WSBK Dinner Donington Thursday 21 May. - Page 2

utopia · 21-05-2015, 11:48 PM

And mine was one of the lucky names.
I got to have a real close look at Chaz's Panigale in the pit garage.
What an absolutely awesome piece of kit those bikes are.
I'm still completely blown away by the Panigale ...the most daring superbike design ever, by a comfortable margin, in my opinion.
And what a nice chap Chaz is too. Sensible, knowledgeable and very happy to have a proper conversation about the bikes, not just a bit of empty, public relations small-talk.
Food was as good as you might expect, but no tiramisu ....though there were some things that looked like chocolate black pudding.

Would you believe it, an hour before I was due to leave I checked the tyre pressures only to find the rear well down into single figures (psi) and sporting a rusty panel pin.
I guess I could've taken the Dommie instead but that just would have been wrong.
So out came the plugging kit and I was up to pressure, bathed and on the road within the hour.
My first attempt at a plug wasn't entirely successful though and about 10 miles up the motorway I could feel the handling going heavy.
Sure enough, it was down to 25psi but worse, I felt that the loss had been sudden over the last mile or two, rather than gradual, so maybe it pointed to imminent failure ?
Inflating to a slightly excessive 38psi at the nearby services, I reckoned I could still limp to the Donington exit, where there was another services with another opportunity to reinflate.
Sure enough, 25psi again, but I was able to get there, arriving in the nick of time.
Luckily, this meant that I blagged the chance to park Stella (yes, she has a name ...a new one in fact, now that she's blue) right in front of the Ducati hospitality suite.
There was some scabby scrambler custom thing parked next to her, but she stole the show (well for me at least) ........ but I jest, the scrambler was a beauty in pale pastel blue and sporting an SC style tubular single sider, custom tank and seat in a street-tracker stylie, and hi- level twin, stacked cans in the extended megaphone manner reminiscent of older Triumph scramblers and Norton Commandos.
And to cap off a great evening the nice man at Pirelli put a new plug in my tyre, and it lasted all the way home. Thank you sir.
And thanks also to Slob, Tim and all concerned.

ps. I thought I'd best leave the guitar at home.

NewMon · 22-05-2015, 09:31 AM

It was a very enjoyable evening. Thanks to Slob, Tim Maccabee, Managing Director of Ducati UK and the Aruba.it team.
Sorry I missed saying goodbye to you Utopia, I think you went off to get your tyre fixed just after my successful ticket blagging.

The scrambler will be at the Bike Shed this weekend - it was very nice as was its creator.

Some pictures.

Bike Porn:

We had great access to the garage and pits:

Not a monster:

Other side:

Nice evening at Donington:

22-05-2015, 09:48 AM

Nice pic of Tim Mac talking to Bradley Smith

21-05-2015, 11:48 PM	#16
utopia No turn left unstoned Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: leicester Bike: M750 Posts: 4,562	And mine was one of the lucky names. I got to have a real close look at Chaz's Panigale in the pit garage. What an absolutely awesome piece of kit those bikes are. I'm still completely blown away by the Panigale ...the most daring superbike design ever, by a comfortable margin, in my opinion. And what a nice chap Chaz is too. Sensible, knowledgeable and very happy to have a proper conversation about the bikes, not just a bit of empty, public relations small-talk. Food was as good as you might expect, but no tiramisu ....though there were some things that looked like chocolate black pudding. Would you believe it, an hour before I was due to leave I checked the tyre pressures only to find the rear well down into single figures (psi) and sporting a rusty panel pin. I guess I could've taken the Dommie instead but that just would have been wrong. So out came the plugging kit and I was up to pressure, bathed and on the road within the hour. My first attempt at a plug wasn't entirely successful though and about 10 miles up the motorway I could feel the handling going heavy. Sure enough, it was down to 25psi but worse, I felt that the loss had been sudden over the last mile or two, rather than gradual, so maybe it pointed to imminent failure ? Inflating to a slightly excessive 38psi at the nearby services, I reckoned I could still limp to the Donington exit, where there was another services with another opportunity to reinflate. Sure enough, 25psi again, but I was able to get there, arriving in the nick of time. Luckily, this meant that I blagged the chance to park Stella (yes, she has a name ...a new one in fact, now that she's blue) right in front of the Ducati hospitality suite. There was some scabby scrambler custom thing parked next to her, but she stole the show (well for me at least) ........ but I jest, the scrambler was a beauty in pale pastel blue and sporting an SC style tubular single sider, custom tank and seat in a street-tracker stylie, and hi- level twin, stacked cans in the extended megaphone manner reminiscent of older Triumph scramblers and Norton Commandos. And to cap off a great evening the nice man at Pirelli put a new plug in my tyre, and it lasted all the way home. Thank you sir. And thanks also to Slob, Tim and all concerned. ps. I thought I'd best leave the guitar at home.

22-05-2015, 09:31 AM	#17
NewMon Titanium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Rugby Bike: M600 Posts: 401	It was a very enjoyable evening. Thanks to Slob, Tim Maccabee, Managing Director of Ducati UK and the Aruba.it team. Sorry I missed saying goodbye to you Utopia, I think you went off to get your tyre fixed just after my successful ticket blagging. The scrambler will be at the Bike Shed this weekend - it was very nice as was its creator. Some pictures. Bike Porn: We had great access to the garage and pits: Not a monster: Other side: Nice evening at Donington:

22-05-2015, 09:48 AM	#18
Gilps Guest Posts: n/a	Nice pic of Tim Mac talking to Bradley Smith