WDW is held at Misano racetrack, which is world-class (on the GP circuit) and is even closer to us than Mugello. They call it the "Red Planet", and it's basically a chance for Ducatisti from all over the world to gather and celebrate all things desmodromic.
My standard gear - suitcase with tent and clothes inside, and bag with my pillow.
I'm doing all this on a pretty tight budget, so I booked a campsite close (or so I thought) to the circuit. It was right on the water, which was awesome! Misano Adriatico is a big seaside resort town, from what I understand most of northern Italy goes there in August.
The campsite had decent bathrooms and not-freezing-or-disgusting showers, so it was a very large step up from Mugello. Upon arriving I immediately knew that the event was gonna be good - it seemed there were 2 or 3 exotic superbikes outside of every tent.
My neighbor had this - a 748 frame with a 999 motor, 916 front bodywork, and an MV Agusta tail. He's a mechanic for a race team and fabbed up many parts out of titanium, internally too. Forks off of Alex Criville's superbike. Absolutely gorgeous.
So, as I had arrived early Friday morning I immediately headed off to the track. Right away, I discovered that the track was a healthy couple of miles away. Oh well, I've gotten pretty used to walking a lot. On the way I got a little taste of what was to come...
Oh yes, now I was getting close:
And finally,
Upon entering, I was a little awestruck. Wall-to-wall dream bikes, of every type.
First the Ducatis:
The S4R looks pretty sweet with a belly pan:
Somebody's been busy with the TIG welder:
Nice paint scheme for the D16!
Speaking of D16s...I counted 12 in this pen at one time. That's $870,000 worth of motorcycle, assuming they were stock. I did see several, though, with the optional $9,700 full ti exhaust.
Ducati drag bike - that's quite a trellis frame:
Best looking 999 on the planet? I think so.
A PAIR of 998Rs! I was absolutely drooling.
Not sure what this was, but it looked light and fun.
The new NCR...basically a D16 with enough titanium, carbon fiber, and other mods thrown at it to bring it to 319lbs, +200rwhp, and I'd bet >$200,000. You'd think for that price they could have removed some of the ugly from it....seriously, bikini fairings?
And now some of the other brands:
The new Ape:
I still like the old one:
MV, of course:
Oh Bimota Delirio, I want you so:
Wait, KTM RC8R, I want you even more!
Uh, can I take back what I just said? Vyrus, I want you most of all...
But, you boil your gas in the hot, hot sun. Oh well, I can live with that.
Little do the others know that with the HRC parts, this humble Hornet will blow them all away:
The way World Ducati Week was structured, you could go up in the grandstands and watch the on-track events they had set up – stuntbike shows, parade laps, Desmo cup races, and track sessions for participants.
Or, you could wander around the parking lot, where there were lots of tents and buildings with various aftermarket manufacturers, affiliates, and Ducati-sponsored displays. That was kind of the “main” area, and was where I spent most of my time.
To give you an example, here’s a Ducati display showing their new Monster Art campaign. It allows owners of new Monsters to easily/cheaply (relatively) change out their tank panels and change the look of their bike. I think it’s a great idea, because it capitalizes on the desire for a customized product that it seems is very common in Ducati’s customer base.
Saved the best for last. Reminds me of a '77 Trans Am with the shaker hood scoop, driven by a guy with a mullet, mirrored aviators, and a tank top tucked into jeans shorts. In a good way.
While all of the display tents were good, my favorite station by far was the Ducati University. It was a small building set up with a projector and 50 or so chairs, and there was a constant schedule of prominent Ducati employees, affiliates, and other experts delivering hour-long lectures on moto-related topics. A LOT better than my description makes it sound – here are some of the lectures I attended:
Theory of Racetrack Riding – Alessandro Valia, Italian Superstock Champion ‘02
Superbike Team Management – Ernesto Marinelli, Ducati Superbike Project Director
AMG – some head honcho from AMG, the program doesn’t list his name
MotoGP Team Management – Alessandro Cicognani, MotoGP Project Manager
Multistrada 1200 Development – Mario Alvisi, Ducati Project Manager
The Desmosedici from 2003-2010 – Filippo Preziosi, Ducati Corse Director
But, as good as these all were (especially the last two), they were trumped. Seriously trumped. Because on Saturday, after waiting for a while in the hot Misano sun, I shuffled into Ducati U, grabbed a seat in the A/C, and sat down to a walk-through of the Misano track. Not just ANY walk-through, though – it was actually titled “Misano Circuit from the riders’ point of view”. And the riders?
Oh, just two guys named Nicky and Casey.
Casey just heard they'd be serving free Otter Pops after the class:
Cheer up Nicky, we have an Otter Pop for you, too! Cherry flavor!
Yup that’s right, I was lucky enough to get a seat in the small room where Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner, Ducati’s GP pilots and two of the best riders in the world, explained how you want to approach the track, turn by turn. Vittoriano Guareschi was in on it, too, he’s Ducati’s MotoGP Team Manager and is wicked fast himself – put down a test time recently after the Mugello GP that beat Stoner’s. To say that I enjoyed the experience would be a bit of an understatement. Check out the clip:
It didn’t stop there, though, as I soon ran into good fortune again. I’m convinced that Italy is smiling on me because I’m fully embracing it – witness, once again, my lunch:
Anyhow I had just finished lunch in fact, when I walked by one of those reserved food tents and glanced inside. I had one of those, “hey, I think I recognize that guy” moments.
Waved to the guy, he smiled, waved back and came over.
