Sepang Malaysia Test Thread

[frizzle]

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.

So you think Stoner would be sitting at or outside the top 10 on the Ducati? No chance I think.

 

[Anders]

So you think Stoner would be sitting at or outside the top 10 on the Ducati? No chance I think.

Me neither.

With Stoner still at Ducati they would have started to try new things from the beginning of the wintertests,and probarbly gone faster.Now it seems everyone is waiting for Rossi to get used to the main idea/design/personallity at first,then he can start changing things.

 

[dwoodhouse]

Geez everyone really knows how to kick a guy when he's down.

 

[ScottP]

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...

Yes your very right but the maestro VR is also a maestro of spin about his not-so-fit state so please don’t believe everything that the maestro is spinning to the media…hahahaaa…the not-so-fit state is the state of the ducati and what he has taken on at ducati…and all this is just beurocratic excuses that the maestro is spinning now when he realizes what a great ride stoner did on the ducati when he was there and he was on the yamaha where he had a dream run...now casey has the dream run and VR is in the same shoes that CS was with ducati...and please dont make any excuses for VR's misfortunes because hes on a ducati..good luck VR i really admire VR and hes motogp!!!

 

[J4rn0]

Yes your very right but the maestro VR is also a maestro of spin about his not-so-fit state so please don't believe everything that the maestro is spinning to the media…hahahaaa…the not-so-fit state is the state of the ducati and what he has taken on at ducati…and all this is just beurocratic excuses that the maestro is spinning now when he realizes what a great ride stoner did on the ducati when he was there and he was on the yamaha where he had a dream run...now casey has the dream run and VR is in the same shoes that CS was with ducati...and please dont make any excuses for VR's misfortunes because hes on a ducati..good luck VR i really admire VR and hes motogp!!!

Yes, Rossi now has practically the same bike Stoner had last year (slightly improved perhaps), and at Sepang he has been lapping marginally faster than Stoner did last year, and only 5 tenths from world champion Lorenzo on the 2011 Yamaha. I think that would have been good enough for the moment, if Honda had not raised the stakes by one full second at least. What could have been good enough, now falls miserably short. That's it, it has nothing to do with 'excuses'. I do not think Lorenzo is much happier than Rossi, lagging as he is 1.3 seconds behind Stoner and Pedro...

 

[Tom]

Yes, effectively the 800's were a stillborn idea in regards of slower lap times equaling saftey, that the progression resulting in Stoner's lap time has further highlighted at the start of the final 800cc championship. A development freeze would maybe have worked better, I'm not a fan of those I think they result in stagnation similar to a control tyre; However as established, the changes were a knee jerk reaction to the death of Kato (or so we have been told). The overall (given we have a year to go) results appear to make a mockery of that notion, when there appears to be other courses of action that related more fully to the problem (or what we were told the problem was), taking into account some views I have read on the causes of Kato's accident (that it was the track not the bike). Sometimes, as I have learnt the hard way through following motorsport, .... happens.



Anyhow, to me it really doesn't matter what they could have done, only what they did do. & of course what they are going to do.



.... .... .... piss.

I agree that a development freeze, like a control tyre is a hard idea to support, especially being a fan who is particularly interested in the technical side of things. But it is worth noting that the control tyre does develop and improve, although obviously not at the rate of a tyre war. Also stagnation isn't always a bad thing, the end of the 500 era was heavily stagnated and provided some of the best racing we can remember, trouble is the manufacturers don't want to play. Anyway that is besides the point, 800's are slower than 990's all other things being equal, the idea worked. The idea was based on the reasoning that a slower laptime means safer, and that may not be correct. But that is another discussion for another day. The safetey issues with current motogp bikes is clearly down to more than just engine capacity.

Historically Rossi has been the first beneficiary of any new riders aids. Although he publicly attempts to play down the dependence on electronics

I saw a quote from Furusawa recently saying pretty much this. Rossi doesn't like rider aids in principle but he forgets how much he relies on and benefits from them. His 2008 Yamaha was brought up to speed using advanced electronics to allow him to keep up with Casey Stoner.

Also has Crutchlow been ill other than the shoulder problem? (Same as VR's but far less widely reported...)

Cal got food poisoning on the plane, although i'm not sure how much that was effecting him by day 3.

2. Yamaha. Someone in a position to know suggested to me that Yamaha feel - in a particularly Japanese kind of way - a little bit uncomfortable having blitzed the 800s, and feel that Honda should have a turn. Lorenzo will make a show of it, but he's going to be chasing Stoner and Pedrosa all year.

So shall we expect Yamaha to be a little bit down on power all year, for Lorenzo to get a lot of stick for mentioning about it and Yamaha to insist they are focussing on next year?

CF is not necessarily the problem. The L is part of the problem, it ..... up decent weight distribution. The other part is the front subframe, makes getting subtle flex up front hard. Look at the length of the forward engine mounts on the other bikes, and you get a sense of the problem.

It occured to me recently that the L4 might be significant to a lot of their problems

Actually, I do not think Ducati have gone backwards, but certainly they have not progressed much while the others -- Honda in particular -- have improved really a lot. That's their problem.

