(back to beginning of entry)

. . . And so we went out in groups of six riders per instructor, and it was absolutely brilliant. We started off slowly, getting to learn the circuit and getting used to the bikes. When you read the specifications, the Ducati 1098 is an intimidating bike, very powerful, very fast, and it looks it. But on the racetrack it is an absolute joy to ride and the more we rode it, the less intimidating it became. We did 20-minute sessions on track, followed by 20 minutes off track, during which time we had feedback and instructions from our instructor, an Englishman named David James, who proved to be extremely helpful and interesting. An absolute gentleman in fact.

Twenty minutes on track, 20 minutes off, and as the day progressed we went faster and faster as the confidence grew and track knowledge improved.

At the back of the circuit there is a long straight with a kink in it. In the morning we started by rolling off the throttle and braking before entering the kink. As the day progressed, we braked less and less and eventually in the afternoon we were going through that kink flat out. Mind you, we had to brake pretty sharply soon afterwards, as the track turned inwards towards a real corner. But that kink and how we rode though it was a great way of measuring our progress.

And guess what? The foreign lads didn’t show us up at all. In fact we were doing so well that two of us were moved up to a faster group in the afternoon and all of the other Irish lads were amongst the fastest in their groups.

The bikes were fantastic, the circuit was fantastic (if a little bumpy along the front straight), the riding was fantastic, the instructors were fantastic, the atmosphere was fantastic. All in all, a fantastic day. But three incidents stand out in my memory.

1: The lunch. A magnificent spread and a great opportunity to chat with other riders. Stuffed to bursting, we wobbled back to the track considerably heavier than when we left it.

2: When talking to other riders during an off-track session, the talk turned to the bikes we rode. Almost everyone present owned a Ducati, not surprisingly. What model do you own? A 749, says I.* A 999, said another. A 1098, said a young Frenchman. Each one, said a dark-haired young  man.. What? Says I. What model? Each one, says he. One of each model made in the last 15 years. Gulp! Apparently a young Arab gentleman of rich parentage, but extremely pleasant nonetheless (though not as fast as our lads despite all his Ducatis).

3: During my last track session I felt a little dizzy and light-headed, so I decided to call it a day and pulled into the pits to watch the other riders for the last five minutes. As I stood in the pit lane area, a rider on a 1098 came charging into the pits. There was a temporary crash barrier pulled across the pit lane. Uh-oh, says I, he’s coming in too fast, he’s not going to make it! I couldn’t turn away as the rider approached, obviously going too fast. Way, way too fast. Oh, Holy mother of God, this is going to be nasty! And then, as if he finally realised what was going to happen, he applied the brakes, hard, really hard, but clearly too late. He braked so hard that the front wheel locked up, at which point most riders would find themselves about to test the abrasion resistance of their leathers. But not this rider. His tyres squealed, his front wheel hopped and he came to a complete stop, no more than two inches in front of the crash barrier. You lucky, lucky bastard, I thought. And then Marco “Lucky” (yes that really was his nickname) Lucchinelli calmly stepped off his bike, removed his helmet, looked straight at me, and gave me a big broad smile.

“Lucky” my arse; you don’t get to be a world champion unless you have buckets of skill, and I had just seen a simple example of what that means.

The DRE: a fantastic experience. Highly recommended. The next day we visited Bologna and had a tour of the Ducati factory—but never ventured into the city to see the famous porticos. Sorry, Tom. Maybe next time.

1. *The cognoscenti will object: at the top of this entry, Eamonn is shown with an 848, not a 749. The latter was his bike back home in 2007, the former his current Ducati (along with the BMW on which he commutes daily).—TF
   

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photos: Lucchinelli 1981 http://www.fasterandfaster.net/2007/04/marco-lucchinelli-crazy-horse.html; Lucchinelli today www.ducati.com