Bike re-mapped

Dr Tom at IBC in Arboga, a wizard when it comes to mapping and Ducati tuning in general paid attention to my bike today. I usually ride the bike using the 6k-9k power band. Top end power was obliously not what I was looking for. As you can see we ended up with a nice fat and flat power band with high torque. One graph shows my bike (red) the other graph illustrates a comparison with mine bike (red) and stock bike (blue) with full race system. My DB killers were left in all the time. You can’t ride on Nordic race track these days without DB killer. Tom of course also adjusted the cam timing for that nice mid range power. Obiously better to spend money on mapping the electonics, than full race systems!

I have slip on´s, DB killers, stock headers, stock air intake, tuned cams and  JE pistons.

My bike (red)

My bike (red), stock 1098 with full sytem (blue)

First track days, Mantorp Park. May 1-2

So, finally, snow has melted and my old friend Magnus (Former Endurance rider and now track day geek and fellow Ducati 1098 rider) lured me into 2 days of track day. Really early in the season- May 1-2. In Sweden it can be summer or snow at this time of the year. We brought 4 kids, 2 motor homes, 2 Ducatis and one wife to the track for 2 days of riding and socializing. It was really cold 7-11 C (low fifties F for Americans). Thanks Lena for being there for the kids!

In the race group things where OK for most people but a lot of people falling in the middle group. I guess people with slicks and maybe not able to have enough speed to keep tire warm enough? Magnus and I have about the same speed so we had great fun riding together and figuring out how to best pass the BMW S1000 RR´s in he corners.

The bike worked really well. New pistons and serviced suspension was what what we did this winter, not much so instead I decided to work on my riding position on the bike to find speed and to my surprise I carved our 5 seconds from my personal best. Very crowded, so it was hard to get a lap without traffic, as seen in this clip. Far from the lap record , of course, but only 3 seconds of the fastest rider that day. 1.25.6 was my best lap winch I was able to capture on camera. 

New and more solid pistons

Early 1098´s ridden hard on tracks are prone to develop cracked pistons. This can be costly or worst cases cause a blown engine. To avoid this I asked Italia Bike Centre in Arboga, Sweden to replace the stock pistons with improved one´s from JE pistons. These pistons have an attractive price and have stock compression which is what I look for – long engine life.

My best lap at Aragon

Just got back from 5 days on Motorland Aragon. The track cannot be described in words, you have to ride it. Imaging entering turn 16 at the end of the back straight at 240 km/h with full lean. Just crazy.

Like most of my friends, I had to capture the track on video so I got the Gopro Hero 3 Silver edition and was lucky to capture my best lap around the track

Motorland Aragon

Off to 5 days of hopefully great riding at Motorland Aragon is Spain. The MotoGP guys just raced there, so for sure there are some interesting lap times to compare you to.

In preparation for this trip I had to change the gearing since this track has one of the longest straight and having fairly big elevation changes I had to make sure the chain was god enough, so I replaced with a new one, Some friends who were  there last year broke some chains. Fast fluid track and going uphill puts a lot of strain on the chain.

Greven Racing Adventures organized transport of the bike and Hotel. The pictures are from last weekend when we loaded our bikes in the huge trailer. I feel like a pro racer having other take care of the bike, and me flying to the track. Unusual feeling

First practice session 2013 and triple clamp test

My friend Mikkel called and insisted that I joined him for an evening practice session at Sviestad race track near Linköping. The local club, LMS, has really well organized and friendly practice sessions for riders with a valid license.

Great weather, sunny, 22 degrees and not much wind. The only issue was that Mikkel had his season opener at Brno, so his speed was there. Just for me to ignore my normal lack of speed after a long winter and just follow his tail around the track. Worked great, produced best lap times at Sviestad since my active race days in BoTT racing some years back.

The new IMA triple clamps from NF Racing with 30 mm off set (std 36 mm) worked fantastic, corner exists was trouble free, no need for the classic Ducati need for pick up to minimize the running wide out of corners issues so common for us Ducati riders. I was surprised how much easier it was to flip-flop the bike thru the esses after start/finish line. The triple clamps are not low cost, but a very good investment if you can afford it.

Thanks Mikkel for a great afternoon and awsome season opener!

 

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