Ah physics. Yes my friend, its fun to make a few calculations, eh. My point to Stiefel, which I'm not sure you picked-up on (I say not sure because your post starts off making a few ‘simple’ calculations, but the conclusion then seems to walk it back...and a bit of subtle humor?) Physics is much more complicated than we think, or at least it is for my ........ For ..... and giggles, compare Pedro to Marquez. Then your calculations won't seem so "impressive". I read an article somewhere, can't remember where, somebody calculated the "possible "advantages & disadvantages" a lighter rider might enjoy, and the article was inconclusive. Which is exactly what I had expected, but is also counter intuitive. That is, because we would naturally think a small rider gets certain advantages, after all, we’ve been led to believe ‘power to rate ratios’ and straight line speed (measured as simple trap speed) is a “fundamental of racing”, right Rob, (sorry, inside joke).
You have isolated only one factor of the process of stopping (actually, we are attempted to describe a change in inertia, where your calculation was more akin to a car breaking with a driver inside, rather than a motorcycle), but there is so much more! Yet what have we observed on the track thus far, the reality is, on the track, Marc was able to beat Pedro so far twice, and VR once. When it came to a braking duel, (Qatar) it appears Marc was able to get his bike stopped more effectively than Rossi, the bigger man. When Rossi and Sic came out and spoke of Pedro's weight advantage (a few years ago), tickling the ear of the League to address this weight issue, I said it was ......... And I still feel it really is a ........ argument to some extent, this was the point of my rebuttal to Stiefel, (who was trying to make Rossi & Sic's argument in reverse). It amounts to throwing up some ........ in the air and seeing where it lands (not that Stiefel was doing this, but the debate itself is ........ since nobody is prepared to actually make a meaningful go at calculating the real physics behind it all AND then attempt to make a worthwhile conclusion as to ‘advantages & disadvantages’ in MotoGP racing.) Physically speaking, the difference as you calculated is devoid of the actually ability of the rider to withstand and negotiate that difference in energy (you calculated) generated by change of acceleration (or in this case, deceleration). The point suggested is that Pedro's little arms are not as capable of withstanding such forces as say would a larger man. How you intended to factor this in would be fascinating.
The physics behind the act of acceleration & deceleration, as it pertains to "advantages" in racing are much more complex than you have calculated. If we are going to concluded that there is some stopping disadvantage for Pedro (deceleration described as conversion of kinetic energy as you propose) then what advantage might he have enjoyed in 'acceleration'? Then when you are done attempting to calculate these differences, I would be most enthralled in how you might arrive at significant and meaningful conclusions when we haven't been able to include the actual physical abilities of said riders (that is, how are you going to account for the strength of each rider given their unique body characteristics, muscle mass, bone structure, and other connective tissue, etc. involved in mitigating forces). That is, not all midgets are created equal.
Ok, buddy, so your calculations above are what we would call "a simple" calculation, in that its an average (kinda like whats on your speedometer); but as you know, there are several events happening during the positive and negative acceleration. If we are going to try and describe the forces encountered and how that may or maynot produce an "advantage or disadvantage" for a unique rider, we are going to need much more complex calculations. You can start by describing the difference in braking distance and time between Pedro and Rossi (VR only because you have picked him as apposed to any other rider). As you know, both riders did not come to a complete stop (rest), so you will need to measure what exactly is the speed and velocity each rider is comfortable with going into a particular turn, for the sake of keeping this discussion "simple" enough, lets just say turn one at any given track you choose (we will pretend they are all the same). As you can probably now surmise, if Rossi can handle a bit more corner speed, then that means he may not have to brake as much, or vis versa for Pedro, given of course the characteristics of each bike, and the comfort level of either rider into turn 1. Lets just pretend their bikes are equal; and forget the generally accepted convention which has us believing that the M1is better suited to handle corner speed than say the Honda (the magnitude of course would be interesting to calculate, though probably next to impossible). What then of wind resistance? If deceleration is simply 'acceleration in reverse' or in reality 'a change in velocity', that is, a 'rate' then it would stand to reason that this value (which can be expressed in Gs) would be different for both men experienced at say, their arms (though even that is isolating it too much, I mean, if we are going to go into a meaningful physics exercise) given each rider starts the deceleration process at different speeds and end at different speeds relative to each other. Rossi's body could in effect ‘parachute’ there by mitigating the G force in his arms, where as Pedro would have less ‘surface area’ to provide ‘wind resistance’ in the process of deceleration.
And… .... it, its too much to write. The point is, its way more complicated, and way more involved than I care to describe.