We chatted for just a bit before a large passing crowd spotted us and shortly formed a mob. At first I thought they were just fans of the blog… but in retrospect it was probably because the other guy was Troy Bayliss. You know, Ducati’s retired superbike hero who was heavily rumored to be making a comeback, another one of those greatest-rider types (yeah, I’m starting to sound like a broken record but it’s true). True to his reputation Troy was super nice, totally willing to come over and talk with a random guy like me. When the helmet-and-sharpie crew arrived looking for signatures, he was happy to oblige, and I made my exit.
Still feeling good from that little moment I wandered around a bit. The sun and heat was intense, it had to be in the high 90s and humid. One of the shadiest, nicest spots in the whole place was the AMG tent. I checked out their new race car a bit, helped myself to one of their free drinks, and sat down. Noticed that a few AMG employees were at a little stand, and it looked like they had some sort of signup sheet? What’s this, then?
Next thing I knew I was putting on a headsock, strapping on a helmet, and getting into a 500-horsepower AMG Mercedes E63 for a few hot laps around Misano. I’d been feeling kind of sorry for myself, since I couldn’t indulge in the free track sessions that were available to participants with bikes (i.e. everybody else). But this, well this eased my pain a bit.
There was an AMG employee riding shotgun, and he got a little uptight in the first few corners because I was getting a little spirited. He yelled at me, “only brake or accelerate when the car is pointed straight! NOT when turning!”
But chances like this don’t just come along every day, do they? So clearly I had no choice but to ignore his bad advice, and hope he’d man up and come around. Thankfully he did, and once he realized I wasn’t going to kill us (or worse, damage the E63 and leave him alive), he left me alone and I could basically just let it rip. Two glorious laps, and to say I enjoyed them would be another one of those understatements.
Sadly, as I pulled back into the pits the AMG guys didn’t come rushing up with offers of a driver sponsorship like they had in my mid-drive fantasy. But I did get another surprise. No sooner did I have my helmet off, than one of them asked me, “are you waiting for the Taxi Race?”
“Ummmm, sure.” So I put the helmet back on, and continued/proceeded to wait. Soon it became clear that the “taxi race” meant a ride-along in another AMG, with one of their drivers. Possibly, a really fast one. Even faster than me? Not likely, but possible, I thought. I mean, I had even squealed the tires once.
The car pulled up and I got in the passenger seat. Another two guys got in the backseat. I looked over at the driver, and saw his name on the helmet – “Bernd Schneider.” Wait a second, was this the same Bernd Schneider they had called up at the Ducati University AMG presentation? The German race car driver who was a multi-time DTM champion?
No, as it turns out it was a different Bernd Schneider, who was a 73-year old retired sausage-maker from Hofsbraumunchendörf.
Just kidding.
When I realized that he was the real deal, I said, “Mr. Schneider! It’s an honor.” Now the guys in the backseat hadn’t been able to see his name, but immediately after my little statement it became obvious that they were:
A. German
B. Geeked on Bernd Schneider in the same way that I had been geeked on Nicky, Casey, and Troy
I couldn’t understand any of the ensuing conversation, but it was interesting because I didn’t even previously know that the German language could sound like that. Calm and detached acknowledgement of pleasure, I’d heard before. But frenzied excitement was a new one.
So needless to say, Herr Schneider was under some pressure to perform. And as we leaped out of the pits through the tight, walled-in section of Misano that precedes the actual track, I thought how sad it would be for the Germans, because Bernd was going to kill us before we even got on the track. Seriously, the speed at which he took that section was suicidal.
Once we actually made it onto the track, of course he kicked it up a notch. I’m pretty sure we didn’t take the absolute fastest line, but it was definitely the most entertaining. There were other cars on the track and he would pass them on the inside while literally four-wheel drifting around a turn. Several times I braced for the imminent impact, which would have been on my side, but of course it never came. Bernd’s control of the vehicle at and beyond its limits was nothing short of amazing, and when we came screeching back into the pits in a haze of tire smoke, I’m pretty sure the smile on his face was as big as the ones on ours. I had tried to take some video, actually I thought I videoed our whole second lap, but either my camera messed up or I didn’t press the start button. So the only clip I got was the short one below…I hope it gives you a little sense of what it was like.
So those three things – the class with Nicky Hayden & Casey Stoner, meeting Troy Bayliss, and my AMG track time – had really made my weekend. I felt very fortunate. As an added bonus, I was over checking out the GP garage when they decided to fire all three (one of Nicky’s is being repaired after Mugello, I assume) bikes up. Verrrrry nice. I shot a vid but unfortunately it's way too big to upload...so these photos will have to do:
That GP10 sure is gorgeous. I guess I like the swoopy look.
Screen in the exhaust to prevent it from sucking rocks back into the exhaust valves if it crashes. Seriously.
I didn’t stay for the concert they put on at night, mainly because the 45-minute walk back to camp was partially on the side of a highway and had been crazy enough in daylight. But I was very content. It really was a fantastic event, and I think for any moto-fan the perfect vacation would be going to the Mugello GP, spending a few days around Bologna touring the Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati, and/or Lamborghini factories, and then going to World Ducati Week at Misano. Maybe with some time spent riding the Tuscan hills on a rented bike in-between.
Hmmm, I sure wouldn’t mind being a tour guide for that one. Any takers? Reservations for next year being accepted now…
Coordinated dance by the Ducati Owner's Club...classic.
Marco Simoncelli's secret:
The military had a recruitment booth there, too. Somehow, in the blistering heat of Misano, I doubt there were many applicants for this job:
Much better to drive one of these things. Like a big video game.
Even the Playboy bunnies were there...
And so was Loris Capirossi's doppelganger:
My last stroke of good fortune - on the way home I walked past a tree full of perfectly ripe, delicious mulberries. Sweet end to a very sweet weekend.
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