2022 Mandalika Test

michaelm said:

If I am not mistaken the engine for a number of years previously was the one designed to be tamed by the bespoke Honda electronics run by a team of IT engineers, and all this went with the advent of the control ECU. I think MM then just told them to make the bike as fast as possible and he would use the software between his ears and his reflexes to tame the thing, which worked pretty well till he had the hardware failure with the arm etc.

It seems likely they have designed the new bike, and the new engine in particular, around the control ECU. Be afraid, be very afraid is what I would say to the field if MM is somewhat healthy, as I have said previously.

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If they've designed the bike around the control ECU and the Michelin rear tire effectively, that's going to be a hell of a bike. I haven't heard if the bike has the shapeshifter devices that everyone else is running since MM wasn't a fan of that stuff. I'd have to think with everyone going in that direction HRC would as well.

The big question is going to be how does his arm and eye hold up.

I hadn’t hear it called that before. I know of its existence but I’ve looked around never finding a video (slo-mo close-up) that makes it possible to actually see visual demonstration of it in-progress. Anybody?

michaelm said:

It seems likely they have designed the new bike, and the new engine in particular, around the control ECU. Be afraid, be very afraid is what I would say to the field if MM is somewhat healthy, as I have said previously.

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Agreed. If he stays healthy I think the arm injury may have been a blessing in disguise because from winning all 3 titles in 2019 to getting 2 podiums in 2020 it woke Honda up to the fact they are screwed without Marc.

I also hope that given he won't have to ride this thing over the edge like he did with the predecessor, that he won't have as many crashes. It has more rear end grip so he wont have to push the front so much.

I expect him to take it easy to start with while he gets more comfortable, but once he gets that way I honestly think on Bagnaia has a chance of stopping him.

PRS717 said:

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For sure don't want to get into cultural politics, but having lived in India for 10 years, knowing the typical journalistic ethics and general lack of fact-checking in the Indian press (at least as bad as the Italian press), I would take anything this guy says with a very big helping of salt.

Keshav said:

For sure don't want to get into cultural politics, but having lived in India for 10 years, knowing the typical journalistic ethics and general lack of fact-checking in the Indian press (at least as bad as the Italian press), I would take anything this guy says with a very big helping of salt.

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I actually find it to be in keeping with what MM has said though.

He didn’t mind a really difficult but fast bike which nobody else could ride, and blamed his physical condition for not being up to doing his thing and riding the 2021 bike to consistent contention.

Doesn’t mean he won’t be able to dominate on a more generally rideable bike however, and for Honda it has the advantage of both saving MM from himself and of having a bike other riders can ride if he suffers any further mishaps. I am sure they didn’t mind having a fast but difficult bike while MM was winning titles on it, but not so much when he was hors de combat and they couldn’t get on the podium.

To don my Stoner fanboy hat I think Casey deserves some credit for the early Honda 1000 bike, which he said was utterly fantastic before Dorna messed with the weight and tyres, which his early pre-season testing results seemed to vindicate.

As much as I admire MM’s skills, I am not looking forward to a MM domination of the field if that is indeed what happens.

If the bike is that good, I am hoping Pol has success with it as well, to the tune of race wins. More than one or two.

Otherwise, I hope Ducati stays in the winning lane, as it looks like the inline 4’s from Yam and Suz haven’t made any significant advances.

Hoping that Fabio stays motivated and wins some more as well.

That’s a lot of hoping!

Bern1 said:

As much as I admire MM’s skills, I am not looking forward to a MM domination of the field if that is indeed what happens.

If the bike is that good, I am hoping Pol has success with it as well, to the tune of race wins. More than one or two.

Otherwise, I hope Ducati stays in the winning lane, as it looks like the inline 4’s from Yam and Suz haven’t made any significant advances.

Hoping that Fabio stays motivated and wins some more as well.

That’s a lot of hoping!

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I don’t mind either way personally, whatever will be will be, but if MM proves to be much better so be it. He isn’t 21 any more though, and at least Bagnaia on a Ducati still likely to be good will probably contend. Not so sure about FQ if the Yamaha has stayed static, it was more down to him than the bike last season imo.

Qatar is fast approaching. I'm getting excited.

Looks like Suzuki is serious > https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/suzuki-hires-ex-honda-boss-as-motogp-team-manager/8422614/

This is a damm good move for them!

michaelm said:

I don’t mind either way personally, whatever will be will be, but if MM proves to be much better so be it. He isn’t 21 any more though, and at least Bagnaia on a Ducati still likely to be good will probably contend. Not so sure about FQ if the Yamaha has stayed static, it was more down to him than the bike last season imo.

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For sure if Yamaha has pulled a Honda and not improved the bike while still expecting FQ to deliver, that is on them. Agree that FQ is a long shot if that is the case.
Also for sure the best rider and bike combination usually wins and if that’s MM/Honda then so be it. It’s just that personally I’m not looking forward to that.

We always get some surprises at the beginning of a new year. Which will those be this time?