Grattan Raceway

www.wmr-scca.gen.mi.us/grtinfo.htm

Belding, MI

From Chris Edwards, 2001

Well, just got back from a 9 1/2 hour drive from Grattan, Michigan.

This was a four day track weekend run by the Ducati Owners club of Canada(DOCC).

MAD members in attendance were Mike Cecchini, Douglas and Ann Frederick, Charlie Sherwood, Mike Wheeler (Mr. President) and girlfriend Kelly and finally, myself.

We had a special guest in our garage, John Hackett, invited by Doug and Ann. John Hackett is the top Ducati tuner in the U.K. He prepares most of the engines for the top British Superbike riders. I believe he did all of Troy Bayliss engines the year when Troy won the British Superbike championship, Doug will correct me if I am wrong with this information. John is an ex racer himself and took Doug's 955 out and ran extremely quick laps within a couple of sessions of seeing the track for the first time. Considering his
stature in British and World Superbike racing, John is a very down to earth guy with a wonderful British sense of humor. It was a real pleasure and an honor to have his company for the 4 days.

Mike C. also had some celebrities, but I will let him tell you about his weekend.

We had 4 days of bright sunny 90 degree weather, a little humid, but better than rain.

I got to use my Yamaha R1 on the Friday and soon got into a nice groove. I put a set of Metzler Rennsports on the R1, a supersoft RS1 compound on the front and a RS2 soft compound on the rear. Both tires stuck like glue and were totally predictable all day. By lunch I had to add some more preload front and rear as I was dragging my pegs and my exhaust. That helped and I stopped touching down metal parts thereafter. I shredded the front tire and parked it up for the weekend with only 86 miles of use on that tire.

I struggled with the setup on the Aprilia, after riding on two relatively smooth tracks previously, the bumps of Grattan really took a toll on the suspension. I came to the realization that the bike is way undersprung for my weight. I tried some more preload, compression and rebound damping, this made it better but not where I really wanted it. I had a chance to ride another Aprilia RS250 that was setup by a guy who races a 916 and occasionally races his Aprilia, his was much more stable and made me much happier once I experienced what the bike should feel like versus my bucking bronco.

Doug, Ann and Charlie each gave me the opportunity to ride their bikes. Charlies Aprilia RSV was such a joy to ride, after a couple of laps I was comfortable, getting my knee down pretty much anywhere I wanted to. The only problem I had getting used to was the lightness and trigger response of the throttle, you could catch a bump mid turn and although the suspension soaked it up you would just get enough movement in the bars to cause you to open the throttle a tiny bit and the bike just leaps forward unexpectedly, which
makes for a jerky transition through the corner as you immediately back off and then on to correct for this. I am sure after riding the bike a few more times I would get used to this.

I got to ride Doug's 955 Ducati on Sunday when the club runs the track in the reverse direction. This is fun but I am not as comfortable in this direction as in normal race direction. Doug handed me his bike and told me to take it easy on the transmission. Although he said he wasn't worried, I knew deep down inside, he wouldn't be happy until the bike was back parked in the pits unscathed. The brakes on this bike are the best I have ever experienced, he has full race GP Brembos with radial pumps. These have so much power with incredible feel. It took a couple of laps to just get used to these. Respecting his wishes on the transmission, I only ran the bike up
to 9000 in each gear, but this was more than enough to blast by just about anything out there. The bike is a rocket ship. The two areas where this bike really shone, note Ohlins suspension front and rear, was the first right hand turn off the main straight. This is a fast 90mph bumpy right hander which immediately flicks left and down hill. Coming down the main straight with over 150mph indicated on the clock, knocking 60-70 mph off the speed and still trail braking through the right hander and flipping the bike over hard left to go down the left hander, the bike just absorbed all the bumps as well as the right left transition without a wiggle, it was rock solid.

Monday, I got to ride Ann's 996. The brakes (stock) were noticeably inferior to what Doug has on his bike. The low range grunt and acceleration of this bike is fantastic. This bike comes off corners so fast with so much ease and control. The handling was first class, after parking the bike back in the pits, I refused to ride any of my bikes from that point forward, I had been spoilt. I knew I would not be satisfied with anything that I owned. I would have to let a couple of days pass and come back to reality, that I have a Ferrari need on a Ford budget.

From Mike W. perspective, I will let you tell you about his side of the weekend.

I had the pleasure of stuffing Mike C. a in a couple of corners, but I think he enjoyed them both.

A big thank you also goes to Mike C. for taking one of my bikes up there for me.

Gentlemen and Ladies, this was the best DOCC Grattan event ever!!