Yooperbikemike's 2012 MotoGP Thread

[wiseblood]

Originally Posted by Motodisiac

I'm also really impressed by De Puniet. Perhaps CRT bikes will get even faster towards the end of the season.

Up front it's business as usual. And Ducati crew must be in a very depressed state, they are not going anywhere. As much as I wanted seeing Rossi in red, now I wish he didn't waste two years of his ending career on a turd.

I think that if Rossi can close the gap to <1 second, his race-craft will land him on the podium quite often. But, that has to be a consistent time -- not a "hot lap."

[Turder]

I think those times are extremely encouraging for RdP and ART. They put together a bike over winter that is way faster than other CRTs but the best thing is that they can challenge prototypes for real. I would love to see RdP infront of a works Ducati at Qatar. Aprilia vs. Ducati media fight may commense

[mdubya]

Is it me or does Spies look more gaunt than ever before?

[PeteN95]

RdP on the factory Aprilia?!?

[Parx400]

Originally Posted by mdubya

Is it me or does Spies look more gaunt than ever before?

He cycles allot. He needs to be as lean as he can to make up for how tall he is.

[advNZer?]

Originally Posted by Florin

RdP got the CRT under 2 seconds from Stoner.

I think it is normal to see the Ducati riders so slow. The bike is new and they are working with things they have never worked before. The big question is "Is there room for improvement?". They might be as slow as last year but if the current design allows them to improve they might grab a few wins at the end of the championship when the guys fighting for the title will take less and less risks and start fighting for the title in '13.

Everybody kept saying that they need a year to sort things out. I think that year is '12, not last year.

SORRY? never worked with before? how about all the crt bikes and honda and yamaha.Its not like ducati are new to this bike racing business.They have had a winning bike(s) before!

[Florin]

Originally Posted by advNZer?

SORRY? never worked with before? how about all the crt bikes and honda and yamaha.Its not like ducati are new to this bike racing business.They have had a winning bike(s) before!

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.

[Kropotkin]

Originally Posted by BOOTLACE

Throttle cables. ? I thought they were extinct. ?

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.

[BOOTLACE]

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....

[BOOTLACE]

Originally Posted by Kropotkin

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.

I understand all that, but find it kind of strange that we now have a roadbike, (Panigale), that does away with them altogether....

[Kropotkin]

Originally Posted by BOOTLACE

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....

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.

[DogBoy]

Originally Posted by BOOTLACE

I understand all that, but find it kind of strange that we now have a roadbike, (Panigale), that does away with them altogether....

If the throttle control fails on the road bike, an eight figure racing program doesn't fall apart in front of the whole world.

[advNZer?]

Originally Posted by Florin

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Valentino Rossi

We solved some things today, but not one important thing, which is corner entry, especially in the fastest part of the turn. I’m not able to be incisive there, and it’s where most of our gap comes from. I can’t load the front enough to enter fast, so I don’t carry enough speed through the corner, and ....

Uh Oh

[Skowinski]

Originally Posted by dontlr

“@Spalders: Most people now on track; No Rossi yet. reasons are partly track temp and tyre avaiability *He wants to use hards,but can only have 2 today”


This is just absurd, it's testing for crying out loud and riders are limited on tires, throws hands up in the air and walks out

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).

[Pantah]

Originally Posted by Skowinski

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).

Ben is still missing his half second.