I was talking about the Al frame. Honda and Yamaha don't really count as everybody says that the 1000 are similar to the 800. The CRT effort is a different thing and I don't think it is fair to compare them with a factory team and a factory ride. They are quite far from the pointy end of the grid. Just like Rossi. RdP did very well but we don't really know what tires and setup he was riding (compared to riders with similar time) so we can't tell if he can keep that pace for an entire race. I remember the days when Tamada was out in the qualifying session and he was setting very fast laps in the first 15-20 minutes of the session. The man was on fire...until the last 5 minutes when he would drop down to 10th or so. He was going out with qualifying tires when everybody else was still sorting out the last pieces of the puzzle. It was a great strategy for the sponsors to be seen and maybe to gather telemetry for the mother ship but not much else. And I think they had a winning rider, not a winning bike. It is strange that they seem to have the same problems as before. At least now they don't have to scrap an entire engine when they make a small change to the frame. That's a step forward. I also think that the gap between Stoner on a Honda and everybody else on anything else is bigger than the time difference. Stoner is just cruising and not taking any risks. He probably has another half a second under his sleeve if he pushes the Honda as hard as he was pushing that Ducati. So I was talking about the new ways they can improve. They have a new bike they don't know very well. They also have the same gap they had with a bike they knew very well.
Throttle cable goes to a potentiometer with a spring, to simulate a throttle. Signal is taken from potentiometer, and the ECU works out what the rider really wanted to do, and opens the throttle butterflies accordingly.
So when are we gunna stop calling the Aprillias 'CRT' bikes.? They are clearly factory supplied bikes. And who will be the first team to actually use the claiming rule, and nab one? It's all a bit silly, really....
I understand all that, but find it kind of strange that we now have a roadbike, (Panigale), that does away with them altogether....
No such thing as a CRT bike. There is only a Claiming Rule Team, and whatever bike they run is a CRT bike. Even if it's a Honda RC213V. The rules are actually a stroke of genius, and the factories have had their pocket money stolen and their school books flushed down the toilet while they were looking the other way.
If the throttle control fails on the road bike, an eight figure racing program doesn't fall apart in front of the whole world.
I understand all that and concur,but we all know that even the smallest change can make a fast bike one year a relative pig the next.....that seems to happen less now but i just cant beleive the ducs wont be fast this year. Uh Oh
Like a few tires here and there are a monumental cost in the overall scheme of GP racing? Come on... too much micromanagement. Anyway, good to see the Ducati's up there! And Spies, future world champion! ....(I hope).
That's what I said, too. If everything goes right, they will be fast towards the end of the year and fight for the title next year.
I tend to think the litigation issues would be a whole lot heavier for the road bike tho.... Seriously, I just thought they'd gone past the cable thing! Ride on!!!
How many times was this said early in 2011? How many years do Rossi/Ducati get? After all Rossi is a development genius, right?
Bad weather today. Look who is on top! Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Prev. Gap Lead. Gap Laps 1 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1:40.755 - - 40 2 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1:41.661 +0.906 +0.906 39 3 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:41.726 +0.065 +0.971 26 4 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:42.711 +0.985 +1.956 27 5 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1:43.288 +0.577 +2.533 35 6 Ivan SILVA Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:43.613 +0.325 +2.858 37 7 Franco BATTAINI Ducati Team 1:44.264 +0.651 +3.509 48 8 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:44.761 +0.497 +4.006 9 9 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1:44.969 +0.208 +4.214 30 10 Danilo PETRUCCI Came Iodaracing Project 1:45.336 +0.367 +4.581 24 11 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:47.968 +2.632 +7.213 26 12 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1:49.822 +1.854 +9.067 25 13 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1:50.088 +0.266 +9.333 28 14 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:51.127 +1.039 +10.372 15 15 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:51.702 +0.575 +10.947 16 16 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1:51.772 +0.070 +11.017 12 17 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda 1:51.778 +0.006 +11.023 23 18 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1:51.856 +0.078 +11.101 3 19 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1:51.910 +0.054 +11.155 18 20 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1:52.397 +0.487 +11.642 8 21 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1:57.718 +5.321 +16.963 8 22 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Racing MotoGP -.--- - -
