Sepang pre-season test 2011

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Seems to me that Honda are trying out a bucket load of stuff - new chassis, new engine, new swingarms, new forks new electronics as well as bringing a new dynamic with 3 riders in the factory team with a whole lot of politics being played out in the garage which could ultimately become quite destructive.



Interesting that Rossi says that Stoner is wrong about the bike and it just needs to be ridden. This flies in the face of reality on several fronts:

- Stoner is known for just riding what they give him which is then used as ammo for those who believe he can't develop.

- Stoner has actually raced the bike and guess what he has won on it to.

- Rossi so far has not just ridden it

- Rossi is currently trying to change pretty much every thing on it so he can 'just ride it'
 
eh he did say before about it will have to be 50-50..changing the bike to a point where it's ok for him but at the same time adapting his style to fit the bike....we shall see in due time =) jumkie...man lol...what's with the hate? =) can't we all (meaning you and rossi fans) cheer for the ducati haha...in a strange way we're all on the same team now!



btw, when's the next set of testing after today?
 
Tekniqs said:
btw, when's the next set of testing after today?
Click to expand...



There is a 3rd day of testing tomorrow. Then another session in a few weeks (Feb 22-24), also in Malaysia. The final testing round before the season is Mar 13-14 in Qatar.
 
Mental Anarchist said:
Interesting that Rossi says that Stoner is wrong about the bike and it just needs to be ridden. This flies in the face of reality on several fronts:

- Stoner is known for just riding what they give him which is then used as ammo for those who believe he can't develop.

- Stoner has actually raced the bike and guess what he has won on it to.

- Rossi so far has not just ridden it

- Rossi is currently trying to change pretty much every thing on it so he can 'just ride it'
Click to expand...

If the bike can be sorted rossi will sort it, and I guess stoner asked for a rebuttal by commenting at all about the development of the 2011 ducati



However whilst rossi has a strong history of being right about matters motogp and particularly sorting/developing bikes, I am not sure he can make this comment about the ducati at the pace he has been able to ride it so far, unless he has got it going really fast around corners already and his shoulder by some mechanism (?lack of tucking) is making him lose all his time on the straights which we can't tell without sector times. Valentino is very definitely not any other rider, but previous ducati pilots other than stoner have reputedly found the bike easy to ride off the pace, but not so at a faster/competitive pace, not that any have really got there. Every attempt to make the bike more nimble thus far has made it slower and not podium competitive for stoner, if marginally more rideable for others. If valentino can make the thing go round corners without a major re-design it really will be proof of genius, but I am sceptical that this will be achievable merely with riding technique/riding effort as this perhaps off the cuff comment would seem to be implying.
 
michaelm said:
If the bike can be sorted rossi will sort it, and I guess stoner asked for a rebuttal by commenting at all about the development of the 2011 ducati



However whilst rossi has a strong history of being right about matters motogp and particularly sorting/developing bikes, I am not sure he can make this comment about the ducati at the pace he has been able to ride it so far, unless he has got it going really fast around corners already and his shoulder by some mechanism (?lack of tucking) is making him lose all his time on the straights which we can't tell without sector times. Valentino is very definitely not any other rider, but previous ducati pilots other than stoner have reputedly found the bike easy to ride off the pace, but not so at a faster/competitive pace, not that any have really got there. Every attempt to make the bike more nimble thus far has made it slower and not podium competitive for stoner, if marginally more rideable for others. If valentino can make the thing go round corners without a major re-design it really will be proof of genius, but I am sceptical that this will be achievable merely with riding technique/riding effort as this perhaps off the cuff comment would seem to be implying.
Click to expand...



Yes I think it is too early for Rossi to be able to comment in that way. He has to ride it at race winning pace before he has earned the right to say that. Produce the goods before talking about it. Mind you, if the 1 second time loss that was bandied around by Rossi is correct, he would be doing pretty well in the times and quicker than he was on the Yamaha last year. Unfortunately we won't know one way or another for sure.



One other thing, Rossi was talking about the ability of the bike to change lines in a corner when making the comment it just needs to be ridden. Rossi can take pretty unorthodox lines into corners and pull it off 99% of the time so I would not bet against this.
 
Mental Anarchist said:
Seems to me that Honda are trying out a bucket load of stuff - new chassis, new engine, new swingarms, new forks new electronics as well as bringing a new dynamic with 3 riders in the factory team with a whole lot of politics being played out in the garage which could ultimately become quite destructive.