Relative to their competition they have gone backwards. In sport you are judged against your competition.

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

Do Ducati have any experience making conventional aluminium chassis? I'm not up on their street bike range but off the top of my head it's all steel trellis.

 

[Anders]

Geez everyone really knows how to kick a guy when he's down.

I for one really hope Rossi,burgess,Preziosi pulls it of.It's just frustrating circumstances.They have a new no1 rider,new team,very different bike.It's going to take time.I'm not very patient after all this winter with no races.

 

[michaelm]

Do Ducati have any experience making conventional aluminium chassis? I'm not up on their street bike range but off the top of my head it's all steel trellis.

That was my point. They could go that way next year, but I don't think they are likely to turn up to the qatar test with an aluminium twin spar/whatever chassis, unless jb has been feverishly active behind the scenes with a lot more secrecy than is usually possible with such things, although it might explain them not testing the rossi/jb developments at sepang 2

.

 

[lil red rocket pilot]

I for one really hope Rossi,burgess,Preziosi pulls it of.It's just frustrating circumstances.They have a new no1 rider,new team,very different bike.It's going to take time.I'm not very patient after all this winter with no races.

I really think jb/vr will pull it off but cant see them doing it till halfway through the season.

Even when they do their still gonna be chasing stoner & pedro for sure. At the moment I cant see the duke winning any races this season but we should see a some podiums towards the end.

Begining to belive that honda 1 2 3,s are going to be a big feature in this years calender.

I guess time will tell!

 

[Anders]

I really think jb/vr will pull it off but cant see them doing it till halfway through the season.

Even when they do their still gonna be chasing stoner & pedro for sure. At the moment I cant see the duke winning any races this season but we should see a some podiums towards the end.

Begining to belive that honda 1 2 3,s are going to be a big feature in this years calender.

I guess time will tell!

Yes,half a season of waiting for some dvd recordings of raceweekends worth watching more than once.

I still hope they can pull something out of the hat till Mugello at least..

 

[BarryMachine]

So you think Stoner would be sitting at or outside the top 10 on the Ducati? No chance I think.

Dead right.



The Ducati has never worked with a rider with Rossi's style eg Melandri.



The only reason Stoner could ride the thing was that he is unearthly good with steering with the back end of the bike. Rossi has never been such a rider.



Rossi likes the back end grippy so it is going to make the front end feel even looser if they mod the bike for him ....... probably why Hayden is now having trouble.

 

[J4rn0]

Most of us have predicted that Rossi would become competitive only in the second half of the season, now this prediction is confirmed. That's all.

What nobody had predicted is the Honda domination. That's the news.

 

[BarryMachine]

Most of us have predicted that Rossi would become competitive only in the second half of the season, now this prediction is confirmed. That's all.

What nobody had predicted is the Honda domination. That's the news.

Most Stoner fans have been rubbing their hands together with glee expecting just that, ........ I strongly doubt anybody finds it news or surprising.

 

[L8Braker]

Wow, I love the offseason...so much speculation.



Rossi has all of you right where he wants you, on the edge of your seat...

Seriously though, the Duc does not appear to have advanced as far as Honda and Yamaha, and they are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the bike in hopes to make it better. They are ignoring Nicky at their own peril I believe. Several have suggested Ducati and JB listen to Nicky's input a little more and who knows maybe they are, it appears Nicky is struggling on this years version of the bike, so that suggests that Ducati are not listening to Nicky.

Yes Jumkie and several other knew this woudl be the case when Rossi signed to ride the Ducati and it's all coming true.



Who wants to bet when the 2012 Ductai come out from under covers it has an aluminum frame?

 

[Tom]

Most Stoner fans have been rubbing their hands together with glee expecting just that, ........ I strongly doubt anybody finds it news or surprising.

A lot of us predicted Stoner would be fastest or even just mighty fast, but seeing the Honda domination we have was not expected.

 

[Anders]

Most of us have predicted that Rossi would become competitive only in the second half of the season, now this prediction is confirmed. That's all.

What nobody had predicted is the Honda domination. That's the news.

I'm not convinced there is going to be a Honda domination.Stoner domination,yes,and Pedrosa somewhere up there as usual but so will Lorenzo,Spies,Dovi,and also Rossi and others.

There were alot of very fast qualifying runs by alot of Honda riders at these tests but I don't think that says everything.

Edit:Unless you refer to Honda's domation at these tests.

 

[DaddiiKong]

Krop- Why haven't VR and JB tried the new stuff?

 

[Kropotkin]

Krop- Why haven't VR and JB tried the new stuff?

As far as I can tell, because they are still trying to figure out a baseline. No point trying to test new stuff if you don't understand how the old stuff works.

 

[Tom]

As far as I can tell, because they are still trying to figure out a baseline. No point trying to test new stuff if you don't understand how the old stuff works.

Can't they just agree that it doesn't work and put it in the bin?

 

[DaddiiKong]

As far as I can tell, because they are still trying to figure out a baseline. No point trying to test new stuff if you don't understand how the old stuff works.

Thank you, sir!