many different races and track-days. Make your choice where you wanna go and to where you are willing to go. Maybe the hours of travelling is an issue due to lack of time and don’t forget going to track-days can really be time consuming. You can’t possibly ride on every track-day or event.  Track-days in foreign country’s are nice to combine with a vacation, but realize that not everybody in your family is fond of track-days. When you’re starting with track-days just take the easy road and stay close to home, you can always expand to exotic places.

 

 

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