Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates


Hmm you rightly pointed out the problem most of the riders who rode for ducati post Casey Stoner are facing this problem of understeer, front end not gripping no feedback from the front tyres to the rider, absolutely it's the pinnacle of motorsport everything is so tightly packed that even an air like thin mistake or flaw can you deport to the back of the grid or in the race, solving problems in motorsport is not like changing a punctured tyre plus they haven't either got that much funding also to test develop and develop test.

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

What you say is correct, there are a few things I would like to add.
At Ducati they have improved since last year after the arrival of the new chief engineer, Luigi Dall'Igna (previously with Aprilia) and the problem of the vague front end has largely been solved now, according to Dovi: the understeer remains though. At the times of the good results by Capirossi (2006) and the world title with Stoner (2007) Ducati didn't show these problems: why? Because they were still using the old trellis frame, which is the kind of frame they know best, since their beginnings, and most importantly they had the Bridgestone tires developed practically on their bike (Honda and Yamaha were still using Michelin and Bridgestone used Ducati as a test bed for developing their tires). As soon as the Bridgestone became competitive, the fact that they had been developed on the Ducati paid handsome dividends for a couple of years, as these new tires were obviously well suited for the Ducati, and had now an edge performance wise.

But in 2008 Yamaha first and then Honda asked and obtained the Bridgestones for Rossi and Pedrosa. In a short time all riders wanted Bridgestone, because of their better performance, and so in 2009 Michelin retired from MotoGP which opted to remain with a single tire supplier introducing the Single Tire Rule. That gradually changed the nature of the Bridgestones, which were now developed mainly on the Honda and Yamaha. So Ducati had to change their beloved trellis chassis to try adapting their bike to the new kind of Bridgestones, that were no more well suited to their needs; now, to adapt a bike to a specific tire you need to be able to play with the stiffness values at various points of the frame and swingarm, something that is not easily done with a steel trellis frame. They first tried the way of the carbon fiber like F1, which on paper is perfect for having varying grades of stiffness, but the results did not come and in 2009 and 2010 Stoner won less and less on the Ducati; then with Rossi the problems had become unmanageable and they reluctantly had to go the way of the aluminium frame (retaining a carbon fiber swingarm).

The irony of all this is that Ducati didn't have any problem when they were using a supposedly old-fashioned steel trellis frame with tires developed on their bike; I dare say that even now all their problems would dissolve magically if they could have a tire designed specifically for them. But now there is a single tire supplier who has to please the majority, and the majority of the bikes on the grid are Hondas and Yamahas. Ducati have to adapt their bike to the tires, since the tires will not adapt to their bike: and that has sparked this problematic phase, which hopefully will be over next year when a totally new Ducati, designed from scratch for these needs, is going to debut.

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

You are right J4rn0. Ducati is just trying to get as much as feedback as they can from the riders,but changing riders every year is also not helping the cause either, but every rider wants to win and nobody wants to be a part of an loosing team plus in a few years Bridgestone is also saying goodbye to Motogp as lack of competition so one hopes that with different tyre manufacturers Ducati will again be a force to reckon, but iam also not convinced with this Motogp organising group, this racing is technological sport and when you restrict money spending in the sports it starts to deteriorate, there should be no restrictiions on money spending by the teams and no limitations on private testing, if a team is not having enough money to compete in this top line motorsport he should not be a part of this sport.

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Problem with free spending is that these are times of economic dire straits for most manufacturers, and I'm afraid that without any limitations the richest ones (read Honda) would dominate even more than now, to the point that it would become a one-brand competition...

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Ya man. Restricting the rules & regulations is very important I believe to stop MotoGP from becoming a monopoly & bring some much needed competition into the series. Otherwise, the same old dominance of Honda & Yamaha is killing the sport. But, one thing has to be said MotoGP riders are the best. Several champion riders after coming to MotoGP have been left biting the dust. Take Ben Spies for example, 3 time champion & 1 time World SBK champion (all done in 4 years mind you) couldn't do a thing in MotoGP. Also, Troy Bayliss the in-form 3-4 times World Champion from World SBK couldn't do a thing in MotoGP. It's because they were all on teams other than the factory Honda & Yamaha.!! [MENTION=38865]
J4rn0[/MENTION] Also, when will Suzuki enter MotoGP? Hows the bike? Also, I read somewhere about Kawasaki & Aprilia contemplating entering MotoGP.

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Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

In a way yes there should be some funding restrictions on the sport but these restrictions should not be spoling the sport, after all every new invention or every new learning in motorsport is gonna applied to the road versions of the bike, but if you are only restriciting everything than iam sorry to say it just plain motorcycle racing nothing else, yes some team might suffer due to lack of cash, but you see some of the teams are still suffering, there can only be one team at the top, it's the survival of fittest, this argument of governing motorsport so heavily is always a matter of debate between some race enthusiast or race journalist.Some critics even said that what's the use of racing it's a waste of money and this money can be used in many other ways , in many other useful purpose,why to waste it on racing like sport.

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates


MotoGP riding skills are doubtless very specific (carbon fiber brakes, spaceship-level traction control, 240+ bhp, super-performing tires); it's like being an astronaut as opposed to an 'ordinary' fighter jet pilot, one might say; still when I think of the guys racing, say, the Tourist Trophy, well... maybe they do not have those peculiar astronaut skills but hey, they are great and ballsy motorcycle racers who are second to none. It's not possible to say one is 'superior' to the other, they're different and equally great.

Suzuki, Aprilia, Kawasaki -- all these glorious manufacturers were there racing in MotoGP not so long ago, and had to leave due to economic constraints. I think 2016 is the magic number for a re-entry of these players, under a more affordable set of rules. Suzuki maybe even earlier, probably next year.

@ Kusmaker -- MotoGP doesn't need to be a NASA kind of effort to be useful. The technological gap with stock is already huge at the Superbike level, leave alone MotoGP -- if the aim for the manufacturers is transferring technology to production, then they could stop now and relax for a few years because 90% of current MotoGP tech is sheer overkill that will hardly ever find any reasonable road application, -- unless tires that last 25 laps can ever become relevant for stock production, or predictive traction control can be applied outside of a closed track, on open roads complete with the mandatory potholes...

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Suzuki is coming back to MotoGP next year. Some recent updates from their stable:

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

I really hope so, MotoGP without Suzuki is missing a sizeable piece of its history. I wonder if they'll try to hire a top rider, or they'll take it easy for the first year and field only Randy De Puniet. When Davide Brivio became Suzuki's manager for this new MotoGP project, many thought that Rossi would also join them, because of his old association with Brivio; but now Rossi looks happy at Yamaha, and is fully aware that his age doesn't allow him the time needed to develop a brand new bike (otherwise he would have stayed at Ducati). A possible option for Suzuki could be Pedrosa, and it could happen if he doesn't accept to play second fiddle to Marquez at HRC. Or, going to the second tier, Crutchlow is unhappy at Ducati and even Dovizioso could be tempted to make a move leaving the top Ducati slot to Iannone.

Btw, I just found this nice free video at motogp.com:

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Rossi and Monster launch new drink called Doctor

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

^^ these are just limited edition Monster Energy cans.


was (re)watching the Mugello race, and i must say... the camerawork was simply superb.
they had a whole bunch of tight crops and the video work was "closer-than-usual"... really made the action look FAST.

hope they continue that style of camerawork for the rest of the season.
.

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Tomorrow Qualifying starts by 5.40pm..

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Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Got something to watch after work tonight:

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Re: MotoGP 2014 Season - Updates

Brembo Engineer Lorenzo Bortolozzo & Andrea Dovizioso- MotoGP Brake Issues