A couple of months ago I was at Laguna Seca for a track day with my favorite organization – Volant Vivere. It was the Tuesday after MotoAmerica and the folks over at Ducati had reserved Monday for their own shenanigans, so when I arrived at the track near the end of Monday I thought it’d be fun to see what kind of equipment showed up!
Some of the really high end bikes were ridden by people that had already left by the time I showed up but there’s still plenty of cool (and unexpected) stuff to share – it truly ranged from mild to wild. Here’s AJ Peaslee’s 2025 Streetfighter V2 that he raced in Moto America’s Super Hooligan class the day prior, complete with a Eddie Van Halen-inspired paint job:
A more street-oriented (albeit with slicks) Streetfighter, though it’s the big boy V4 SP. I can understand why the rider has a windshield on this one:
The successor to the above – the V4 SP2 in Winter Test Livery. $37,995 of naked bike madness!
The last Panigale V4 R before the switch to the double sided swingarm. It’s so much better looking than the new one.
It was great to see some “older” stuff, like a Panigale 1199S, 1198S, and a Desmoquattro powered bike (but I couldn’t tell you if it’s a 916/996 or a smaller brother like the 748:
Some of my favorite sightings were bikes that you wouldn’t expect to see at a track, like this Diavel Carbon. That’s a wide rear tire to have to huck around!
Ducati makes some sport-oriented versions of the Multistrada with 17″ wheels, but this is the off-road oriented “Rally” with a 7.9 gallon tank, long-travel suspension, and other features better suited for the dirt and not the track.
But winner of craziest bike to be on the track day would have to be this DesertX…complete with knobby tires!
My buddy Nic de Sena was there early for the Volant Vivere track day as well. He was doing a story on the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, so he took advantage of the empty track to snap some photos. You can see this shot and more in his review here on Motorcycle.com!
He also snapped a quick photo of me with my Kramer in Turn 11 – one of my worst corners on this track.
Photo by Nic de Sena.
Nic, Olly, Ted, and I all went out for Japanese food for dinner that night. The next day, we’d ride the track for ourselves!
Coming soon…a Picture Intermission from the Volant Vivere day!