Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Absolutely. To give credence to the idea that the most famous Italian manufacturer of motorcycles (the one that's been so
dominant in WSBK), that received so much publicity as a result of their WC season of 2007; the one on whose bikes more
800cc podiums have been accomplished... would feel pressured to create a bike on which the NINE TIMES WC and national
hero - beloved of millions, who just happens to be Italian, might actually be in some regard capable of winning races in the
dry - would be ludicrous. To suggest contracting Rossi had anything to do with the concerted efforts by Ducati one would
have to be an over-excitable, nay paranoid conspiracist. Don't go 'round spouting that sort of thing or the Patron will shush you and give you a time out.
Austin, just wondering if you know which manufactuer requested
not to have the additional rubber from bs last weekend?
There also could be something in the loss of the qualifiers, losing the art of softer compounds...... Lets face it, bridgestone essentially haven't supplied a new compound since 2009, this has to be difficult moving forward. There also could be issues with a certain manufacturer(s)investing squillillions into making the bike work
with this rubber, not wanting to lose this advantage with a simple compound variation from bs adding missing tenths per sector to those who need a different feel....... It's all very Japanese really
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
I recall Stoner saying some time back he'd always preferred a tire that got a bit greasy towards the end.
For that matter, I seem to remember Spies saying the same thing early last year.
Because Stoner kept doing fastest laps and scoring wins, and as Burgess said, they paid more attention to the successes than the failures. You do not want to change things too much when you are at the top, it takes very little to make things worse. By end 2009 anyway they had accepted that most of their success was due to Stoner, so they tried to change more things to suit other riders but then, when Hayden was faster, Stoner was slower. They understood it was not so easy to change the bike and were almost afraid of trying too much: as soon as they gave Stoner his 'normal' bike back, he was immediately fast again and scored three wins at the end of last season, -- blame them for not changing his bike...!
Now with Stoner gone, and the 1000cc class coming, they have no choice but change. They would be changing everything with or without Rossi. With Rossi they have more chances of getting it right in time for next year though.
Sorry J4rn0 but I don't think anyone is buying that.
Ducati are under immense pressure from the yellow horde to provide Vale with a winning bike.
Look what they are already copping on this forum alone. Gpig 11 etc, people calling it a piece of .... etc
Are you seriously trying to tell us that Ducati would have shut down their factory superbike team to concentrate solely on Motogp for any other rider?
Not a friggin chance in hell. Any suggestion otherwise is literally fairytale stuff.
yes I agree, mainly because ducati have tried lots of stuff to try and get consistent for years in Motogp. And so far they have been fairly unsuccessful.
If anyone thinks that they didn't know what they were getting into when signing Rossi, is living in fairyland, of course they knew, and they had the balls to do it anyway because they want to win-often, with more than one rider......this is passion and they will get there....... admitting that they needed to change, implementing that change and then working there arses off to make it happen with the weight of Rossi on their shoulders-great stuff
Joined Mar 2005
7K Posts | 20+
Woody Creek
Because Stoner kept doing fastest laps and scoring wins, and as Burgess said, they paid more attention to the successes than the failures. You do not want to change things too much when you are at the top, it takes very little to make things worse. By end 2009 anyway they had accepted that most of their success was due to Stoner, so they tried to change more things to suit other riders but then, when Hayden was faster, Stoner was slower. They understood it was not so easy to change the bike and were almost afraid of trying too much: as soon as they gave Stoner his 'normal' bike back, he was immediately fast again and scored three wins at the end of last season, -- blame them for not changing his bike...!
Now with Stoner gone, and the 1000cc class coming, they have no choice but change. They would be changing everything with or without Rossi. With Rossi they have more chances of getting it right in time for next year though.
That's a fair enough point. Many people, including myself, forget that the switch to the big bang was in favor of a more rideable motorcycle, to the detriment of Stoner. I get what you're saying now. They tried to make some changes while Stoner was there, but there weren't big enough gains from Hayden and the rest and Stoner got slower. I see what you're saying. I'm not saying I'm convinced they'd make such drastic changes for another rider (taking into account statute, image, national pride, and perhaps above all, sponsorship money), but that's purely my opinion.
