Duc still tight lipped on frame design

Ducati MotoGP boss remains tight-lipped on frame designs

06/09/2011



Preziosi will not discuss Ducati's future designs



Ducati MotoGP boss Filippo Preziosi says he will never give away what his team are planning to do ahead of time but admitted once again they are looking at different frames than the current carbon fibre design.



Rumours still circulating in the MotoGP paddock say that Valentino Rossi will test an FTR-built aluminium frame at Mugello this week and Preziosi did nothing to dispel that but said he would not reveal their future plans in the same way that Honda wouldn't. He also semi-joked they had lied about what they were doing in the past.



"We tested, in 2009, aluminium chassis so that's not new. As I said many times, it is not the material that makes the difference but we are thinking about solutions in order to have better turning of the bike and a better feeling. I am happy that my company give me the freedom to do what we think is important to design, to build and to test. The most important thing for Ducati is to build knowledge - even testing solutions that are not our background," he said.



"For me it is very interesting to test new things and I ask the company to do some things and they says yes, like always in the past. We will never tell what we do in the future and sometimes we lie. You can ask Honda what will be their next steps and they will not answer you.



We have to build something that allows the rider to be constantly and safely on the limit. If you are less than 99.99 per cent, then you are a second behind. The main problem with our bike is to not increase the limit it is to give to the rider the right feedback so we have to do that.



"Flexibility is something that we tested and the factory riders say that direction is right but it is not enough so we have to start thinking something different so maybe it is regarding the frame or is regarding some other part of the bike, so we are working but I cannot say what.



"When the bike is very leaned, at 60, then the suspension is not working properly and it is easy to end up with chatter if you are near the same frequency as the tyres - this is the reason why Honda did eight frames in a year even with their huge experience."



http://www.bikesportnews.com/news-d...ins-tight-lipped-on-frame-designs&newsid=5557

Ducati have already spent all their budget for this year and are asking the Tobacconist for more. The Tobacconist is pissed because they expected quite a different return in terms of image for this investment. People are getting nervous at Borgo Panigale. Anyway, for the moment there is no alternative but to go on with the work.



Today Rossi was supposed to test at Mugello, but his test has been postponed to tomorrow. It seems the new frame needs more work with Battaini. The track has been sealed for these three days, so there are no pictures nor lap times, and there is no way to know what is going on. This is the preparatory work for Valencia, -- if results at Valencia (less than 2 months from now) will not be at least encouraging, many things could change.

Damn that can't be good that the bike isn't ready for the test. I hope they get things figured But it isn't looking good right now

J4rn0 said:

Ducati have already spent all their budget for this year and are asking the Tobacconist for more. The Tobacconist is pissed because they expected quite a different return in terms of image for this investment. People are getting nervous at Borgo Panigale. Anyway, for the moment there is no alternative but to go on with the work.



Today Rossi was supposed to test at Mugello, but his test has been postponed to tomorrow. It seems the new frame needs more work with Battaini. The track has been sealed for these three days, so there are no pictures nor lap times, and there is no way to know what is going on. This is the preparatory work for Valencia, -- if results at Valencia (less than 2 months from now) will not be at least encouraging, many things could change.

Click to expand...

J4rn0 said:

Ducati have already spent all their budget for this year and are asking the Tobacconist for more. The Tobacconist is pissed because they expected quite a different return in terms of image for this investment. People are getting nervous at Borgo Panigale. Anyway, for the moment there is no alternative but to go on with the work.



Today Rossi was supposed to test at Mugello, but his test has been postponed to tomorrow. It seems the new frame needs more work with Battaini. The track has been sealed for these three days, so there are no pictures nor lap times, and there is no way to know what is going on. This is the preparatory work for Valencia, -- if results at Valencia (less than 2 months from now) will not be at least encouraging, many things could change.

Click to expand...

How did they spend all their money, I thought you said they weren't doing anything?



Dang, its sounds dire. I'm sure Rossi will be back on a Jap bike in 2013. That Nicky was a pawn in this whole backward experiment wouldn't matter, other riders lives are expendable.

Jumkie said:

How did they spend all their money, I thought you said they weren't doing anything?

Dang, its sounds dire. I'm sure Rossi will be back on a Jap bike in 2013. That Nicky was a pawn in this whole backward experiment wouldn't matter, other riders lives are expendable.

