Sepang Malaysia Test Thread

[ScottP]

lets have a look at the best times at sepang 2010 & 2011 for ducati honda & yamaha, ducati 2010 casey did a best time of 2.01.32 and this year on the hrc he did a 1.59.665 that is a phenomenally better time of 1.645 second and don’t tell me that a rider that is not quick and fast can achieve these times if hes not a champion and as mick doohan said ‘id rather have a rider that crashes and is quick then a rider whos slow and never crashes..hehee now lets have a look at honda in 2010 best time dani 2.01.822, dani’s best time in 2011 is 1.59.803 which a phenomenal better time of 2.019 seconds,



now as far as ducati with casey in 2010 he did at sepang a best time of 2.01.32 and with val 2011 he did a best time of 2.01.469 now that is .149 worst time than casey did in 2011, now with Yamaha and jorge 2010 he did a time of 2.01.680 and in 2011 his best time was 2.01.003 now that is not much of an improvement its only .466 on the Yamaha now when you compare the hrc the Yamaha and the ducati the most improvement has come from the honda but there is one difference and that is stoner he knows how to go fast consistently and if hes comfortable then he will win race after race he has shown that on the ducati in 2007 and I have the same feeling with him on the hrc in 2011 of doing the same, forget about Jorge’s w/c win in 2010 he had it handed to him on a platter its not going to be like that in 2011 when stoner has a weapon like the honda and he will extract everything from it both in the wet and dry

 

[dwoodhouse]

Yep bad test for Ducati. Good test for Honda. Worrying test for Yamaha.

Not much else to say other than I bet one VR and JB are not sleeping very well at the moment.

 

[#46]

Stoner has prove that he can be so quick on Duc.. however (without taking anything away from Stoner), last year he crashed - without warning - several times (even he was so strong in FP and Quali). And yet he didn't manage to identify and solve the problem.

Rossi on the other hand also has a job to make Ducati easier to ride (TURNING), (as we're all know one of Rossi's classic moves is taking a very unorthodox line for overtaking, and heck,he can make it stick).

And it is very clear that so far he failed to do .so

I am not an mechanical expert, but is Ducati has wrong bike concept? I know nothing about Carbon Frame, L4. and all mechanical stuff.. but even Stoner couldn't solve the problem as well (remember 2010 season when he crashed severaltimes)

Rossi 2011 time is only 0.149 slower than Stoner 2010.. but comparing to Stoner HRC 2011, that's worrying.

Honda looks very scary, maybe they should change their name to Honda Reloaded

one thing for sure, plenty to ponder in Bologna....

 

[Lebowski]

Rossi said at Sepang 2 his shoulder is costing him 0.3 (Sepang 1 was 1 second) so he needs to find 1.5 which in Rossi's own words is a worry. For someone who likes to quote facts can you actually use some from time to time?

Watch out - this too may be twisted to 0.3 of a second per sector......

 

[Keshav]

I've never seen a metronome topple over regularly before....

A few tenths in every split blinker boy.......maybe I wasn't transparent enough.



And now we know Honda has a significant technical advantage over the field with all big H riders within a bees .... of each other and a second or more over the usually super competative.....good on them- does make these test times a little blurry though.....



Jorge 1.3 down, Spies 1 odd down, and the fastest times over 1.8 secs quicker than last years pole!!



Ones things for sure, most of us racing fans are surely praying that the others will catch up, for this season presently has the potential to be the most boring ever, with a Honda Time-trial every weekend. This factor seriously compounded by the way in which their top two riders prefer to race

That's because you've never seen a metronome try to win a championship on the same piece of .... bike that's looking more and more

like it's going to end Rossi's career.

 

[notabikerther4useless]

I haven't had a chance to catch up with the news yet but I've been thinking......and I don't like where my thoughts are leading me.



Not really looking forward to this season as I think we're almost certainly looking at one of total domination. The best rider on a bike that could ride itself to a world championship? Fark, no brainer, right??!! It's gonna be a slaughter the likes of which Patrick Bateman could only stand and applaud. Give him the trophy now and let's get an early start with the big bikes.



As for the rest, Lorenzo will probably be pretty fast.

Pedrosa might get a couple of wins.

Spies is a bit of an unknown but looks promising.

Oh, and Stoner could go OK, until he crashes.



Anyway, that's enough speculation, I'm off to read the news.

