2005 MotoGP tests

[gav]

Woohoo, race time, love this when all the guys rock up in new colours, some seem a little weird though.....just dont look right?
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2005mgp/sepangtest/1/3.jpg
Like this, Max Biaggi on the Repsol Honda?
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_edwards_team_pose_700p.jpg
Colin Edwards....
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/rossi_day1_lhf_700p.jpg
Damn, this is a cool shot, look how tight he is!! :shit:
http://images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/321/321068_63440.jpg
ex 250 man Toni Elias on the Yamaha!
http://images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/327/327973_36751.jpg
Troy Bayliss waiting for some yellow paint
http://images.motograndprix.com/multimedia2/327/327972_20186.jpg
Along with his team mate Alex Barros.
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_capirossi_mono_day1_400p.jpg
Fastest man at tests, Loris Capirossi :2thumbsup

[XTC]

Cool pics....

If only we could live thier life for one day...... Would be the last day of my life probably - but what a way to go!!! :headbang:

[Motoracer]

Go Loris!!! He's probably my fav MotoGP rider.

[Blakamin]

i had to look twice to make sure it was the doctor... black bike looks shite!
Max has always looked wrong!
go Loris!!!!!

[6Chris6]

Look out for Temada this year!!

BTW whens kick off?

[fliplid]

bloody hell! peeps talkin about proper sport, not the usual tripe! :)

[Riff Raff]

Great shots. Makes me horny just looking at them!!!! :devil2:

[Coyote]

Those pics took a few years to load :p

I need broadband

[James Deuce]

Colin Edwards looks like he just found the 12" dildo someone left on the seat.

Ouch.

Very nice pics Gav! :2thumbsup

[Joni]

Thanks Gav, some nice pics!
Yeah this is always one of my favourite times of the season, in fact Im really looking forward to this year...
Capirossi looks great on the Duc - maybe this is the year?

.... Max on that Repsol?? :eek5: :no:

[erik]

Nice pics gav.
Oh man, I'm looking forward this. MotoGP is the only sport I've gotten into enough to watch more than half a race/game on the telly.

[Skunk]

Great shots. Makes me horny just looking at them!!!! :devil2:Seesh girl... :pinch:

BTW whens kick off?Jerez April 10 :2thumbsup

Colin Edwards looks like he just found the 12" dildo someone left on the seat.The whole team look uncomfortable somehow :o

[gav]

Colin Edwards looks like he just found the 12" dildo someone left on the seat.

Ouch.

Very nice pics Gav! :2thumbsup
He's probably gutted he couldnt score a yellow Suzuki :wavey:
Heres the times from Day 1
Capirossi Ducati 2’ 02” 18
Rossi Yamaha 2’ 02” 31
Barros Honda 2’ 02” 71
Hayden Honda 2’ 03” 17
Roberts Suzuki 2’ 03”00
Hopkins Suzuki 2’ 03” 29
Biaggi Honda 2’ 03” 35
Gibernau Honda 2’03” 49
Melandri Honda 2’ 03” 57
Checa Ducati 2’ 03” 57
Tamada Honda 2’ 03” 63
Hofmann Kawasaki 2’ 03” 80
Edwards Yamaha 2’ 03” 94
Aoki Suzuki 2’ 04” 00
Nakano Kawasaki 2’ 04” 20
Bayliss Honda 2’ 04” 81
Xaus Yamaha 2’ 04” 98
Elias Yamaha 2’ 05” 20

Here's Day 2:

Unofficial lap times provided by the teams:

Loris Capirossi (Ducati): 2’01.98 (60 laps)
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha): 2’02.16 (55)
Sete Gibernau (Honda): 2’02.2 (60)
Alex Barros: (Honda): 2’02.307 (77)
Max Biaggi (Honda): 2'02.35 (43)
Kenny Roberts (Suzuki): 2'02.38
Colin Edwards (Yamaha): 2’02.48 (62)
Nicky Hayden (Honda): 2’02.49 (81)
Troy Bayliss: (Honda) 2’03.918 (52)
Toni Elías: (Yamaha): 2’03.20 (51)
Rubén Xaus (Yamaha): 2’03.40 (62)
Marco Melandri (Honda): 2’02.70 (69)
Makoto Tamada (Honda): 2’02.69

[gav]

http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_checa_rhs_day1_700p.jpg
Carlos Checa - Ducati mounted this year
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_rossi_team_pose_700p.jpg
Hmm, guess Rossi has sold enough replica helmets, looking at the state of his latest design
http://www.mcnews.com.au/Wallpaper/Racers/Bayliss/2005/jan_bayliss_lhs_1024.jpg
Would love to see Bayliss kick Ducati butt this year!
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_melandri_rhs_700p.jpg
Marco Melandri joins Sete Gibernau this year
http://www.mcnews.com.au/motorcycleracing2005/motogp/testing/jan_sepang/jan_hayden_lhf_700p.jpg
Nicky Hayden, time to deliver the goods, sunshine....

