A few more from last night. Chaz was chatting to his mechanics when we got to the pit garage but after he had finished there, he came and had a chat with us all and was more than happy to answer all the questions we asked.
Road bikes in the showrooms, especially the very latest ones, look totally stunning.... and then you get up close to a real race bike and the difference in the quality of the parts is an eye opener.
I asked Chaz if he would like to race the bike without the electronics. He said he has tried it in practice to see just how the electronics are working and what they change but said the WSBK Panigale would be unrideable without them. He said he has ridden the BSB Panigale and because they have little in the way of electronics, they are in a much softer state of tune especially in the lower revs.
He also said he tried a road-going Panigale R complete with lights and road tyres at Imola last weekend and he was only 4 seconds a lap slower than on his racebike.
Chaz explained that he has three settings for each of mapping, traction control and one other which i cannot remember what it was now. They are all labelled level A B and C so they are easy to change and read whilst racing. He even scrolled through the dash on the bike to show us.
they must have found a way to keep it cooler or moved something that was heat sensitive , last year it had gold foil under the seat to reflect the heat away .