Couple of vids from the Nasho:
Bald Hill to Royal National Park - Ducati ST4

Ducati ST4 - Royal National Park to Bald Hill

In Cowes now. Who's here? Mobile is 0401 193 558

How's the weather down there Joe?









                                    Mmick (Surely someone will pipe up)

Hot! 37 at 19:28 in Cowes

Wow, 37! There you have it, weather is insanely variable at the island. That an an awesome flowing and fast track make for awesome racing... Hope checa gets up!

RIP to the young QLD rider Oscar McIntyre who died there today in a support race.

Quote from: Twizted on February 25, 2012, 02:55:15 AM
RIP to the young QLD rider Oscar McIntyre who died there today in a support race.

Yes, condolences to all Family and friends!! 

Sad to hear of another death in motorcycle racing, especially at such a young age. 

Nice video Desmo, I assume you are using a GoPro using one of those sticky mounts on the ST4 fairing. I've given up using those mounts as they vibrate and make the noise you can hear in your video. OK if you just want the video but the sound is always an important part of riding a Ducati.

Quote from: techno on February 25, 2012, 04:30:27 PM
Sad to hear of another death in motorcycle racing, especially at such a young age. 

Nice video Desmo, I assume you are using a GoPro using one of those sticky mounts on the ST4 fairing. I've given up using those mounts as they vibrate and make the noise you can hear in your video. OK if you just want the video but the sound is always an important part of riding a Ducati.

It's a ReplayXD, and you can fiddle with the gain and stabilization to deal with the noise.

Quote from: desmoquattro on February 25, 2012, 10:04:55 PM
It's a ReplayXD, and you can fiddle with the gain and stabilization to deal with the noise.

Ahh. My bad, sorry.
Had to google what a Replay XD was.

Quote from: goldFiSh on February 25, 2012, 02:38:59 AM
Wow, 37! There you have it, weather is insanely variable at the island. That an an awesome flowing and fast track make for awesome racing... Hope checa gets up!

Well, I was there and Checa did indeed get up, and up and up and over and over, then straight into the kitty litter. Luckily not hurt badly but it was a spectacular prang. If you've ever seen Mad Max 2, in the final chase seen where the stunt guy was hurt in the bike accident where he flies A over T like a cartwheel except, well that was Checa on Sunday. Amazing that he just jumped up and walked off and made the 2nd race.

As for the rest of the WSBK, I cut my weekend short, there was no way I was camping out and sitting in a paddock with 37C on my back. So I went down on the Sunday at 0830 to avoid the heat and get a good spot. PI is only about an hours ride from my place so not a problem time-wise, just a boring ride really. The cops weren't too bad on the way down, we got painted by a laser after pausing at some lights then got the passing "hard-stare" because we were doing 85 or something like that not worth pulling us over in an 80 zone. Further on there was a candy car that had pulled over a very dismayed looking P-plater, he had such a sad panda face I really felt for him as I kicked up a gear and went back to breaking the speed limit like everyone else. Later there was a HD rider, a "lawyers on hogs" special with all the bling and the rider in his pristine white HD T-Shirt remonstrating with the copper and watching us all go by waving at him, just to be friendly of course Got to the track around 0945 after a fuel stop to find the tickets were $90 per person, $90!! And they've roped off a lot of areas from bike parking now, so you had to walk more if you were around Gardner or Turn 1 and 2. It's quite telling that they are driving the $ harder, there were more advertising hoarding in bad spots for spectator viewing, the bike parking spots are getting pushed further out or to the other side of the track and the admittance which I think is $20 more than last year, for no added value that I could see.  

By midday it was 35C and the sun had some real bite, so I Factor 50'd up and I must have drunk 3-4 litres of water but never had to visit the loo once. I met Joe and his wife after some calls, we walked around the track a bit and went to the sheds to see the vendors, strangely enough no Duc stand, bit of a shame really because even Moto Guzzi had one. The Bimota Tesi 3D with its front SA setup was there http://www.fxpowersports.com.au/products.php?id=92#.T0q1VXn4I6g, a strange looking beast yet quite horny in a high-tech way, wonder if it'll catch on. Benelli with their extremely blinged-up gold "Cafe Racer" http://www.benelli.co.uk/_bikes/tnt_cafe_racer/tnt_cafe_racer.php which someone in their marketing department didn't research the meaning of I think. I managed to score a Pit pass so said Bye to my two new American friends and went to see the sheds, getting back just in time for the first race of the championship. Until Checa came off, he and Biaggi were having a real duel, it was great. But Carlos decided to inspect the gravel close up and after that Max just showed what a competitor he was, pulling away for almost the distance from Turn 11 right around to the start of the pit building on the straight. He was so much more aggresive than the others, he was constantly getting a little wheelie coming thru 10 and 11 he was belting it so much, the others just looked sedate, well as much as you can 200kmh+  

I couldn't stand the heat any more and couldn't stay for the 2nd race which I later found out was a doozy with Biaggi going wide on Turn 1 then fighting back through the pack to get back to 2nd, so rode home about 3pm. We'd been noticing a growing police presence since 1pm, with marked bikes, patrols and vans cruising around the track and sure enough, outside the track were more cops, highway patrol cars, divi vans then I'd seen since Clint Eastwood in the shooting scene "The Gauntlet", it was crazy. They were setting up for god nows what, maybe spot checks, booze, dunno but I was glad I was out of there before it started. So keeping the revs as low and gear as high as possible so the Termi's didn't bark I left PI into a forceful north wind that was pushing me all over the place and the temp was still 35C. Home an hour or so later, leathers felt like lead, helmet was sopping wet (I'll need to scrub all the sunscreen off the inner lining now) and straight into a cool shower. It was an interesting Sunday but I doubt I'll do it again at those temps and at $90 I'd have to think a bit more if it's worth it, given the obvious starts of a movement away from a "bike-friendly" atmosphere.

Quote from: Sundog on February 26, 2012, 02:45:38 PM
By midday it was 35C and the sun had some real bite, so I Factor 50'd up and I must have drunk 3-4 litres of water but never had to visit the loo once. I met Joe and his wife after some calls, we walked around the track a bit and went to the sheds to see the vendors, strangely enough no Duc stand, bit of a shame really because even Moto Guzzi had one. The Bimota Tesi 3D with its front SA setup was there http://www.fxpowersports.com.au/products.php?id=92#.T0q1VXn4I6g, a strange looking beast yet quite horny in a high-tech way, wonder if it'll catch on. Benelli with their extremely blinged-up gold "Cafe Racer" http://www.benelli.co.uk/_bikes/tnt_cafe_racer/tnt_cafe_racer.php which someone in their marketing department didn't research the meaning of I think. I managed to score a Pit pass so said Bye to my two new American friends and went to see the sheds, getting back just in time for the first race of the championship. Until Checa came off, he and Biaggi were having a real duel, it was great. But Carlos decided to inspect the gravel close up and after that Max just showed what a competitor he was, pulling away for almost the distance from Turn 11 right around to the start of the pit building on the straight. He was so much more aggresive than the others, he was constantly getting a little wheelie coming thru 10 and 11 he was belting it so much, the others just looked sedate, well as much as you can 200kmh+  

Good to meet ya! Definitely a hot one, as well. We bailed out before the second race too: I had too much sun and we wanted to get the jump on the drive to Melbourne.

BTW - monstermick58 would've loved this piece of machinery on display at the island:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(helicopter)

Quote from: desmoquattro on February 26, 2012, 04:33:05 PM

BTW - monstermick58 would've loved this piece of machinery on display at the island:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(helicopter)

Ohh! Yesssssss! 






                                     Mmick