[James Deuce]

Nicky Hayden, time to deliver the goods, sunshine....

Always remember that it took Mick Doohan three years of steady improvement to become consitently competitive. He was also quietly understated in his approach to the media and the paddock until his actions were sufficiently "loud".

[gav]

Really? Doohan finished 9th first year, one 4th place. He missed 2 or 3 races too, after crashing in Suzuka 8 hour. Fast at 2nd round Philip Island, crashed in practice and ground half his hand away, well maybe a finger. Finished 3rd next year and race winner in his second season. On a bike that was reported as very difficult to ride. Whats Hayden done, in the best team in the paddock and on without a doubt the best bike? You saying you're not suprised he hasn't won a race yet?

[James Deuce]

Really? Doohan finished 9th first year, one 3rd place. He missed 2 or 3 races too, after crashing in Suzuka 8 hour. Fast at 1st round Philip Island, crashed in practice and ground half his hand away, well maybe a finger. Finished 3rd next year and race winner in his second season. On a bike that was reported as very difficult to ride. Whats Hayden done, in the best team in the paddock and on without a doubt the best bike? You saying you're not suprised he hasn't won a race yet?

No I'm not. He's been injured badly enough two seasons running to keep most people away from work for months at a time.

It took Doohan 3 years to be consistently competitive on a bike that was the class of the field at the time. Geez buy a Suzuki and someone who was a mate goes all arsey on ya.

[gav]

That early NSR was farkin lethal mate, even turned the great Eddie Lawson white as sheet first time he rode it, remember Lawson joined HRC team in 1989 as team mate to Wayne Gardner with Doohan as the rookie. The bike was a shocker. Its well documented how Lawson and Kanemoto did some serious bracing to get the bike to handle and was fascinating watch the previous Steady Eddie change his riding style and muscle and manhandle the bike into nearly submission.
It wasnt until 92 they cracked it and really got the NSR as the awesome package that dominated for so long.
http://powersports.honda.com/Motorcycle_DCTM/Milestone/Images/MM_1989_NSR500_cycle.jpg

You're looking at the power behind ten of Honda's eleven 500cc World Championships won from 1984 to present — six in a row 1994 to 1999. With more than 100 wins to its credit, the NSR500 is the most dominant force in modern Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The 1989 NSR that won Honda's third 500 World Championship with Eddie Lawson exemplifies the overwhelming power, acceleration and raw speed that has always been synonymous with Honda's 500cc two-stroke V-4.

Designed to succeed Honda's first two-stroke Grand Prix racer — the NS500 triple that earned Honda's first 500cc World Championship with Freddie Spencer in 1983 — the NSR500 debuted in 1984. Building on lessons learned from its three-cylinder predecessor, the new V-4 used a single crankshaft, making it lighter and more compact than its dual-crankshaft adversaries. Though tormented by unorthodox chassis technology in its freshman season, the NSR evolved to clinch Honda's second 500cc GP title in 1985. Opening the V-angle to 112 degrees in 1987 made room for a quartet of 36mm Keihin carburetors between the cylinders where they could be fed more cool air. The new arrangement also let the engine exhale more efficiently through its four artfully intertwined expansion chambers. By year's end, Aussie Wayne Gardner won seven of 15 races to earn Honda a third 500cc World Championship.

Entirely redesigned for 1988, the NSR got a stiffer, twin-spar aluminum chassis and various engine changes. More improvements gave Eddie Lawson's 1989 NSR500 upwards of 165 horsepower at 12,000 rpm — essentially doubling the output of Mike Hailwood's 1966 Honda RC181 Grand Prix four-stroke. Capable of well over 190 miles per hour, the 1989 bikes ridden by Lawson and rookie teammate Mick Doohan had more top speed and acceleration than anything else on the track. To contain all that muscle, the stiffer, twin-spar aluminum chassis used a curved, gull-wing-type swingarm to accommodate more-efficient expansion chambers. The result was an unforgiving, but brutally fast, package that earned Honda a fourth 500cc World Championship in 1989 that was Lawson's fourth as well.

