Joined Oct 2006
25K Posts | 4K+
Your Mom's House
What do you think are Nicky's chances?
I think he has a shot, at least one of the top four contenders. What do you think? (Be gentle, this coming from a Hayden fan
)
From Crash.net
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>After a disastrous 2007 season, where he meekly surrendered his
MotoGP
crown and finished eighth in the standings,
Nicky Hayden says he is looking to try and reclaim the title in 2008.
The American endured a difficult year wearing the #1 aboard his Repsol
Honda as he finished the campaign 240 points behind Ducati's Casey Stoner but said his focus was very much on trying to take the title back this year.
"My aim this year is simple: to win the title," he said. "I know that after the last season it may seem madness, but I think that when you achieve something once, you can do it again. We'll soon find out; it's not long before the season starts. I can't wait."
During pre-season testing, Hayden has been busy swapping between the new-for-2008 pneumatic-valve engine, which he hopes to race with, and the 'standard' spring-valve design from 2007 as the team tries to make a decision on which engine it will use for the start of the season in Qatar.
Consider this:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Pneumatics Becomes the New Buzzword
If ‘tyres' was the F-word in the paddock last year, this season it's definitely the rush to pneumatic valve-gear which is provoking chatter. But is pneumatic valve gear really necessary in MotoGP?
Some paddock pundits are saying that while this form of valve control might give an extra 1,000rpm at the top end, higher revs increase fuel consumption at a time when everyone's trying to coax a race distance from their 21 litres of fuel.
So let's hear a crew chief's opinion. Pete Benson, who tended Nicky Hayden's Honda to the championship in 2006, is firmly in favour of pneumatics. “They give you a lot more scope for making radical cam profiles, which helps with things such as acceleration” he says.
“The problem with a spring is getting it to do what you want for a reasonable mileage. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in spring quality at the moment.”
Sadly, for an engineer so firmly pro-pneumatics, Benson won't be using HRC Honda's version of this technology at Jerez this weekend – and possibly for several races into the season. The new engine has proved problematical in testing, so Nicky and Dani Pedrosa will be relying on old technology to start the year.
Cause for concern or am I in a panic?
I think he has a shot, at least one of the top four contenders. What do you think? (Be gentle, this coming from a Hayden fan
From Crash.net
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>After a disastrous 2007 season, where he meekly surrendered his
MotoGP
crown and finished eighth in the standings,
Nicky Hayden says he is looking to try and reclaim the title in 2008.
The American endured a difficult year wearing the #1 aboard his Repsol
Honda as he finished the campaign 240 points behind Ducati's Casey Stoner but said his focus was very much on trying to take the title back this year.
"My aim this year is simple: to win the title," he said. "I know that after the last season it may seem madness, but I think that when you achieve something once, you can do it again. We'll soon find out; it's not long before the season starts. I can't wait."
During pre-season testing, Hayden has been busy swapping between the new-for-2008 pneumatic-valve engine, which he hopes to race with, and the 'standard' spring-valve design from 2007 as the team tries to make a decision on which engine it will use for the start of the season in Qatar.
Consider this:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Pneumatics Becomes the New Buzzword
If ‘tyres' was the F-word in the paddock last year, this season it's definitely the rush to pneumatic valve-gear which is provoking chatter. But is pneumatic valve gear really necessary in MotoGP?
Some paddock pundits are saying that while this form of valve control might give an extra 1,000rpm at the top end, higher revs increase fuel consumption at a time when everyone's trying to coax a race distance from their 21 litres of fuel.
So let's hear a crew chief's opinion. Pete Benson, who tended Nicky Hayden's Honda to the championship in 2006, is firmly in favour of pneumatics. “They give you a lot more scope for making radical cam profiles, which helps with things such as acceleration” he says.
“The problem with a spring is getting it to do what you want for a reasonable mileage. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in spring quality at the moment.”
Sadly, for an engineer so firmly pro-pneumatics, Benson won't be using HRC Honda's version of this technology at Jerez this weekend – and possibly for several races into the season. The new engine has proved problematical in testing, so Nicky and Dani Pedrosa will be relying on old technology to start the year.
Cause for concern or am I in a panic?
