MotoGP: 2016 Round 02 - Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina (SPOILERS)

budoist · Mar 27, 2016

Circuit Information

LENGTH: 4.8 km / 2.99 miles
CORNERS: 5 left - 9 right
WIDTH: 16 m. / 52.49 ft.
LONGEST STRAIGHT: 1076 m. / 3530.18 ft.
Laps: 25
2/3 of laps: -
Total distance: 120.2 km - 74.8 miles

Weather:

DAY	HIGH/LOW	DESCRIPTION	PRECIP	WIND	HUMIDITY
FRI Apr 1	68° / 60°	Thunderstorms	80%	N 8 mph	100%
SAT Apr 2	70° / 52°	AM Thunderstorms	80%	SW 9 mph	90%
SUN Apr 3	64° / 48°	Sunny	0%	S 7 mph	58%

povol · Mar 29, 2016

A lot of unanswered questions heading into the second race, the biggest being, did Honda make a huge step with the bike at Qatar, or did they make a huge step with base setting that will allow them to tune the bike from track to track.Did Honda have to castrate the engine to make it rideable, will it be this slow all year long. Was Qatar the reason for Ducati's strong showing, or like Honda, have they found a good base setting that allows easy adjustment to other tracks. Can Lorenzo run the softs at different tracks and make it home, if so, can Rossi run the softs with his riding style. Was Suzuki's poor showing an anomaly, or was testing. Will Suzuki get full seamless. Will Ianonne crash out of his 4th straight race, and finally, what will Reddings excuse be this week.

#22 · Mar 29, 2016

Would be his 3rd Pov, Iannone had a bike failure at Sepang.

yamfan · Mar 30, 2016

Lorenzo won't be able to use the soft rear tyre this weekend as Michelin aren't taking them. "Quelle Surprise", Lorenzo expresses a liking for a tyre and it's suddenly "sorry Jorge you can't have that one, it's for safety you know!"
I do hope this isn't going to be a regular feature with dorna artificially controlling the championship to keep a certain rider in the frame...

p4p1 · Mar 30, 2016

Last year Bridgestone brought an extra hard and hard tyre to Argentina so I wouldn't read too much into it like that.

Arrabbiata1 · Mar 30, 2016

povol said:
A lot of unanswered questions heading into the second race, the biggest being, did Honda make a huge step with the bike at Qatar, or did they make a huge step with base setting that will allow them to tune the bike from track to track.Did Honda have to castrate the engine to make it rideable, will it be this slow all year long. Was Qatar the reason for Ducati's strong showing, or like Honda, have they found a good base setting that allows easy adjustment to other tracks. Can Lorenzo run the softs at different tracks and make it home, if so, can Rossi run the softs with his riding style. Was Suzuki's poor showing an anomaly, or was testing. Will Suzuki get full seamless. Will Ianonne crash out of his 4th straight race, and finally, what will Reddings excuse be this week.

You missed...will Povol grasp the concept of a question mark?

povol said:
Did Honda have to castrate the engine to make it rideable

Seriously though, what will be the measure of that? How will you establish this? If it were the case, it would have been emasculated pre-season.

povol · Mar 30, 2016

Arrabbiata1 said:
You missed...will Povol grasp the concept of a question mark?

Seriously though, what will be the measure of that? How will you establish this? If it were the case, it would have been emasculated pre-season.

It was obvious at Qatar the Honda was grossly lacking in acceleration, which grossly affected any kind of top speed. Last year at Qater, the Honda's had the 2 top speeds for the race, this year, the Ducati and Yamaha were faster. From FP2 through the race, Marquez was as fast or faster than anyone until the final sector and would lose 2-3 tenths there alone. It appears to the naked eye, and from analysis, Honda had had to dial back the engine to get a handle on either the tires,or the bike itself. As far as ? marks, meh, wasted bandwidth, you got the picture.

Arrabbiata1 · Mar 30, 2016

povol said:
It was obvious at Qatar the Honda was grossly lacking in acceleration, which grossly affected any kind of top speed. Last year at Qater, the Honda's had the 2 top speeds for the race, this year, the Ducati and Yamaha were faster. From FP2 through the race, Marquez was as fast or faster than anyone until the final sector and would lose 2-3 tenths there alone. It appears to the naked eye, and from analysis, Honda had had to dial back the engine to get a handle on either the tires,or the bike itself.

Indeed there are plenty of ways to soften power which could be detrimental to top speed, not least gearing or electronics - last year up until Assen there were technicians crawling all over that bike to find a solution in respect of the latter, but they were employing their own software. 'Dial back the engine'? - Specifically, in what way?

Bern1 · Mar 30, 2016

Could it be perhaps that a certain Australian was in fact a much better development rider for Honda than he was given credit for from its current # 1 rider?

povol · Mar 30, 2016

Arrabbiata1 said:
Indeed there are plenty of ways to soften power which could be detrimental to top speed, not least gearing or electronics - last year up until Assen there were technicians crawling all over that bike to find a solution in respect of the latter, but they were employing their own software. 'Dial back the engine'? - Specifically, in what way?

Looked like they pulled a spark plug wire, lol hell I don't know. I would guess electronically since like you said, that's what they have been ....... with for over a year now.