 

[ScottP]

Watch out - this too may be twisted to 0.3 of a second per sector......

yes but with vals shoulder injury you say that he would of done better by .3 of a second which is 2.01.169 around sepang but casey did a best time of 1:59.665 on the hrc which is 1.504 seconds better than val but im sure that casey can go faster if he has to and this is a very big difference to vals hypothetical time of lets say 2.01.169 like you say on the ducati, so even if he goes the fastest that the ducai every did or will around sepamg of breaking the 2 minute barrier he wont be quicker than casey because I don’t think that the ducati will be safe at those speeds even if the maestro valentine is riding it...think about it...the ducati is not a honda or a yamaha...its a completely different bike to the jap bikes and that is why casey was so successful on it because it was his and only his...lets see what vr can do on it and how he will master it...its going to be very interesting in 2011 and 2012 or beyond..i wish him all the best and success always because i have a very soft spot for the ducati in motogp like i did for the cagiva when they first entered motogp, they were the best looking and the Ferrari of the motogp bikes of their era!

 

[Keshav]

For those suggesting that Ducati ditch the CF frame it is not going to happen. Next year Ducati bring out their new road bike which has a CF frame and a V (yes V not and L) Twin engine. CF is Ducati's new production bike direction so it would destroy sales if they drop it in MotoGP so you could say they are heavily invested in this direction.

Never underestimate the desire to not look like .... two seasons in a row with the most popular rider in the last

2 decades aboard. If it looks like it's going to take Rossi 8 races to get in the top 5 - a radical departure in design

is not too much to expect. Don Rossi don't like-a to ride witha da egg onna his face.

 

[renjith_varma]

yes but with vals shoulder injury you say that he would of done better by .3 of a second which is 2.01.169 around sepang but casey did a best time of 1:59.665 on the hrc which is 1.504 seconds better than val but im sure that casey can go faster if he has to and this is a very big difference to vals hypothetical time of lets say 2.01.169 like you say on the ducati, so even if he goes the fastest that the ducai every did or will around sepamg of breaking the 2 minute barrier he wont be quicker than casey because I don’t think that the ducati will be safe at those speeds even if the maestro valentine is riding it...think about it...the ducati is not a honda or a yamaha...its a completely different bike to the jap bikes and that is why casey was so successful on it because it was his and only his...lets see what vr can do on it and how he will master it...its going to be very interesting in 2011 and 2012 or beyond..i wish him all the best and success always because i have a very soft spot for the ducati in motogp like i did for the cagiva when they first entered motogp, they were the best looking and the Ferrari of the motogp bikes of their era!

Now.. can you translate that to English please..

 

[Lebowski]

yes but with vals shoulder injury you say that he would of done better by .3 of a second which is 2.01.169 around sepang but casey did a best time of 1:59.665 on the hrc which is 1.504 seconds better than val but im sure that casey can go faster if he has to and this is a very big difference to vals hypothetical time of lets say 2.01.169 like you say on the ducati, so even if he goes the fastest that the ducai every did or will around sepamg of breaking the 2 minute barrier he wont be quicker than casey because I don’t think that the ducati will be safe at those speeds even if the maestro valentine is riding it...think about it...the ducati is not a honda or a yamaha...its a completely different bike to the jap bikes and that is why casey was so successful on it because it was his and only his...lets see what vr can do on it and how he will master it...its going to be very interesting in 2011 and 2012 or beyond..i wish him all the best and success always because i have a very soft spot for the ducati in motogp like i did for the cagiva when they first entered motogp, they were the best looking and the Ferrari of the motogp bikes of their era!

Agreed.



My post was a warning as to how it might be "interpreted" by Talpa....

 

[Andy Roo]

Stoner has prove that he can be so quick on Duc.. however (without taking anything away from Stoner), last year he crashed - without warning - several times (even he was so strong in FP and Quali). And yet he didn't manage to identify and solve the problem.

Rossi on the other hand also has a job to make Ducati easier to ride (TURNING), (as we're all know one of Rossi's classic moves is taking a very unorthodox line for overtaking, and heck,he can make it stick).

And it is very clear that so far he failed to do .so

I am not an mechanical expert, but is Ducati has wrong bike concept? I know nothing about Carbon Frame, L4. and all mechanical stuff.. but even Stoner couldn't solve the problem as well (remember 2010 season when he crashed severaltimes)

Rossi 2011 time is only 0.149 slower than Stoner 2010.. but comparing to Stoner HRC 2011, that's worrying.

Honda looks very scary, maybe they should change their name to Honda Reloaded

one thing for sure, plenty to ponder in Bologna....

I think that if Rossi gets up to speed he'll have Stoner like front end wash outs.



It's my prediction, the frame of the bike doesn't give the feel, Rossi is trying to come to terms with it

 

[#46]

I think that if Rossi gets up to speed he'll have Stoner like front end wash outs.



It's my prediction, the frame of the bike doesn't give the feel, Rossi is trying to come to terms with it

Agreed.. and Rossi won't gets up to the top speed if he doesn't receive the feel from the bike.

Even before the Sepang Test, Preziosi should've been prepared with solution if the result is a mess.

wonder can Ducati just switch back to old aluminium chassis ?