Matt Birt and Dennis Noyes have confirmed this morning that it was Simoncelli who vetoed the soft tire at Honda. That story just gets better and better, doesn't it?
Austin, just wondering if you know which manufactuer requested
not to have the additional rubber from bs last weekend?
There also could be something in the loss of the qualifiers, losing the art of softer compounds...... Lets face it, bridgestone essentially haven't supplied a new compound since 2009, this has to be difficult moving forward. There also could be issues with a certain manufacturer(s)investing squillillions into making the bike work
with this rubber, not wanting to lose this advantage with a simple compound variation from bs adding missing tenths per sector to those who need a different feel....... It's all very Japanese really
Do you or anyone else know why they dropped them?
Cal for one probably wouldn't be injured if they still had them.
Joined Mar 2005
7K Posts | 20+
Woody Creek
There's no need for them anymore. The only reason they were there was because of the tire war.
Joined Apr 2008
7K Posts | 3K+
Out of Nowhere
Cal wouldn't have been on one anyway as he was only three laps into the qualifying session. Although RDP did have a habit of throwing the gauntlet down and chucking a quali on very early in qualifying sessions as I recall.
The big omission is still intermediate compounds. Certainly a greater range of rubber would have averted some of the bizarre accidents we've seen this season.
Joined Aug 2007
11K Posts | 3K+
Pomona NY
Joined Mar 2005
7K Posts | 20+
Woody Creek
Noyes has since tweeted that he can't confirm anything other than Honda vetoed the choice, but he says Italian TV is reporting it was Gresini Honda who vetoed the soft rubber, which would mean it was Simoncelli behind the decision. No longer "confirmed", but it still looks as thought it was Sic who wanted the hard rubber.
Joined Oct 2006
3K Posts | 197+
Living the dream in Scotland
The word on Eurosport on Saturday was that Sic was behind it.
He's not just makin the best calls just now, is he?
Aoyama´s regular crew chief was on a Spanish post GP show called "Paddock GP" on Saturday night. He was asked what the full story was on why Honda had vetoed the new rubber. His answer- Simoncelli was happy with the tires tried and there was no need for a softer one, possibly giving the other competitors an advantage. This is not hearsay, I heard and saw the words comming out of his mouth. Seems HRC backed Sic´s tire choice and felt confident Sic would be fighting for the win, and well we all know how that came out...
Dennis Noyes was sitting right next to said crew chief, so that is were Mr. Noyes info comes from.
Dennis Noyes was sitting right next to said crew chief, so that is were Mr. Noyes info comes from.
OK. An observation...and not to defend Simo he really needs to exercise better judgement.
But when watching the race start I noticed that Lorenzo had a pretty good jump, came across traffic and then tried to stuff it up the inside underneath Spies. He obviously had too much speed to pull off the maneuver and let it push to the outside where his rear hopped up on him almost leading to a highside that would have most certainly taken out Simo. But he didn't lose it...and as a result nobody is talking about it.
Could it not be said that Lorenzo tried a similarly unadvised move on cold tires but got away with it since he didn't crash out? Hence, nobody is giving him grief for it?
Any way. Just an observation.
But when watching the race start I noticed that Lorenzo had a pretty good jump, came across traffic and then tried to stuff it up the inside underneath Spies. He obviously had too much speed to pull off the maneuver and let it push to the outside where his rear hopped up on him almost leading to a highside that would have most certainly taken out Simo. But he didn't lose it...and as a result nobody is talking about it.
Could it not be said that Lorenzo tried a similarly unadvised move on cold tires but got away with it since he didn't crash out? Hence, nobody is giving him grief for it?
Any way. Just an observation.
Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
I think the tires need to stay the same for the electronics to be consistent. I would like to see the bikes go back to standard brakes, then we'd see larger braking distances and riders having to deal with brake fade as a race went on.