Motorcycles and news

Ducati’s Haslam Describes Fastest Ever Lap Of Thruxton April 30, 2006

After completing the fastest ever lap of Thruxton on two wheels, Airwaves Ducati rider Leon Haslam has described in detail how aboard an Airwaves Ducati 999F06 you could achieve a lap similar to that which secured him pole position at the last round, exclusively for Airwaves Ducati Fan Club members.

“On the Airwaves Ducati I’ll go over the start/finish line in 4th gear before going down to 3rd for the first turn. Make sure you hold a tight line for when you change direction.

Next is a short shift back to 4th gear for the long left-hand bend up to Campbell, before going back down to 1st, again holding a tight line to set the next corner up.

I’ll short shift to 2nd through the left then short shift up to 3rd for a good run onto the back straight. It will spin up until you hit 4th. Opening up to full throttle, make full use of the curbs here as you run over them.

Going back down to 3rd, make sure to watch out for a big bump in the track, then accelerate until you hit the limiter. Shut off into the blind right-hand bend, aiming for the marshal post which you should use as a reference to where the apex is.

Use full throttle through 3rd, 4th and 5th gears, spinning in every gear, before going back down to 4th for Church Corner. Then it’s full on the gas for Brooklands, taking the bike through the gears up to 6th and getting up to around 200mph.

Before the lap is over you’ll need to successfully navigate the Club chicane, one of the favourite spots for overtaking during a race. Go down to 2nd gear and try, especially in a race situation, to get a good run back on to the start/finish straight.

And that’s a lap of Thruxton!”