Ducati Clubrace 2017

For this year I had 2 items on my punch list: ground clearance in sharp corners and intermittent spitting/ignition interruption.

A friend and fellow Ducati driver organized a track day at the TTT: Test Track Tedinga located in Emmen, The Netherlands. He was going to drive a 350 bevel single for the first time (coming from a 900SS belt drive) that unfortunately stood still most of the day (later we found out it was an ignition setting that was way off!).

The PT had nothing done since last year clubrace at TT Assen, only checked the tyre pressure and charged the battery. The bike fired right up and ran nicely on the residual fuel, also from last year. And this is regular RON95 petrol…
Anyway, the whole day it ran without missing a beat but once did the exhaust scrape the ground in a slow corner. After 6 laps I pulled in and contemplated how to solve this, and eventually did it by lowering the fork stanchions so they were level with the top yoke. This was 30mm, so total lift at the front is approx 25mm and this raised the ground clearance at the exhaust by just as much. Since then no more ground contact!

During the clubrace a month later it started spitting during the second training session in the afternoon. A friend of mine with a 750 Santa Monica had earthing problems during practice, so thought no harm in checking the connections on the PT. And sure enough, there was the issue: the spade connector from the right ignition coil had vibrated so much it was loose, and was making bad, erratic contact. Squeezing with the pliers a bit so the connector was tight again and no more problems since then!

prepped and ready to go to Thedige Test Track
Battle with Guzzi 1000… Pulling in a Laverda! Managed to keep in front of 900SS bevel

First oil still green after 3 consecutive clubraces!