xx CURVE xx
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xx CURVE xx, on 13 Nov 2013 - 10:02, said:
Its better to look good than feel good
Well, I feel good looking at Nicky...
So a few thoughts, its early in the frustratingly short testing season (where the 'CRT' 'open' ........ class are at a disadvantage, as if it were not already enough they are starting from scratch with the new ECU rule); but, here are a few reflections and opinions:
All the Duc-tape bikes were within a half second of eachother, where Cal was 0.02 ahead of Nicky (virtually tie). The GP13 Cal rode was a bike that had been raced and "developed" all year, with a crew of mechanics that know the bike. So basically Cal needed to work through setting up his ergonomics to help him feel comfortable, and a base set up so he could provide feedback. The hopes of employing another Casey can be put to rest, though Cal's debut was respectable. Where as the RCV-R was taken out of the bubble wrap and the mechanics as well as the riders had their first look at the machine. (Have you ever tried to put something together from IKEA?)
If Ducati didn't realize they are competing in a series not suited for them, where the most appropriate action should be immediately tender and execution of their exit from MotoGP, then they will never understand
the game. Honda basically created a bike from scratch and in its first ever shake down equalled Ducati's several years of development, that is embarrassing. Though the RCV-R is not without its immediate 'fit and finish' problems, as I read for example a wiring loom was out of whack. I doubt they will have any engines blowing up though. Clearly the RCV-R is not what we were led to believe by Honda (and our now infamous 'insider') but it will improve. So if the thing out of the crate was within striking distance of the Ducatis (I know, this is not saying much) well at very least it has the potential to further embarrass Ducati, as lets face it, the 3rd tier (fraction of the cost) Honda RCV-R (1 million Euros) wasn't gong to be challenging the 2nd tier (3 million Euro) satellites, (the economics just didn't make
cents, and as they say, for clues, follow the money). So far it looks like a lateral move of sorts, with the added advantage its unlikely Nicky will suffer any engine blow-ups during a race as he had to endure this season (think Japanese reliability vs Italian). (Sidenote: I respect Ducati for trying, but I've argued, they don't belong in an HRC dominated series).
Where can the RCV-R go from here after their first test? Well obviously improve, the magnitude of that improvement is of course the 2 million Euro question. Other than getting Bridgestone to offer the RCV-R a specifically suitable tire, the most significant area of improvement will be fine tuning and manipulating the electronics package. The "open" class (I already hate this moniker, as the class is decidedly 'closed' in terms of the restriction to use Dorna's software) will have to make do with whatever limitations Dorna has factored into their ECU. JK and I were grappling with this aspect and tried to come to terms with the viability of this 'one-size fits all' ECU from Dorna to be employed by all the diverse teams and respective machines. We get that the hardware part of the system is easy enough to understand, as each will have their particular "box" (Magneti Marelli for Aspar) but if the RCV-R was created with the complex Honda electronics and now must run the Dorna software, just how seamless can this transition be to employ a Dorna ECU given this is the area of greatest complexity? I don't know the answer, but perhaps our more learned members could speculate? (You too, 'inciter' AKA 'in-sider'). Ha!
When they interviewed Aspar's Gino Borsoi (crew chef), he mentioned they didn't cook up anything on the geometry of the machine, much less the electronics. He said all they did was work on getting Nicky to fit on the bike (they cut back the bubble for example). Then let Nicky ride it around to catalog first impressions and feedback. This lead to some small adjustments to the suspension, he said, but nothing major. What I understand from this is they basically put the bike together and check to see that everything fit. Keep in mind, we are talking about a Japanese product here, and they pretty much produce .... that is as close to a finished product as possible. I don't know how much design was made with the Dorna ECU in mind, not even sure it was available to them even if they wanted to use it, but I'm sure this will be the most challenging part of the project going forward.
The Forward Racing Yamaha is utilizing the exact factory spec engine and significant bits (swing arm, chassis, etc), so from the get go it was destined to be fairly sorted, as they basically dismantled an M1 and re-assembled it in another garage. In retrospect, the fact it was several tenths ahead of the RCV-R shouldn't have been too much of a surprise (that is had we not been biased by the hype surrounding the RCV-R). Even then, it was still impressive on their first shakedown (keep in mind the Forward mechanics were basically in the same boat as were the Aspar ones). In as much as there is room for improvement for the RCV-R, same goes for the Forward Racing Yamaha, except that in the case of Forward Racing, they will have the opportunity to make improvements to the chassis where as with the RCV-R, what you get is what you get for the entire season. The next available upgrade for the RCV-R is to come at next year's season end at a tune of 500K Euros.
