Ducati 2013, Audi is all in.

Pigeon said:

Audi great pedigree with bikes

Duc cant polish a Turd

Vale your welcome to stay with Ducati btw its your only option that or go Fishing

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basspete said:

Sadly, as I have said before, Rossi took the jump at the worst point in his career. It was pure ego to leave Yamaha, and he soon found that at this stage in his career, he could not jump on the Duc and go win or bin like Casey had done. If the Japanese factories don't want him back, then he has ...... up royally, an it's his own doing. That would be a sad end for the GOAT. Could be made even worse by Crutchlow jumping on the Duc, riding like a bike thief, and getting results between visits to casualty.



But hey what do I know, I'm a bopper who only likes Rossi, and can see no wrong in the man.



BTW, Stoner is a knob. Just thought I'd add that as thats all some folk see when they read my posts, so might as well put it in.

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michaelm said:

For car guys immediately value adding to gp bikes, see aprilia cube.

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michaelm said:

VW/audi seem to be systematic and technically competent, and have huge resources, and them employing the right people and managing the gp effort well if they decide to go with it would not seem unlikely.



The only technical expertise they would seem able to immediately offer is engine technology though, the least of ducati's problems, and the record of car engine technology being immediately transferable to gp racing is not promising cf the aforementioned aprilia cube and ilmor.

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MigsAngel said:

It is possible Audi is dangling the 4 Wheel racing carrot out for Rossi as well.....e.g. stay with Ducati another 2 years and Audi will make a return to World Rally Racing with Rossi as main driver (certainly probable), or give him a shot at Le Man series with Audi top team (easily done) or Audi make F1 jump in 2015 with Rossi as lead driver (highly unlikely but one never knows).

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Gaz said:

And this will be Audi if things go wrong

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BarryMachine said:

When they could hire a driver who could win for a third the price?



and before you say "marketting" ......... lets look how that did Ducati ........

No I think Audi would prefer win over violin playing chicken flavoured bowling ball acts .

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basspete said:

Once again the boners ignore a post from a Rossi fan who is saying he has ...... up. Only reading what suits guys?

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basspete said:

Once again the boners ignore a post from a Rossi fan who is saying he has ...... up. Only reading what suits guys?

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BarryMachine said:

Pete, Reg, Inam, and Mdub ......... and either Jumkie or Arab, because the gang were doing the same ??????

Oh wait ........no the fifth one was Talpa/curve ( who is one person anyway ), or if its not one person it would take two of those chaps to lift one pick axe anyway

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BarryMachine said:

I think you guys are forgetting the stated reason Audi acquired Duc.



Its all about Audi v's BMW



at present BMW has a much broader spectrum of automotive product, especially since they have a bike arm.



Audi can now say they have a bike arm ............ with all that that may bring.



They are both attempting to mimic the automotive superiority of the Japanese companies



especially Honda.

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digger said:

from mark bracks facebook



Well it looks like Vale may be staying with the red rockets next year. As he said to my mate Paolo from Italian broadcaster RTI after meeting with the boss of Audi at "Pedrosaring" on Sunday; ""I spoke directly with the boss of Audi and they have a strong intent about supporting Ducati in the future to regain its competitive edge. It's a very ambitious project and I'm happy about it."

"And they're counting on me"



As for the GP12 itself: ""It's much more clever to try and improve gradually the bike we have at the moment, because starting from scratch would mean spending too much time on setting up a new machine. We have to focus on the positives of our bike and improve on the negatives: me and my crew gave some clear indications over the past few months and we need to work in this direction."



SO where does that leave Nicky - and for that mater - Cal?

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michaelm said:

Sure, he ...... up by going there, not by what he has done there, I have said all along including before they went there that if he and jb can't sort the bike then it isn't sortable, and the bike including the engine characteristics are more or less the opposite of what he has preferred and developed elsewhere, which was hard for anyone to see prospectively. The current regulations particularly the tyre regulations don't fit a maverick bike, and everyone is saying audi and all their resources won't offer a short term fix whoever is there, and cal partisans are hoping cal doesn't go there.



I also think he would still be very competitive on a honda or yamaha.



I still wonder if he more or less decided to retire then changed his mind. By the time he decided yamaha was untenable for him he had no choice other than ducati, and while I can see why he thought yamaha were disloyal to him I guess it would also have been hard for yamaha not to give the younger defending world champion who they saw as their future equal status, Valentino's first significant injuries having occurred at the most inopportune time. I actually don't think his main motive was to prove yamaha wrong or to prove anything to or about jorge, he wanted an effort fully focused on him for the time he had left; the nastro azzurro honda set-up from early in his premier class career seems to be the one he most liked anyway. Mick doohan had a similar attitude to him except more so, he resented other honda riders reaping the benefit of his development and set-up work. We all also know that there are hardly ever two absolutely equal riders or drivers in any team in motorsports, with the rare exceptions such as 2009 at yamaha occurring when there is no real external threat.



I won't pretend I would ever want to see him beat stoner, but I would actually support him should he ride for kevin schwantz suzuki in the future

.

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thedeal said:

You maybe correct but ask yourself why would Yamaha want him,they have four quality riders already,riders that dont need a childish wall in the garage or play the worst kind of mind games and to be honest why throw that kind of money at a guy who is at the end of his career when you can invest and nurture the future for a lot less.

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michaelm said:

VW/audi seem to be systematic and technically competent, and have huge resources, and them employing the right people and managing the gp effort well if they decide to go with it would not seem unlikely.

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