Though the 499cc V-4 could produce more than 200 horsepower, chassis development, sophisticated engine management and an Australian named Mick Doohan made the NSR500 a legend in the 1990s. Extensive testing in 1991 led to a new aluminum chassis patterned on the successful RVF750 endurance racer. Honda unveiled a revolutionary idea with a 1992 V-4 that was timed to fire all four cylinders within 65-70 degrees of crankshaft rotation. Along with a balance shaft that neutralized the single crankshaft engine's gyroscopic effects, the 1992 NSR500 was a breakthrough. Emphasizing acceleration over sheer speed, Doohan used the "big-bang" engine to win five of the first seven 500 Grand Prix races of 1992. Although a badly broken leg denied Doohan's bid for the 1992 World Championship, he would not be denied for long. Beginning in 1994, Doohan and the NSR won five consecutive 500cc World Championships. Winning 12 of 15 races in 1997, he broke a single-season win record that was set in 1972. Combining for 54 total 500 Grand Prix wins, no man and machine in modern history had dominated the 500 World Championship so thoroughly.

Constant development and ever-increasing sophistication sharpened the NSR's edge, earning Honda two more 500 World Championships, with Alex Criville in 1999 and again with Valentino Rossi in 2001. Still, for anyone who ever heard it, the shriek of that 1989 NSR500 at 12,000 rpm still recalls the spectacle of 500 Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1980s, when too much power was just enough.
http://park5.wakwak.com/~yumei/Honda1989.jpg

[gav]

Which New Zealander raced in a round of the 1989 World 500 Grand Prix?

[inlinefour]

At the end of the day I care not for the colour of the bikes and gear. Just as long as there is some good racing going on... :niceone:

[gav]

http://motogp.tiscali.com/ppv_multimedia2/327/327961_78558.wmv
Video day 1 testing
http://motogp.tiscali.com/ppv_multimedia2/328/328091_63690.wmv
video footage of day 2 testing!
http://motogp.tiscali.com/ppv_multimedia2/328/328353_13771.wmv
Day 3 footage!

[James Deuce]

Eddie Lawson is on record in December 2004 Motorcyclist that most of the stories about those late '80s/early '90s 500s are more about psyching the opposition than reality, and also admits that making the bike stiffer contributed to handling issues rather than solved problems.

[merv]

Which New Zealander raced in a round of the 1989 World 500 Grand Prix?

Without searching probably Andrew Stroud, because Crosby, Ireland, Scott and others had retired by then and Crafar was coming up.

[White trash]

-- Sepang Tests Day 3 --

Capirossi 2m00.52s

Gibernau 2m01.29s

Rossi 2m01.35s

Hayden 2m01.74s

Biaggi 2m01.88s

Edwards 2m01.93s

Barros 2m01.98s

Melandri 2m02.20s

Bayliss 2m02.69s

Nakano 2m02.74s

Tamada 2m02.96s

Elias 2m02.98s

Hofmann 2m03.70s

Xaus 2m04.04s


That's apparently 1.3 seconds under the pole record for Capirossi. Fark me! :eek5:

[denill]

Which New Zealander raced in a round of the 1989 World 500 Grand Prix?

And without searching - I reckon Robert Scott, from Wanganui (Now Taupo I think) got a shot on a Yamaha (I think). He ended up totalling it and his phone didn't ring after that.

Cheers
BillW

[merv]

Bill you mean Richard Scott I guess, but I was thinking he'd retired by then except he is now back on post classics and did quite well at Wanganui. Comes from Tauranga these days I think too, not Taupo.

[denill]

Bill you mean Richard Scott I guess, but I was thinking he'd retired by then except he is now back on post classics and did quite well at Wanganui. Comes from Tauranga these days I think too, not Taupo.

Yeah, you're right Merv, I should have said Richard. He had a lot of potential to go to the top but it came down to the same old story - politics (country of origin) and money (that can be brought to the team) with out those criteria being met it is VERY uphill for even the MOST talented Kiwi.............
He opened a m/c shop in Taupo didn't he??

OK, we give in Gav - Which New Zealander raced in a round of the 1989 World 500 Grand Prix??

Cheers
BillW

[merv]

This is Richard's car business as far as I know:

Richard Scott Motors Ltd LMVD cnr Cameron Rd & Ninth Ave Tauranga

MNZ here http://www.motorcyclingnz.co.nz/rollofhonour_1980-1989.aspx doesn't mention any Kiwi in GPs in 1989 and Richard gets a mention in 1986 and 1987, but not for GPs.

What stands out in that list of course is how good Croz was back then.

[k14]

I know stroud got a go on the 500's sometime, but i think it was later than 89 (maybe 93). He had only just started racing for britten then (or started around that year).

Although what do I know, I have only watched motorbike racing for less than a year.

[gav]

Which New Zealander raced in a round of the 1989 World 500 Grand Prix?
The answer? Robert Holden , raced in the 89 British GP on a Honda and finished 17th.

[merv]

I know stroud got a go on the 500's sometime, but i think it was later than 89 (maybe 93). He had only just started racing for britten then (or started around that year).

Although what do I know, I have only watched motorbike racing for less than a year.

Stroud rode for years before his Britten days - on the Yammy's with Shanton sponsorship and Super Angel from Aussie wasn't it back when he was a young fellah and I had more hair.

