[Hoops]

A good friend of mine who is a huge Ducati enthusiast and owns a brand new 1199 Panigale R, a Diavel and an awesome 1198R race bike thats fully tricked up to pretty much WSB spec, invited me along to a Ducati track day at Donny along with the WSB Ducati team (minus Checa who had flown home after the race for another operation) - apart from the weather it was an amazing day. We flew up from Chigwell in his brand new C63 AMG thats currently running over 500 BHP and is a total monster. Drove all the way up in rain and it proceeded to hump down all day. But there were some amazing machines there and we got to meet all the WSB team and i got to say hello to a couple of old codgers that ive met before on many many occasion on track days over the years, Mr Hodgson and Mr Mackenzie, who were both total legends for riding out in the rain pretty much all day giving advice to the guys out on track, so hats off to them both. The garage we were assigned to via our hosts Ducati Coventry had some awesome Dukes in it (aswell as my friends Pani R) including Stuart Eastons old race bike which had just been rebuilt and sounded truly epic!! There were lots of spills on the day and the only way to go was full wets - the guys running road tyres were all over the place - and there were even a couple of loons running full race slicks!! Overall a fantastic day and considering it was in conjunction with Focussed Events (who dont have the best rep in the industry) it was very well organised and presented.

Ps: Im doing Brands Hatch GP on Monday 3rd June with my friend with the Panigale R - if anyone is around or passing by, pop in and say hello

[Drrncour]

Would love a Ducati, looks like a great day out. Used to ride an R6 but have it up when the little one was born 2 years ago.