 

[Mental Anarchist]

Never underestimate the desire to not look like .... two seasons in a row with the most popular rider in the last

2 decades aboard. If it looks like it's going to take Rossi 8 races to get in the top 5 - a radical departure in design

is not too much to expect. Don Rossi don't like-a to ride witha da egg onna his face.

I think it is more likely that if after 2 years they have no success a very large sum of cash will be offered to one Casey Stoner to come back and wear red again.



With a championship or 2 with Honda under his belt I would not be surprised if he said yes.



Remember that Stoner, unlike Rossi, has not burnt his bridges with his former team/s.

 

[jazkat]

congrats to honda for sorting out there problems and raising the bar and to stoner and dani for some scorching times even more for stoner as dani has been developing the bike...... but i did see this coming.



i read that the factory honda's trickery lies in the transmission and they have much better engine breaking due to advancments in the electronics.



they are making up time accelerating, and in the corners...... someguy was saying they can shift gears without removing torque from the gearbox and can seemlessly upshift earlier in corner exits without upsetting the bike....nifty stuff.



do i think rossi will be mid pack? maybe for a few races until they can find something golden, it is hit or miss with the duke.



roll on next test

 

[michaelm]

In reply to#46, part of the problem is that their traditional chassis and the one used in 2007 and 2008 was a steel trellis-frame chassis, regarded as being obsolete hence the switch to the new carbon fibre chassis. I think they may have tested a new metal chassis which was aluminium at the same time as the carbon fibre chassis, and they have definitely tried aluminium swingarms with the current design. If valentino and jb can't find a fix quickly they may have to consider going to a conventional aluminium chassis similar to the other bikes, although I can't imagine this could be done very quickly and would be more a consideration for next year, and as has been said would be commercially difficult given the direction of their road bike development.



Someone said earlier in the thread that the road-bike is going V- rather than the current L- and this may help if applied to the motogp bike as there is a significant body of opinion that the L-4 and the design constraints it involves may be a major contributor to the poor turning of the bike.

 

[#46]

In reply to#46, part of the problem is that their traditional chassis and the one used in 2007 and 2008 was a steel trellis-frame chassis, regarded as being obsolete hence the switch to the new carbon fibre chassis. I think they may have tested a new metal chassis which was aluminium at the same time as the carbon fibre chassis, and they have definitely tried aluminium swingarms with the current design. If valentino and jb can't find a fix quickly they may have to consider going to a conventional aluminium chassis similar to the other bikes, although I can't imagine this could be done very quickly and would be more a consideration for next year, and as has been said would be commercially difficult given the direction of their road bike development.



Someone said earlier in the thread that the road-bike is going V- rather than the current L- and this may help if applied to the motogp bike as there is a significant body of opinion that the L-4 and the design constraints it involves may be a major contributor to the poor turning of the bike.

2 weeks before Qatar test, and a month before Qatar race..

 

[J4rn0]

Honda have no doubt improved, that much is obvious.

But I'm sure Ducati would have known that the bike would need to be significantly faster & handle better than last year.

On both points so far (and granted it's early days) they have not been successful.

It would also be interesting to know what Stoner would be doing on the Ducati right now.

I don't think he would be that far back in the pack, do you?

There is no reason to think Stoner would have improved dramatically on the Ducati with respect to last October, even knowing him as the fantastic rider he is.

 

[J4rn0]

Looking at the long runs lorenzo wasn't so far off, and the rumours kropotkin has heard concerning yamaha believing it to be honda's "turn"aside, I think he is still well in the mix.

Certainly Lorenzo will not agree to graciously oblige Honda, even if it may be right according to samurai etiquette!

 

[J4rn0]

stoner is a racer he extracts 110% out of every session or any bike that he rides, with teoner its all or nothing and nothing means throwing it down the road, the Honda is a quick bike it proved its self at the latter part of 2010 and when I heard that stoner was going to ride that thing I knew and expected nothing less of what happened at sepang and things will get even better and quicker for him as time goes on in 2011. as far as the ducati is concerned no one will ride the duck as well as stoner no one unless the thing is redesigned for VR and his input is adhered to by ducati…the current ducati is a Stoner weapon and that is it!

Stoner on the Ducati was exceptional, but a not-so-fit Rossi in Feb 2011 rode what is basically still the same bike faster than Stoner did in October 2010. And one can imagine that Rossi on the current Honda would be right there at the top, doing certainly no worse than Dovi or Sic...

 

[ScottP]

I think that if Rossi gets up to speed he'll have Stoner like front end wash outs.



It's my prediction, the frame of the bike doesn't give the feel, Rossi is trying to come to terms with it

Yes your predictions are stupid and your talking through your ...…and there is no if’s or butt’s with Rossi hes on a loosing bike that the legend CS has made his own and his weapon and only Cs is the master