Interesting that Rossi says that Stoner is wrong about the bike and it just needs to be ridden. This flies in the face of reality on several fronts:

- Stoner is known for just riding what they give him which is then used as ammo for those who believe he can't develop.

- Stoner has actually raced the bike and guess what he has won on it to.

- Rossi so far has not just ridden it

- Rossi is currently trying to change pretty much every thing on it so he can 'just ride it'
Click to expand...





Your observation about Rossi's remark is very much to the point. A little less the conclusion... If Rossi said that, it means he's now confident he can 'just ride' the Ducati. Otherwise he'd be stupid to say anything at all. This implies that the only thing holding him back, now, is the famous shoulder (just as he insists). He also says he'll be 100% only in May... I think we can give him time until then. As lovers of the sport we should actually welcome this bold statement by Rossi, which amounts to a renewed challenge to one of his strongest rivals ever.
<
 
Good to see the Pedrobot at the top for a change. He's always a contender until he breaks something.

The dynamics between Stoner and Pedro I think are going to be very interesting this year. Both would love to show the other up.

Spies and Lorenzo will also be interesting. If Spies starts beating Lorenzo...
 
I'm pretty sure that if you put Stoner on either Rossi or Hayden's Ducati TODAY for just 10 laps he'd put it in the top 5.



Conversley I think either Hayden or Rossi on the Honda would be top 5.



My point isn't that Stoner is better than Rossi & co. but that the Ducati is a B!TCH to ride but some how Stoner can get quick times out of it.

I don't think we will see a Ducati on the podium for quite a while.
 
Early Days..The Doctor will be up to old tricks in no time.... My guess will be Mugello
<




Spies all the way
<
 
This testing is making me think about WSBK & what Ducati have done.

Ducati cancelled a successful WSBK program that gave their road bikes awesome cred in order to continue a MotoGP program that is looking like it will be unsuccessful based on testing so far.



It's a bad choice that it is going to start giving them the same kind of effect as Kawasaki's racing program has given their sports bikes. Not a positive one.



Looks like Honda and Yamaha will enjoy the "Win on Sunday then Sell on Monday" marketing benefit ofa successful racing program this season.
 
Edit accidental double post.



My post wasn't worth reading twice.
<
 
J4rn0 said:
Your observation about Rossi's remark is very much to the point. A little less the conclusion... If Rossi said that, it means he's now confident he can 'just ride' the Ducati. Otherwise he'd be stupid to say anything at all. This implies that the only thing holding him back, now, is the famous shoulder (just as he insists). He also says he'll be 100% only in May... I think we can give him time until then. As lovers of the sport we should actually welcome this bold statement by Rossi, which amounts to a renewed challenge to one of his strongest rivals ever.
<
Click to expand...





Who Jumkey?





Sorry jums couldn't resist. Hehe
 
woody996 said:
One other thing, Rossi was talking about the ability of the bike to change lines in a corner when making the comment it just needs to be ridden. Rossi can take pretty unorthodox lines into corners and pull it off 99% of the time so I would not bet against this.
Click to expand...

As I said, whilst I don't know in what context stoner made the initial comment about the 2011 ducati (possibly it was prompted by a question from the media), he has in any case certainly invited a reply from valentino who as usual has not been bashful. He may be trying to debunk the whole "only stoner can ride it" thing, but his statement does imply confidence he will eventually sort things.



History suggests it is unwise to place restrictions on what rossi can do on a bike (in fact it records he has had championship winning pace on all of the six different varieties of bike he has encountered), and I am sure he can either ride the thing similarly to stoner or devise his own method. My scepticism concerns the bike becoming nimble merely by it being ridden differently.
 
25 mins into the

last day of

Sepang 1 Test

and Spies is

leading

2:01.002, ahead

of Lorenzo,

Stoner, Hayden,

Edwards, Dovi

and Rossi
 
Jumkie said:
It appears Rossi is right, though the consequence seems to be a slower lap time. Not sure if that's a Pyrrhic victory, but it sounds like one.
Click to expand...

Yea, when your 2 seconds off the pace, im sure the bike acts quite different. Take it to the edge before you make a statement like that.
 
Simoncelli

setting early

pace with a

2.00.757, so

that's just

quicker than

Dani from

yesterday. Track

cool at this time

of day though
 

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