Dr No · Mar 30, 2016

Stick tape all over the airbox inlet so that the engine's sucking through a straw

Rnz520 · Mar 30, 2016

I think the factory Ducs will have a strong showing here, at least one will podium. Now for a winner, I dont see Lorenzo taking it. This is not a track he shines at, but he may use that as motivation to make it one he shines at.
I keep gaining more and more respect for George, he is just plain good and has a nice rub it in your doubters face attitude that I like.
Him trying to fist pump MM and Rossi after Qatar was great to see.
So, I will go as far as to say it will look like this:

1-Dovizioso
2-Lorenzo
3-Iannone

Feel free to swap Iannone and Dovi around if it makes me right.

JPSLotus · Mar 30, 2016

Podium will be JL, VR, MM.

Ducati isn't winning here.

yamfan · Mar 31, 2016

Despite Honda's problems I can still see Marquez taking the win, especially after last year's debacle he'll be extra fired up for this one. If Crutchlow isn't bluffing about his electronics problems he could feature, but I see the Ducati boys and the Yamaha pair in the mix too.
Last year the tyre situation and Jorge's illness played into Rossi's hands, so I'm hoping this will be reversed this year.
If Jorge does another Losail job here though I can see Rossi getting worried and expect him to start really ramping up the mind games and squawking for Lorenzo to get out of "his" team. LOL
It's going to be interesting...

I know... Get off the fence, the splinters are killing my arse [emoji1]

Arrabbiata1 · Mar 31, 2016

povol said:
Looked like they pulled a spark plug wire, lol hell I don't know. I would guess electronically since like you said, that's what they have been ....... with for over a year now.

As I'm sure you appreciate, my post wasn't intended to be facetious but merely to point out that 'dial back the engine' is rather generic lazy forum terminology. I would be very surprised if the savage nature of the 2015 power plant that appeared to compromise that seasons chassis together with the issues over corner entry stability have not been refined over the winter. Remember the engines are sealed post testing. Perhaps HRC have focussed on smoother friendlier throttle response in terms marrying the torque sensor technology which they are familiar with and the new electronics package which they are not. Maybe to harmonise frame and engine they had to slaughter a few pony's in the process - although that's not the Honda way.

Perhaps it's simply the fact that the Ducati's have got faster relative to the Honda which we're used to seeing topping the trap? An on acceleration, remember last year, the M1 was punching out of corners better due to superior drive..something we were at pains to explain to the 'defenders of the faith' in terms of why it was so difficult for Marquez to challenge Lorenzo at Valencia given the nature of the circuit.

yamfan · Mar 31, 2016

Honda haven't simply "dialled back" the engine anyway buddy although you're spot on it being a rather lazy term.
Over winter they've completely redesigned the engine so it now runs a contra-rotating crankshaft a la Yamaha's M1. Obviously as you've stated they are aware that the Yamaha had better drive despite lower power so have tried to imitate that aspect of the M1 with their new design.
It's been rumoured that they have already recouped a lot of their lot horsepower with a radical new exhaust design, if that's true I expect to see it on the Repsol bikes in Argentina.

MigsAngel · Mar 31, 2016

1) Iannone
2) Rossi
3) MM
4) Dani or JLo

Softer tyres won't well work here...

yamfan · Mar 31, 2016

MigsAngel said:
1) Iannone
2) Rossi
3) MM
4) Dani or JLo

Softer tyres won't well work here...

Michelin aren't taking them there...

MigsAngel · Mar 31, 2016

yamfan said:
Michelin aren't taking them there...

Interesting....are michelin taking the mediums, so a slightly softer option to the hard ones?

povol · Mar 31, 2016

Arrabbiata1 said:
As I'm sure you appreciate, my post wasn't intended to be facetious but merely to point out that 'dial back the engine' is rather generic lazy forum terminology. I would be very surprised if the savage nature of the 2015 power plant that appeared to compromise that seasons chassis together with the issues over corner entry stability have not been refined over the winter. Remember the engines are sealed post testing. Perhaps HRC have focussed on smoother friendlier throttle response in terms marrying the torque sensor technology which they are familiar with and the new electronics package which they are not. Maybe to harmonise frame and engine they had to slaughter a few pony's in the process - although that's not the Honda way.

erhaps it's simplPy the fact that the Ducati's have got faster relative to the Honda which we're used to seeing topping the trap? An on acceleration, remember last year, the M1 was punching out of corners better due to superior drive..something we were at pains to explain to the 'defenders of the faith' in terms of why it was so difficult for Marquez to challenge Lorenzo at Valencia given the nature of the circuit.

Going strictly on what comes straight from the riders mouth, it is better than last year but still a major problem

The Ducati's got a tiny bit faster trap than last year, the Honda had a considerable drop in trap from last year, enough to where it would have made a difference in the race. If that is where they are to make the bike behave on the rest of the track, they have lost any advantage to the Yamaha which now is better than the Honda in virtually every performance category. The only advantage they have at the moment is Marquez, and that is a small with the form Lorenzo has displayed for much of last season and the beginning of this season. I do have confidence in Honda getting it right, will they get it right in time to win a title

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MotoGP: 2016 Round 02 - Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina (SPOILERS)

budoist

povol

#22

yamfan

p4p1

Arrabbiata1

povol

Arrabbiata1

Bern1

povol

Dr No

Rnz520

JPSLotus

yamfan

Arrabbiata1

yamfan

MigsAngel

yamfan

MigsAngel

povol

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