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I was there. I did not enjoy the race.
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That killed F1 in the US for awhile.
It cuts both ways though, sometimes the engineers need to save the riders from themselves.
I haven’t really kept up with recent developments at Yamaha, but what Synn says about FQ rings true.
Valentino himself iirc was calling for Yamaha to go to a V4 after the 2007 Ducati title, not realising until 2011 that the straight line performance of the 800 Ducati came at the cost of the bike being impossible for almost any human being to ride. Yamaha managed to resist him and won 6 more titles with an in-line 4, the first 2 won by him.
I watched it live and it was like watching a train crash in Matrix bullet time.
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I've never followed car racing. Wow, watching that gave me a cluster-.... headache. I'm surprised the fans didn't riot.
Only having seen pictures of the 800 Ducati without the fairing, it had a sliver of Carbon fiber in the front that Masqueraded as a “Chassis”, which served very little purpose other than connect the forks to the rest of the bike.
It also had a ridiculously long swing arm that probably murdered chains.
It was all engine and very little anything else. Stoner also said they had literally no updates throughout the season.
Arguably a greater mismatch of Man vs Machine capability than the 2019 Marquez-RCV combo.
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I left about halfway through the "race". I would have rioted, but I think we were all just stunned. I didn't have a smartphone back then either, so I was in the dark driving to Indy Saturday. Heard rumors in the stands Sunday, but then all the cars came out for the sighting lap. I remember David Coulthard really floored it out of pit lane, which was surprising. Usually they start with a pretty finely balanced fuel load. Then 75% of the cars went back to the pits. WTF. I got four free tickets from Michelin for the next year, and went, but my heart wasn't in it.
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Funny, Kropotkin said in one of his last pieces that Ducati is gonna enter a period of decline because they keep losing key personnel to rival manufacturers and that the usual suspects will blame Marc for it when he'll have nothing to do with that. He got that one spot on ahead of time.
Also nice clickbait videos. Dani offers nothing but praise to Marc whenever he comments on DAZN Spain.
Long, (but good) scathing critique of HRC and their downward spiral.
I didn’t know Alberto Puig was a Dorna shareholder. Those generous concessions are starting to make a lot more sense now.
www.gpone.com
I didn’t know Alberto Puig was a Dorna shareholder. Those generous concessions are starting to make a lot more sense now.
MotoGP, HRC in oblivion: a horrific record that seems to have no end
MotoGP: In amongst all the frenzy of Marquez's successes, the HRC bosses apparently did not realize that the Spaniard's magnificent triumphs had more to do with the rider than with the Honda RC213V
www.gpone.com
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Long, (but good) scathing critique of HRC and their downward spiral.
I didn’t know Alberto Puig was a Dorna shareholder. Those generous concessions are starting to make a lot more sense now.
MotoGP, HRC in oblivion: a horrific record that seems to have no end
MotoGP: In amongst all the frenzy of Marquez's successes, the HRC bosses apparently did not realize that the Spaniard's magnificent triumphs had more to do with the rider than with the Honda RC213V
Good read.
Had no idea either about Puig being a shareholder. From an ethics standpoint he should not be serving as Team Principal at all for a GP team in light of that news. I'd also say Honda's performance under his watch has been frankly, ghastly.
I'm not sure there's any real fix for Honda at the moment because with them focused on the F1 engine supplier endeavor for 2026, I can't imagine them being able to effectively manage both the F1 and GP projects effectively. Then again who knows, maybe they are just going all in on 2027 and will use the remaining seasons to figure out what they really need. I think losing the ride height devices will help them significantly. But will it be enough?
Most of our jokes about how Puig has survived so long have been less out there than him being a fellow shareholder in Dorna with Carmelo.
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I hear Honda lawnmowers have fallen behind lately.Long, (but good) scathing critique of HRC and their downward spiral.
I didn’t know Alberto Puig was a Dorna shareholder. Those generous concessions are starting to make a lot more sense now.
MotoGP, HRC in oblivion: a horrific record that seems to have no end
MotoGP: In amongst all the frenzy of Marquez's successes, the HRC bosses apparently did not realize that the Spaniard's magnificent triumphs had more to do with the rider than with the Honda RC213V
I had a recent model Honda Civic Type R. People actually liked the wing, amusingly. In the end I am ideologically.opposed to FWD, but the engine was a work of art, and jewel like to behold.
HRC in GP bike racing work by arcane principles beyond my ken which perhaps only Yamaha with whom they engaged in what seemed to be a form of ritual combat for all those years also understand. They have an engineering philosophy, for good or ill though, and as Lex says they appear to fundamentally disapprove of aero on bikes. Iirc they threatened Ducati with outspending them if they went that path years ago, not a threat they can make now I guess with VW Audi on board.
Which I don’t understand really.
Soichiro Honda looked at the best of what Britain and Europe made and said “Right, I’m just going to make a better version of all of these”. And he did.
I don’t know when innovation became anathema to HRC/ Honda. Sure, that innovation is something we spectators don’t appreciate, but it wins championships.
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I've always felt Honda moved away from innovation after Soichiro Honda passed in 1991. It seemed they became afraid of taking risks. More that it was a slow decline rather than something overnight. I always felt their recent F1 endeavor took a stroke of good fortune to make it all worth it; Abu Dhabi 2021. I don't think they ever truly adapted to the spec ECU whereas Ducati had no issue with it, and neither do the other European manufacturers it seems. Makes me wonder if the problem lies in that particular area.
To be fair, Ducati registered their bikes as “Open class”, had a years head start on the Magneti Marelli ECU, then poached a few engineers from there as well.
Thats no excuse in 2024 though.
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Yes, Honda lost their souls near the end of the last century. Some of that was the loss of Mr. Honda, some was an intentional effort to become more profitable in order to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Mitsubishi. Some of their products are still quite good, but the soul of the company has changed. Inevitable I suppose.
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Honda are now planning to ditch all ICE engines (bikes and cars) for 2040. I can't see them staying in Grand Prix racing for long if they keep that path.
Pierro Teramasso shared that they do computer simulations, which are pretty sophisticated these days. The factory test riders have also received prototypes of this since last year I believe. This year and the next, the factory riders are also supposed to test it during the official test days.
So yeah, they will have a good idea of how the tyre will perform with the current formula. The next one, we’ll have to see, but Pit Beirer estimated that the 2027 prototypes should see the light of the day in early 2026. Which gives them under a year to refine the design.
Michelin uses the same tech they used for the Saturday Night Specials- a sort of 3D printing, for rapid prototyping, so fingers crossed they will crack the code in time.
