Chaz Davies..................
Our man on the Ducati WSB bike...
Hello FB’ers, how are we? I guess I have to tell you about my month, though it’s not been exactly how I’d hoped. I’m finding it hard to go into races knowing what to expect right now, because the Ducati is such a different kettle of fish. As I found out in Aragon, it’s one thing to ride it quickly, and completely another to race it in amongst other bikes. That was my first real taste of it in Spain. So, yeah, it’s not gone to plan, but then I never thought we’d be winning races this early on, either.
We’ve only had three races so far, and though I have high expectations of myself I have to be realistic. In Aragon we just didn’t nail it on the head. A lot of little issues popped up that were nobody’s fault, but it entirely derailed our weekend. It didn’t help that I was to blame for a mistake I made myself in Superpole, too.
I don’t think we’re expected to be winning, and at some points in Spain we were there or there abouts. It was really strange stuff, like when we changed the gearing on Saturday. You expect the gearbox to feel different, and it was a little better, but doing that shortened the swingarm a little bit and it played havoc with our clutch and engine braking strategies. So we spent all of Saturday trying to get rid of rear wheel chatter, which was coming from that, and it didn’t feel like we nailed it. On Sunday we had another work around, and though it was better, it still wasn’t right, it wasn’t the bike I had been riding.
So a lot of simple things are missing before we find the complete package, that’s what I feel like at the moment. Assen was the same. We tried to fix some problems or take the bike with a setting that’s usually good at Assen due to the compression at the rear, which is quite stiff. We went in that direction early in the weekend, but by the time the race came round it ended up hurting us due to vibration on corner entry; not from engine braking or the clutch, but just from being too stiff in the rear. That’s what I think anyway, it’s a lot of learning finding out why things are happening...
There have been times when the bike is really smooth and I can ride it like I want. But then there are others where you try and push and you reach a limit via vibration. Not chatter, vibration caused by the clutch, or a stiff setting or the electronics, There’s a lot of tiny things causing it.
I watched myself at Assen and there was one shot between race one and two that I showed my mechanics. It was me tipping into turn nine, I think. It showed me and a bunch of guys going in, all running the same pace and line, but with my rear starting to hop at the last second. That carries on as I turn in, so the rear tyre starts to flex, pushes back and starts bouncing. That then transfers to the front and you see me try to commit and pitch it in, but then I stop. I just hold it because I’m trying to hold the thing on the fat part of the tyre by releasing the brake to get a bigger contact patch. I can’t just go in there and let go of the brake.
It is what it is I guess, early days and part and parcel of developing a bike on a two-year deal. The annoying bit is I don’t have a bike I feel like I can consistently ride hard on at the moment as I can’t be 100 percent confident in it. It’s hard to push through the small issues, but when we’ve got grip it is awesome. Lose it, and it becomes hyper sensitive and on the Ducati every small change makes a huge difference.
Anyway, the team are working on it, while I work on my road licence. That’s right guys, I’m joining you lot! I did my CBT yesterday and have the full test soon, which you can read about in FB. See you at Donny!
it’s strange. When we’ve got grip it is awesome. Lose it, and the panigale becomes hyper sensitive...”