which era in moto GP do you think best, and most competatative

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Jul 13 2008, 09:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I'm a bit torn on this one. I really loved the 2 stroke era circa 1990 with Rainey, Lawson, Gardner, Doohan and Schwantz etc. Has there ever been a more exciting era with more fantastic, ballsy riders? I very much doubt it.
Time moves on though and I loved the 990's. The modern 4 stroke is king at the moment and the 990's were the king 4 stroke. 2 stroke technology had reached it's peak with little left in way of development. The 800's probably aren't the best category ever dreamed up - but what were they supposed to do? The 990's had started making insane amounts of power. They were going to have to curb it in some sort of way. Obviously what they have done isn't the cure. it will be really interesting to see where they go from here.
Personally I think the racing is becoming way too expensive - just look at how many teams we have at the moment. Big factories like kawasaki/suzuki can't or won't put any more bikes on the grid due to the costs. Meanwhile more manufacturers are moving into world superbikes.
Grand prix racing has some big problems - who knows where it will be in 5 years time?


Agree. I also think that when SBK are running 1200cc four strokes and GP is running 800cc four strokes that things are getting a bit blurred.

Pete

"990s coz they are a beast to ride" - yeah like any one of you fuckers have ever ridden one to know.

mid and late 80's for me. it was the Rainey & Schwantz battles that got me hooked. anybody remembers mamola's hair ?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (roger-m @ Jul 13 2008, 10:57 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>mid and late 80's for me. it was the Rainey & Schwantz battles that got me hooked. anybody remembers mamola's hair ?


Did anyone have good hair in the 80?

My fav were the 990's then the 500's

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Jul 13 2008, 02:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I am not sure what your point is, # 46 who is a fan of the sport but also a rossi fan specifically said that neither the doohan era nor the rossi era had close enough racing.

#46, Doohan actually was very competitive with rainey and schwantz at their peak and looked almost certain to win the championship against them in 1992 before he had his accident and nearly lost his leg which is why I include him in the early 90s; probably did have a bike advantage in 1992 as he did later.

Mike, my definition with Doohan's era is the era when Schwantz & Rainey retired. As far as I can remember he didn't has a serious competitor...= boring ....
And to Pinky and Barry :
As a Rossi's fan,all right I admit that I want him (always) to win.
As a sport's fan, I always want to see a tight battle. And if Rossi wins by 1s is much entertaining for me than 10s. 'Coz the adrenalin is there...And if he loses,of course I want him get beaten just under 1s.
Pretty subjective ? Well you can say anything..But I'm sure if you ask Pedro's fans, Hayden's fan or Stoner's fans (that means you..),they will say the same.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Jul 13 2008, 02:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I edited before I saw your reply to clarify that I was replying to the posts of both you and #46. My point regarding your post was that #46, a rossi fan said that the racing was not close enough during rossi's string of world championships. I actually don't reply to that other poster though I have to admit he is sometimes amusing.
Amusing ?? Actually that's my job in the real world. Makes you feel younger. At least not annoying...

The 1991-1993 racing era was a hell of battle...And how I miss Rainey so much .. ..
Every time I watch the video of Misano 1993 tragedy, I'm down to tears ...'til now.

I want to vote for the 4-stroke era as a whole, including 990 and 800cc machines. The sport has moved forward faster than ever in the last 6 years the field of riders is deeper than ever. The technology is far superior to anything seen before, the rate of development is intense and the bikes are as competative as they ever have been. Success is as hard to achieve as its ever been with one of the sports greatest riders for competition, i think fans these days are pretty lucky.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pinky @ Jul 13 2008, 06:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>rossi fans perception of close racing is whenever rossi wins, no matter by 1 second or 20 seconds or by 150points in the championship. but when someone else dominates its boring, its the electronics, its the tires (<- funny not much mention of that this year), its horhey, its the barrier in between the garage dividing him and his teamate, its pedrosa, its honda, its dorna.... hahah excuses keep on coming


Elias winning by 0.002 seconds is close racing! Gibernau passing Rossi in the last lap like 2003 Sachsenring is close racing! 2006 Sachsenring with the closest top 4 is close racing! Stoner winning 3 races in a row (with more than 5 seconds) with almost three flag-to-flag is not close racing! Damn it, even an ..... can see that

The best era in MotoGP is the late 80's and early 90's for sure, with probably the best riders ever all riding in the same class!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (#46 @ Jul 13 2008, 03:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Mike, my definition with Doohan's era is the era when Schwantz & Rainey retired. As far as I can remember he didn't has a serious competitor...= boring ....

Amusing ?? Actually that's my job in the real world. Makes you feel younger. At least not annoying...
I agree the doohan championship run was probably boring if you weren't a doohan fan, and valentino's panache on and off the track during his 5 championship run provided more interest for non-fans, and valentino had and has a lot more fans than doohan anyway. I think each was worth watching even when totally dominant for the consummate display of skill. I think we seem to be in agreement that having more than one all-time great in the field is desirable for an era to be called absolutely classic.

On the second point, sorry I was trying to stick to my plan not to reply to or mention the colourful hong kong ...-site frequenting countryman of mine who posted after you, he was the other poster and I wasn't referring to you although I can see that this was unclear . His posts don't seriously annoy me and are occasionally amusing but are also sometimes malicious which I would never accuse you of being.

alot of you "read" the initial post.
I should have specified which bike you liked the most.
I was able to figure it out though

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Jul 13 2008, 10:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I agree the doohan championship run was probably boring if you weren't a doohan fan, and valentino's panache on and off the track during his 5 championship run provided more interest for non-fans, and valentino had and has a lot more fans than doohan anyway. I think each was worth watching even when totally dominant for the consummate display of skill. I think we seem to be in agreement that having more than one all-time great in the field is desirable for an era to be called absolutely classic.