Where's Lynda, she'd have all this stuff recorded in her memory banks?

I certainly didn't remember Robert Holden on the 500 but do remember him riding Honda RC30s.

[Sensei]

Meet Robert Holden at Ducati Night here in NP . Excellent dude signed a shirt for me & talked about his race bike. A true Champion in everyway
Such a loss . SENSEI

[gav]

-- Sepang Tests Day 3 --

Capirossi 2m00.52s

Gibernau 2m01.29s

Rossi 2m01.35s

Hayden 2m01.74s

Biaggi 2m01.88s

Edwards 2m01.93s

Barros 2m01.98s

Melandri 2m02.20s

Bayliss 2m02.69s

Nakano 2m02.74s

Tamada 2m02.96s

Elias 2m02.98s

Hofmann 2m03.70s

Xaus 2m04.04s


That's apparently 1.3 seconds under the pole record for Capirossi. Fark me! :eek5:

So where are the Suzuki boys? All broken down again?? :bleh:

[gav]

Stroud rode for years before his Britten days - on the Yammy's with Shanton sponsorship and Super Angel from Aussie wasn't it back when he was a young fellah and I had more hair.

Where's Lynda, she'd have all this stuff recorded in her memory banks?

I certainly didn't remember Robert Holden on the 500 but do remember him riding Honda RC30s.
Super Angel is a top privateer Japanese team, Stroud, Crafer, Slight, Doohan all rode for them. Andrew Stroud raced 500's on a Shell Harris Yamaha, teammate to Sean Emmett, think he had a few other privateer rides as well, "highlight" was a huge crash at Laguna Seca that smashed his bike to smithereens, similiar to the crash on the OW01 at Philip Island he had.

[gav]

Meet Robert Holden at Ducati Night here in NP . Excellent dude signed a shirt for me & talked about his race bike. A true Champion in everyway
Such a loss . SENSEI
Agree with you there, dude. Met Robert when we promoted the first of the Port Nelson races and Robert was star attraction. Came down in a van with a couple of bikes and mates and was so unassuming and went out of his way to help us out. Met him again at Sound of Thunder racing and at the Ruapuna speedway, again, just such a great down to earth. Agree, such a loss and such a talent, his ability to ride anything fast was just outstanding.

[loosebruce]

At least sbk starts up soonish, cure the itch until MotoGP starts, anyone got any news on who might be covering motogp this year?

[k14]

Stroud rode for years before his Britten days - on the Yammy's with Shanton sponsorship and Super Angel from Aussie wasn't it back when he was a young fellah and I had more hair.

Where's Lynda, she'd have all this stuff recorded in her memory banks?

I certainly didn't remember Robert Holden on the 500 but do remember him riding Honda RC30s.

Ok, sorry there. Thought that stroud went straight from national racing onto the britten. Obviously not.

[mikey]

so im like going to be famous in 3 years then awesome!@!!!!

[Skunk]

At least sbk starts up soonish, cure the itch until MotoGP starts, anyone got any news on who might be covering motogp this year?Prime TV has it. :cool:

[loosebruce]

Prime TV has it. :cool:

Prime has got have they :2thumbsup
I had heard that half wya through the motogp season they sell the rights to screening it cheaper hence why Prime started coverage, so i was in doubt as to weather they would pick up full coverage this year. But glad to be wrong.

Big Ups to Prime, maybe i wont get SKY installed for SBK then, maybe not tis gonna be a good season, as much as i dont wana give SKY me money.

[Sensei]

so im like going to be famous in 3 years then awesome!@!!!!





Your aready Famous Mikey :soon:
SENSEI <_<

[gav]

Prime has got have they :2thumbsup
I had heard that half wya through the motogp season they sell the rights to screening it cheaper hence why Prime started coverage, so i was in doubt as to weather they would pick up full coverage this year. But glad to be wrong.

Big Ups to Prime, maybe i wont get SKY installed for SBK then, maybe not tis gonna be a good season, as much as i dont wana give SKY me money.
I wouldn't be writing off WSBK just yet, I'm picking this season could be the best for quite some time and certainly the most even. MotoGP could well be another Valentino Rossi benefit with everyone racing for second place.

[Skunk]

I wouldn't be writing off WSBK just yet, I'm picking this season could be the best for quite some time and certainly the most even. MotoGP could well be another Valentino Rossi benefit with everyone racing for second place.You could be right. I'll wait for the first few rounds before coughing up for LOTS of rugby and a little WSBK.

[Yokai]

Is it me or is there something wrong with the Yamaha? They've got a bike stand holding it up - OH! No wait - Its that they know that Edwards and Rossi are likely to drop it at less than 50k!

(Ok - look it was funny to me at the time, but then I'm a newbie - what can I say)