Results from the purely wet sessions: from: http://www.motomatters.com/results/2012/03/24/2012_irta_motogp_jerez_test_day_2_times_.html Results in the wet on day2: Pos Rider Team Bike Time Diff Prev. 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Honda 1:49.822 2 Jorge Lorenzo Factory Yamaha Yamaha 1:50.088 0.266 0.266 3 Cal Crutchlow Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:51.127 1.305 1.039 4 Alvaro Bautista San Carlo Gresini Honda 1:51.420 1.598 0.293 5 Nicky Hayden Ducati Factory Ducati 1:51.627 1.805 0.207 6 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 1:51.702 1.880 0.075 7 Mattia Pasini Speed Master Aprilia ART 1:51.772 1.950 0.070 8 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda Honda 1:51.778 1.956 0.006 9 Ben Spies Factory Yamaha Yamaha 1:51.843 2.021 0.065 10 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Honda 1:51.856 2.034 0.013 11 Valentino Rossi Ducati Factory Ducati 1:51.910 2.088 0.054 12 Randy de Puniet Power Electronics Aspar Aprilia ART 1:52.397 2.575 0.487 13 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Ducati 1:53.244 3.422 0.847 14 James Ellison PBM UK Aprilia ART 1:53.519 3.697 0.275 15 Hector Barbera Pramac Ducati 1:54.040 4.218 0.521 16 Danilo Petrucci IODA Racing IODA Aprilia 1:54.677 4.855 0.637 17 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Suter BMW 1:54.847 5.025 0.170 18 Aleix Espargaro Power Electronics Aspar Aprilia ART 1:57.718 7.896 2.871
JLo's jus a fatso And by the way if there's any other cycling nuts on here, I have a full Ben Spies cycling kit (bibs and jersey) that his Mom mis-shipped to me. No kidding. Long story. It's a size Large and I'm more XL these days.
Back to bidness as usual? Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Prev. Gap Lead. Gap Laps 1 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1:38.780 - - 61 2 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1:38.953 +0.173 +0.173 84 3 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1:39.157 +0.204 +0.377 73 4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1:39.495 +0.338 +0.715 61 5 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:39.585 +0.090 +0.805 83 6 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1:39.733 +0.148 +0.953 90 7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:39.860 +0.127 +1.080 72 8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1:39.919 +0.059 +1.139 91 9 Alvaro BAUTISTA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:40.017 +0.098 +1.237 86 10 Stefan BRADL LCR Honda 1:40.098 +0.081 +1.318 85 11 Hector BARBERA Pramac Racing Team 1:40.287 +0.189 +1.507 91 12 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1:40.579 +0.292 +1.799 88 13 Randy DE PUNIET Power Electronics Aspar 1:40.601 +0.022 +1.821 71 14 Aleix ESPARGARO Power Electronics Aspar 1:41.645 +1.044 +2.865 69 15 Danilo PETRUCCI Came Iodaracing Project 1:41.926 +0.281 +3.146 87 16 Franco BATTAINI Ducati Team 1:42.057 +0.131 +3.277 85 17 Colin EDWARDS NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:42.073 +0.016 +3.293 58 18 Mattia PASINI Speed Master 1:42.184 +0.111 +3.404 59 19 Michele PIRRO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:42.212 +0.028 +3.432 52 20 James ELLISON Paul Bird Motorsport 1:42.437 +0.225 +3.657 83 21 Ivan SILVA Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:42.446 +0.009 +3.666 84 22 Yonny HERNANDEZ Avintia Racing MotoGP 1:42.906 +0.460 +4.126 59
I'd be interested to see the times for the race simulations run by the top riders. That might be more telling than fastest lap. Looks to me, as an uneducated observer, that we're likely to see a repeat of last year, at least as far as Honda and Yamaha factory riders battling for the podiums. Tech 3 does look racy as well. Even the Honda satellite bikes are looking decent. IMHO, Ducati still has not found the answers. I guess I won't have much to cheer about with regard to Nicky. Hope I'm proven wrong. Sure hate to see Colin languish at the back of the pack. Let the racing begin.
@matoxley: Casey, why did you leave it till the last 10 mins to better Jorge? "I just wanted to be cheeky!" Told you, he's a funny lad Nice to be able to turn it up as needed...