Sepang Malaysia Test Thread

[lil red rocket pilot]

Don't know if you saw it but at PI 2010 they interviewed Doohan about Stoner going to Honda. Doohan said that he's going at just the right time because the Honda folk had the bike right and that it was just the "chip in the riders heads" that was holding them back.



That would accord with your theory.



But whatever the case the end result is wherever Stoner goes ...... things go better.

( analysed in the true style of a "black box" engineer, which I was for nearly 20 years

)

Barry if this is the case then how come Stoner didnt win in 08,09,&10? Not such a good end result as you would like to think eh?!

 

[BarryMachine]

Barry if this is the case then how come Stoner didnt win in 08,09,&10? Not such a good end result as you would like to think eh?!

We are long past that. Yes the question has come up ..... why? Why can he win the most races but still have trouble getting the WC's?



Is it the Duc.? So thats why folk were waiting for Rossi to ride it.



Its just that nobody realized the Duc. to be as bad as it looks. But I think some of that is due to Rossi himself.

 

[Geonerd]

As of March 1st, you will be able to get a full season pass on motogp's web site. Here is the pic they are using to promo the season pass. I'm not sure if its very accurate, (unless the imaginary pic was taken to reflect somebody being lapped); but I suppose hope burns eternal.



11524:motogp2011.png]

Damn, Pedrobot looks enormous!

Maybe he received some heavy doses of gamma radiation during his last retrofit at the factory. Does his skin turn green too?

 

[Tom]

Good point. Let's get ready for Lorenzo complaining about lack of power for the rest of the season...

No complains from Spies though, May he actually be the best Yamaha rider in 2011?

I've already seen Spies echoing Lorenzo's opinion that the Yamahas most significant deficiency is its engine power and traction out of corners. Both riders said it last year, both of the riders are saying it now.

 

[frosty58]

still just testing..... let's wait to see the 1st race. i do think ducati are in a bit of a bind tho...

 

[Keshav]

Despite lack of speed, the Pie Man is unruffled.

"The Texan wrapped up the second test of the year at lunchtime, having completed 32 laps in the morning session.



Although the team had kept back four sets of soft tyres to go for a fast 'qualifying' time, only two were used and the 2010 Rookie of the Year finished just over one-second from the best lap time of Repsol Honda of Casey Stoner, who led all three days.



Speaking at the back of the Factory Yamaha pits just before leaving Sepang, Spies admitted that his late day two fall had left him a little sore.



“I took a little bit more of a shock than I thought I did in the crash yesterday,” he said. “I was a little bit sore this morning. I still went to put in a pretty good lap. We had four sets of tyres set aside, but we only used two of them. It wasn't a perfect morning and a perfect lap, but it was decent and we went faster than we've ever gone around here.





"It doesn't look super-great on paper, but if you look at what would happen in a race situation we're a lot closer to the front than it looks"



“It's been a productive test and we've accomplished a lot,” he continued. “We still have some work to do obviously, looking at the lap times, but on race pace we're not too far off.



"We didn't need a race simulation today. We can bang out 20 laps if we need to and I know what we are capable of."



Spies seemed comfortable in the 2min 1.5sec range during his (5-6 lap) hard-tyre runs on Thursday morning. That is roughly a few tenths behind man-to-beat Stoner's average during his 16-lap Thursday afternoon simulation.



“I think the base setting of the bike is really good," said Spies. "We just need to figure out a different set-up for qualifying to make use of the softer tyres.



“The softer tyre didn't help us here quite as much as the Hondas. But when you race here you have to run the hard tyre anyway.



“So at the end of the test it doesn't look super-great on paper, but if you look at what would happen in a race situation we're a lot closer to the front than it looks.



“The Hondas are definitely working well, but we've only been to one circuit so far. So I'm not too worried at this moment,” added the 2009 World Superbike champion."

 

[2 wheeled panzer commander]

Despite lack of speed, the Pie Man is unruffled.

"The Texan wrapped up the second test of the year at lunchtime, having completed 32 laps in the morning session.



Although the team had kept back four sets of soft tyres to go for a fast 'qualifying' time, only two were used and the 2010 Rookie of the Year finished just over one-second from the best lap time of Repsol Honda of Casey Stoner, who led all three days.



Speaking at the back of the Factory Yamaha pits just before leaving Sepang, Spies admitted that his late day two fall had left him a little sore.



