Just looked at the FE website and I see they are touting Steve Plater and Andrew Pitt as instructors. I ran into Steve at Thruxton and in conversation he said that he will not be attending. I appreciate that not everyone takes advantage of the tuition but if you do you'll have to talk to Andrew who is a great instructor if a trifle disturbing as he turns round in the saddle to look at you whilst doing over 100mph and tipping into a bend. Hope you all enjoy the trip (bastards because I'm not going) . Andy
It's cooled down a bit today thankfully. I got moved down from the racer group I was put in at Imola as I am not handsome enough. Oddly I knocked four seconds off my Laptimer today and got in the 2'05'' which seemed impossible for me yesterday. The Marquez helmet is working as I got a lean angle of 59 degrees!! Amazing place!
I managed to get into the 2'04'' at Mugello which was my goal as I had got that at Imola and the general consensus is that Mugello and Imola have the same lap times. I've been scrapping with BMW S1000RR at both tracks and it's been interesting to confirm my own take on the two bikes. The BMW is stronger in the midrange and pulls away quite hard on the straight but the Panigale has much better braking performance due to it's low weight even though the callipers are the same as the BMW, and makes up the time. The Pani also gets through the chicanes easier since it's so flickable.
Looks fantastic saw your bike a few times. not had much time to have a look at my own footage yet. I was pretty happy with a 2'17" for my 1098s. I was topping the rookie group all weekend. 1098 just lacking pace of the newer stuff. Plus only my 2nd ever track day. I'll try and get some footage up.
I was trying to work out what kind of times it's capable of. Would like to compare some 1098 times from Mugello.
It's more the rider than the machine when there's lots of corners involved like at Mugello. The boys on the 55bhp moto3 bikes in BSB are doing 1'33'' or something silly around Cadwell which is six seconds quicker than I can do on a 200bhp Panigale!
This is my thinking too, more rider than machine. But when does machine come into it to be more competitive
When the riders are equal skill level such as in my vids. Then you've got to be a bit clever and make the most of the bikes characteristics.