On the second point, sorry I was trying to stick to my plan not to reply to or mention the colourful hong kong ...-site frequenting countryman of mine who posted after you, he was the other poster and I wasn't referring to you although I can see that this was unclear . His posts don't seriously annoy me and are occasionally amusing but are also sometimes malicious which I would never accuse you of being.

Thanks Mike,you're a great person.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jul 13 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I want to vote for the 4-stroke era as a whole, including 990 and 800cc machines. The sport has moved forward faster than ever in the last 6 years the field of riders is deeper than ever. The technology is far superior to anything seen before, the rate of development is intense and the bikes are as competative as they ever have been. Success is as hard to achieve as its ever been with one of the sports greatest riders for competition, i think fans these days are pretty lucky.
I am actually enjoying the 800 racing as a stoner fan, I share much of your enthusiasm for the technical rivalry, and I think there is an interesting and close championship battle this year. I do think the 990 formula seemed to be better for producing close racing in individual races for whatever reason, and passing at the front end of the field did seem to be more common. I am concerned as are others in this thread with the costs in the current formula which appear to be escalating and leading to diminished fields.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (kngadrok @ Jul 13 2008, 04:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>alot of you "read" the initial post.
I should have specified which bike you liked the most.
I was able to figure out though
I did initially make this mistake and subsequently realised I had, but the 500 formula lasted for a long time and the bikes changed considerably over that time, and part of the appeal of the part of the 500 era which I and many others consider classic was that the bikes at that time seemed to be particularly difficult to master.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (michaelm @ Jul 13 2008, 04:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I am actually enjoying the 800 racing as a stoner fan, I share much of your enthusiasm for the technical rivalry, and I think there is an interesting and close championship battle this year. I do think the 990 formula seemed to be better for producing close racing in individual races for whatever reason, and passing at the front end of the field did seem to be more common. I am concerned as are others in this thread with the costs in the current formula which appear to be escalating and leading to diminished fields.
this is the winner for me.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BarryMachine @ Jul 13 2008, 08:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Pinky is dead right on this one ...... their wasn't a peep from the Rossi fans about the boring racing when Rossi was leading the points at the beginning of the year ....... Pedrosa pulls in fron and Stoner starts winning and the whinging starts.

This is just sad. On usent there's an expression "hitling" the tread. Bring in Hitler in some sort of way and you are sure to get off topic and into a flame war.
This forums hitling seems to be "The Rossi Fans did/didn't" "Mindless Cheerleaders does/don't".
Put this up first and any silly expression behind it and you get exactly what you ask for.
Well, I'll respond to this one:
Didn't you notice or do you lie on purpose in that post? Rossi fans did complain about boring racing also when Rossi won, but most of all, most Rossi fan's has the ability to cheer and be happy when Rossi win and write about that and their rider, and boring or not fall into the background so does the other riders and their fans. This is in contrast to certain other fans who are more occupied with the Rossi fans than their own guy winning as today is another good example of.
As it is right now it seems impossible to have an opinion on regulations without being accused of saying so just because "my rider" will benefit (at the same time as he is a hopeless has-been)
and that's sad.
I understand the argument that TC and 800cc (a simplified version on todays regulations) is the future. Electronics are here to stay and so on. In return at least acknowledge that the racing is not even close to as exciting as it was a couple of years ago. That the championship, by coincidense, is exciting is just that, a coincidense, not a result og the regulations.
The bikes are not easy to ride but they are realtivly easier than they used to be, and that's come mostly in small steps ever since the 90's, but also in bigger steps like the first TC on the 990's, then the jump to 800's with less power to controll. This is a quite general opinion that reach way beyond Rossi fans and it's really a mute point that the one saying it is a Rossi fan.
If the driver aids are here to stay or not remain to be seen but as you probably know they look at other ways to limit the speed. I'm sure it will raise hell here and other places if they remove TC and a new round of "Dorna in Rossi's pocket" ........, but I'm one of those (few?) who have confidence enough in stoner to expect him to be just as competetive as he is today. He has the balls and the speed, he only need a bit more experience on the throttle control, and who knows, with the talent and skill he has shown it wouldn't surprice me a bit if he allready got that figured out too.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jul 13 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I want to vote for the 4-stroke era as a whole, including 990 and 800cc machines. The sport has moved forward faster than ever in the last 6 years the field of riders is deeper than ever. The technology is far superior to anything seen before, the rate of development is intense and the bikes are as competative as they ever have been. Success is as hard to achieve as its ever been with one of the sports greatest riders for competition, i think fans these days are pretty lucky.


Tom, you don't remember any of the other eras because you were 3 years old.


Pete

That's an easy one for me, I liked the 500 era, you needed a lot of rider skill to wrestle these things round the track, does anyone remember 'the 990 cube' the noise was amazing, and that was the first time I went to see them live.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (basspete @ Jul 13 2008, 08:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Tom, you don't remember any of the other eras because you were 3 years old.


Pete

Rubbish, i was fortunate enough to see 4 years of the 500's and loved all of them. And i'm far from un-informed about the things that have gone on in the past, just a shame I am too young to have seen a few of the things first hand (like world championships on the isle of man!!)

500cc era probably. late 80's to early 90's

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tom @ Jul 13 2008, 09:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Rubbish, i was fortunate enough to see 4 years of the 500's and loved all of them. And i'm far from un-informed about the things that have gone on in the past, just a shame I am too young to have seen a few of the things first hand (like world championships on the isle of man!!)


Sorry, I didnt realise you were 7 Tom. And yes, you do have excellent use of Google.

Pete