“I took a little bit more of a shock than I thought I did in the crash yesterday,” he said. “I was a little bit sore this morning. I still went to put in a pretty good lap. We had four sets of tyres set aside, but we only used two of them. It wasn't a perfect morning and a perfect lap, but it was decent and we went faster than we've ever gone around here.





"It doesn't look super-great on paper, but if you look at what would happen in a race situation we're a lot closer to the front than it looks"



“It's been a productive test and we've accomplished a lot,” he continued. “We still have some work to do obviously, looking at the lap times, but on race pace we're not too far off.



"We didn't need a race simulation today. We can bang out 20 laps if we need to and I know what we are capable of."



Spies seemed comfortable in the 2min 1.5sec range during his (5-6 lap) hard-tyre runs on Thursday morning. That is roughly a few tenths behind man-to-beat Stoner's average during his 16-lap Thursday afternoon simulation.



“I think the base setting of the bike is really good," said Spies. "We just need to figure out a different set-up for qualifying to make use of the softer tyres.



“The softer tyre didn't help us here quite as much as the Hondas. But when you race here you have to run the hard tyre anyway.



“So at the end of the test it doesn't look super-great on paper, but if you look at what would happen in a race situation we're a lot closer to the front than it looks.



“The Hondas are definitely working well, but we've only been to one circuit so far. So I'm not too worried at this moment,” added the 2009 World Superbike champion."

HOW LONG BEFORE THE WALL GOES UP WITH BARBED WIRE ON TOP THIS TIME LOL

 

[Jumkie]

HOW LONG BEFORE THE WALL GOES UP WITH BARBED WIRE ON TOP THIS TIME LOL

Is Spies teammate Rossi?

 

[Andy Roo]

I disagree. Even if you take Stoner out, Honda is still looking very very fast right now. Not only the Repsol riders, but all the satellites apart from Elias. I doubt any of that speed in the bike is thanks to Stoner and it's nothing like how it was at Ducati where only Stoner was fast.

Point might be - Stoner is fast anywhere.



Hypothetical - chuck him on a Yamaha



My call is he'd still be at the top of the timesheet.

 

[jazkat]

Is Spies teammate Rossi?

nope but the partition in between lorenzo and spies is still up

 

[ScottP]

more berry BS again .....



i agree with the ducati isnt looking so hot without stoner but your honda wasnt looking that great is total crap, anyone with eyes could see halfway through last season it was the bike to be on from a performance point.



amazing time from stoner i agree but dani is also in the 59's so how would that look "not that great" if stoner wasnt there?, when dani kept it upright an was consistant he was riding off into the distance, i think you forget how fast he can be when hes got a mind set on it.



stoner will be more consistant than dani so should be clearing off in a few races this season.

how many years has pedro been riding the repsol honda and how many poles did pedro get in 2010 in comparison to stoner on the not so fast crap ducati and pedro (2010) being on the ‘bike to be on from a performance point’ (which we all knew) well I will tell you stoner and pedro have both had 4 poles each, now if stoner would have been on that Honda im sure that those poles would have been lots more...for christ sakes stoner has only been riding this thing for 2 months or so...the lad is a genius if he can just get on it and show such balls to get it to where it is today, i wonder how pedro would do on the ducati 2011? now there a question for all of you

 

[Tekniqs]

i thought the hondas only came to dominance during the latter half of the 2010 season....

 

[SackWack]

I actually agree that Stoner has probably had little to do with the bike in a direct way. But indirectly he has taken the singular focus of Honda/Repsol off Pedrosa which it seems has lead to all 4 having a lot of input into the direction to go and I believe the bike is a lot better for it. I also think that Stoner has driven the other 3 to extract more of themselves then they were or would have. Stoner going f'ing fast has meant that the other guys have no excuses. We are not hearing anything about power delivery now where as we were constantly hearing about it before. I would say that the other 3 guys are auditioning for the 2nd and last factory seat in 2012. My money is on Sic. What a team, one smashes them with shear speed the other just smashes them!



The other big factor that Stoner has brought is that he has not demanded that it all be about him and as a result a team environment is developing. This is a complete contrast to the way Rossi and Pedrosa operate and to a lesser extent Lorenzo. In this manner I see a lot of similarities between Stoner and Spies. Both I think just want a fair crack and are happy to let their skill on a bike deliver the rest. Something I admire immensely.