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hey dude you cant just take my predictions and call'm yours bro



on topic.. secrets on bike test parts?.. omg that could have knocked me over with a fart!

I just read on gpone that the aluminum monocoque frame wasn't used because the aluminum heated the air to much. Maybe they should have called xzibit so he could've put an airbox in their airbox and kept it cooler.

Jumkie said:

How did they spend all their money, I thought you said they weren't doing anything?

Dang, its sounds dire. I'm sure Rossi will be back on a Jap bike in 2013. That Nicky was a pawn in this whole backward experiment wouldn't matter, other riders lives are expendable.

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A yellow streetfighter....no thanks!

Jumkie said:

How did they spend all their money, I thought you said they weren't doing anything?

Dang, its sounds dire. I'm sure Rossi will be back on a Jap bike in 2013. That Nicky was a pawn in this whole backward experiment wouldn't matter, other riders lives are expendable.

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Oh Jum, you know well what I said...

And Ducati's budget surely isn't like NASA's. Or Honda's for that matter.

Hayden... I understand your feeling, but as a matter of fact this year he's been suffering from Ducati's problems just like Rossi. He could never ride that bike like Stoner, could he...

hawkdriver said:

I just read on gpone that the aluminum monocoque frame wasn't used because the aluminum heated the air to much. Maybe they should have called xzibit so he could've put an airbox in their airbox and kept it cooler.

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That was referring to the old tests of 2009. Surely there are ways around the heat problem, that they must have found since they now use the same aluminum sub-frame in the Extreme SBK, that tested very positively with Bayliss.

J4rn0 said:

That was referring to the old tests of 2009. Surely there are ways around the heat problem, that they must have found since they now use the same aluminum sub-frame in the Extreme SBK, that tested very positively with Bayliss.

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Do you have a link regarding the SBK test with Bayliss? I knew he was doing some testing but I've not read anything about the times etc. Thanks

levigarrett said:

Do you have a link regarding the SBK test with Bayliss? I knew he was doing some testing but I've not read anything about the times etc. Thanks

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I read about it on MotoSprint that is a paper magazine. I do not think there were any lap times, but Bayliss was quoted as being "impressed and enthusiastic" about the new bike.

First photo of the GP12.1 at Mugello with Battaini (from Sportmediaset):









Rossi began his tests this morning with the 'old' GP12 an after a few laps crashed, with no consequences. He should be able to resume testing in the afternoon.

J4rn0 said:

I read about it on MotoSprint that is a paper magazine. I do not think there were any lap times, but Bayliss was quoted as being "impressed and enthusiastic" about the new bike.

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Ok, thanks for that!

J4rn0 said:

First photo of the GP12.1 at Mugello with Battaini (from Sportmediaset):









Rossi began his tests this morning with the 'old' GP12 an after a few laps crashed, with no consequences. He should be able to resume testing in the afternoon.

Click to expand...

Wow. Look at the effort they're putting out. I think it's important for people to remember how small Ducati is. At this point, Ducati is fielding 4 different versions of their GP bike? That's quite a feat for a company who's annual production is around 40K units.



For all of their recent failures, they're certainly trying.

They make more money than just on bike sales and they have part ownership in a couple other companies, one company inparticular is where the tech comes from

Is that a CF Twin Spar?

hawkdriver said:

They make more money than just on bike sales and they have part ownership in a couple other companies, one company inparticular is where the tech comes from

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That may well be true but does that even compare marginally to the revenue of Honda, Yamaha or even Suzuki? I doubt it. Ducati can sell millions of hats and T-shirts. I have a Honda lawnmower and a Honda pressure washer in my garage. I also have a few Ducati T-shirts shirts. You tell me who's got more resource.

J4rn0 said:

First photo of the GP12.1 at Mugello with Battaini (from Sportmediaset):









Rossi began his tests this morning with the 'old' GP12 an after a few laps crashed, with no consequences. He should be able to resume testing in the afternoon.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Keep us updated, please!

levigarrett said:

Wow. Look at the effort they're putting out. I think it's important for people to remember how small Ducati is. At this point, Ducati is fielding 4 different versions of their GP bike? That's quite a feat for a company who's annual production is around 40K units.



For all of their recent failures, they're certainly trying.

Click to expand...

Consider that the work for new 1000cc bike was due anyway, and the current work has merged with the work on next year's bike. However it is certainly a big effort for such a (comparatively) small factory.