Sepang Test 1 Thread

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by RCV600RR

Definitely the 17 bike sought to address the weakpoints which Rossi told Yamaha to fix. My point was that Rossi was skeptical of the 17 bike after its debut (his contemporaneous comments suggest that), whereas Mav was extremely fast which caused Rossi to doubt his initial sensations.

When Rossi rode the bike more, he grew increasingly unconvinced but Mav's immense speed meant that he wasn't confident enough to throw the toys out of the pram looking for changes.

My wonder or point is that the bike would have been primarily based on VR's feedback at day 1 as JL was running out the door.

The fact that it went to sh*t is what I find most interesting and wonder how much was Rossi having a bad moment and Yamaha listening, Yamaha doing their own thing, tyres, spec electronics or, as I suspect a major combination of all which in the end meant a very small operational window that was hard to meet.

No doubt Mav's speed gave Yamaha a similar sensation to Ducati of the CS era in as much as 'if one can do it then the bike is fine' but likewise, the fact that Mav got slower and less consistent points to something progressive which for me begs the question

[Gaz]

Trying to get confirmation but have just seen a report that Lorenzo has cut the fastest time ever of the track on a bike.

Will likely get bettered again but this is getting to be fun and his times seem to show that he may be feeling better with the bike ........... but again, testing is testing and not a race so time will tell but early signs are good

[michaelm]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Trying to get confirmation but have just seen a report that Lorenzo has cut the fastest time ever of the track on a bike.

Will likely get bettered again but this is getting to be fun and his times seem to show that he may be feeling better with the bike ........... but again, testing is testing and not a race so time will tell but early signs are good

The tyre with which Vinales had his early season success was withdrawn if you recall, but that still means the 2017 bike had a narrow operating window dependent on one rider’s riding style and one particular tyre I guess, while the 2016 bike still seemed to be pretty good for the Tech 3 riders.

[Gaz]

Originally Posted by michaelm

The tyre with which Vinales had his early season success was withdrawn if you recall, but that still means the 2017 bike had a narrow operating window dependent on one rider’s riding style and one particular tyre I guess, while the 2016 bike still seemed to be pretty good for the Tech 3 riders.

Had forgotten about that Mike so appreciate the reminder, but yes, it does just further reinforce the narrow operating window which, for any bike in where Rossi has played a part in development is unusual.

If we look at history, the Honda's were quite rideable no matter who was on then when he was there and as we know, all Yamaha's in his first visit were very competitive. Even the Ducati had an even level of competitive ness whilst he was so employed and on his return to Yamaha again (or still is a better word), all bikes were similarly competitive.

Up until 2017 which just further gets my inquisitive mind working as to what it was, or what the combination of things was that caused such a small operating band.

Yes, we can say that JL left and his input may have helped produce a good product (heck, look at Ducati now but that is to do a disservice to Dovi and the factory changes).

Perhaps 2017 was an abomination of a year where Yamaha tried the HRC approach of engineers know best only for them to be slapped by a #46 glove.

Time will tell I guess but it was an unusual year in that aspect

[libby]

Jorge just set a new lap record 158.830 he's on it like a car bonnet lol 💜😎👍

[michaelm]

Originally Posted by Gaz

Had forgotten about that Mike so appreciate the reminder, but yes, it does just further reinforce the narrow operating window which, for any bike in where Rossi has played a part in development is unusual.

If we look at history, the Honda's were quite rideable no matter who was on then when he was there and as we know, all Yamaha's in his first visit were very competitive. Even the Ducati had an even level of competitive ness whilst he was so employed and on his return to Yamaha again (or still is a better word), all bikes were similarly competitive.

Up until 2017 which just further gets my inquisitive mind working as to what it was, or what the combination of things was that caused such a small operating band.

Yes, we can say that JL left and his input may have helped produce a good product (heck, look at Ducati now but that is to do a disservice to Dovi and the factory changes).

Perhaps 2017 was an abomination of a year where Yamaha tried the HRC approach of engineers know best only for them to be slapped by a #46 glove.

Time will tell I guess but it was an unusual year in that aspect

I agree with you, I think the Yamaha engineers probably got too clever a la Honda. In my previous incarnation as a Lorenzo fan I thought his departure might have something to do with it as well.

[synn]

Looks like most teams and riders are doing tyre degradation and other visually non exciting things today. But we might see a flurry of fast laps in the last 20 minutes or so.

[Barbedwirebikerr]

Years past the tests were played on foxtel. Nothing at All for this test. At least they have started to play some older races.

Today i watched the czech gp 1996. Epic race.

[michaelm]

As someone on crashnet opined, Miller’s and Rabat’s times do make you wonder about the quality of the Honda equipment provided to Marc VDS last year.

[synn]

Originally Posted by michaelm

As someone on crashnet opined, Miller’s and Rabat’s times do make you wonder about the quality of the Honda equipment provided to Marc VDS last year.

Miller said multiple times that MarcVDS always got the bottom of the barrel. Updates take ages to arrive and factory support was marginal.

Them and Tech 3 seem to be prime candidates to make a switch when KTM is ready with their satellite program.