Great ....... post dude!





Regarding the Honda side of the paddock, I wonder where Puig is going to play his hand in this whole thing if ever

 

[2 wheeled panzer commander]

nope but the partition in between lorenzo and spies is still up

is that correct if it ain't it won't be far away i'm sure

 

[2 wheeled panzer commander]

Great ....... post dude!





Regarding the Honda side of the paddock, I wonder where Puig is going to play his hand in this whole thing if ever

puig will do somthing he can't have his beloved dani playing second fiddle to the new boy which will be a shame as the team looks a great unit

 

[rhyko7]

This last test is a bit worrying, it’s no fun when someone disappears at the front. Those Hondas with the anorexic 2 riders are going to be hard to beat. That Honda got better and better last season with Pedro on board and then he got injured dues to a throttle jamming on, I think he would have won more races without that. I am very surprised not to see the Yamaha not going faster on race pace, im not surprised stoner pedro are quicker on shorter runs but would expect Spies and lolly pop to be closer on longer runs.

One thing after looking at the average long run times that surprised me is Rossi is quite high up, and based on the fact that he is only doing short runs, I think the shoulder injury is genuine and he probably is losing a couple tenths per lap. I still believe that Rossi will win races, they are still trying to find a base setting before they start trying new developments, I therefore think there is a lot of room for improvement. On the other side of the fence who is to say that what works on one track will work on another, maybe it will be a complete hash and the base setting wont work on all tracks. Same goes for the Honda whereas the Yamaha goes well everywhere.



How many people think Spies will finish above Lorenzo at the end of season?-I do! Both very similar racers that start slow and get quicker and know how to overtake.



Pedro Vs stoner is another fascinating one, both riders crash a lot and are very inconsistent, one thing pedro has over stoner is that he can up his game and pace for the race and qualifying, stoner quite often is faster in practice than in the race.



Anyway there’s my two cents worth, as everyone else im over analysing a simple test session and Edwards may beat them all come race day-ooh a flying pig

 

[inam22]

This last test is a bit worrying, it's no fun when someone disappears at the front. Those Hondas with the anorexic 2 riders are going to be hard to beat. That Honda got better and better last season with Pedro on board and then he got injured dues to a throttle jamming on, I think he would have won more races without that. I am very surprised not to see the Yamaha not going faster on race pace, im not surprised stoner pedro are quicker on shorter runs but would expect Spies and lolly pop to be closer on longer runs.

One thing after looking at the average long run times that surprised me is Rossi is quite high up, and based on the fact that he is only doing short runs, I think the shoulder injury is genuine and he probably is losing a couple tenths per lap. I still believe that Rossi will win races, they are still trying to find a base setting before they start trying new developments, I therefore think there is a lot of room for improvement. On the other side of the fence who is to say that what works on one track will work on another, maybe it will be a complete hash and the base setting wont work on all tracks. Same goes for the Honda whereas the Yamaha goes well everywhere.



How many people think Spies will finish above Lorenzo at the end of season?-I do! Both very similar racers that start slow and get quicker and know how to overtake.



Pedro Vs stoner is another fascinating one, both riders crash a lot and are very inconsistent, one thing pedro has over stoner is that he can up his game and pace for the race and qualifying, stoner quite often is faster in practice than in the race.



Anyway there's my two cents worth, as everyone else im over analysing a simple test session and Edwards may beat them all come race day-ooh a flying pig

+ 1 rhyko7, couldn't agree more with your assessment of testing so far.

 

[Talpa]

“Our competitors were very fast [on soft tyres] this morning, but it's only the second test of the year, I think Qatar will be a very different story,” said team manager Wilco Zeelenberg.



Sums it up well.........

 

[Thom_1991]

Bloody hell thats cheerful.



Oh and i can't wait for the HRC .... to kick off. Wonder if we'll be treated to another Dorna sponsored Puig rant "interview" ala 2008.

 

[BigAl]

“Our competitors were very fast [on soft tyres] this morning, but it's only the second test of the year, Ithink hope Qatar will be a very different story,” said team manager Wilco Zeelenberg.



Sums it up well.........

fixed it for you! Wilco has very little idea how the hondas are going to go at Qatar. he can only educate a guess at how well the yamahas will do based on last years races etc. not a lot of info to hang a strong opinion on methinks....