MotoGP 2012

[Crasherfromwayback]

Take Stoner out of the equation and they look considerably better!
At least Rossi is within the same second as the men in front! This hasn't happened for a year!!!

That much is true. But I can't see the Honda or the Yamaha not improving a wee bit more too.

[SimJen]

That much is true. But I can't see the Honda or the Yamaha not improving a wee bit more too.

yeah, hopefully ducati will too. Once they understand a little more about the settings etc.
Hopefully it will be a three horse race! Looking forward to it!

[Crasherfromwayback]

yeah, hopefully ducati will too. Once they understand a little more about the settings etc.
Hopefully it will be a three horse race! Looking forward to it!

I'm sure they will. Rossi and Burgess will make far better/quicker progress with aluminium I reckon.

[Brian d marge]

I'm sure they will. Rossi and Burgess will make far better/quicker progress with aluminium I reckon.

Watch comments about front end feel , if things like " its still vague in the front " then its the design and a fundamental design problem
if they have fixed it ( I doubt ) expect Rossi to highlight the front end feel.
I feel Ducati should try and get more fuel economy,so they can wind up the wick in the final stages ...
IMHO all of course

now back to cheap lunchtime claret

Stephen

[cmoore]

So i'm guessing the Honda is the same with a bigger but same engine?....In which case As long as Stoner stays upright then he is a good bet,

[Crasherfromwayback]

So i'm guessing the Honda is the same with a bigger but same engine?....In which case As long as Stoner stays upright then he is a good bet,

I'd say it'll be a fair bit different. Because of the extra torque the thing will be much meatier I'd imagine.

[Mental Trousers]

The Honda's and Yamaha's will be an evolution of the 800 frames, but the litre engine is physically bigger so the frame will have had quite a major redesign. They'll need different flex characteristics, there's a lot more torque to deal with, the tyres are different and alsorts of other stuff.

[SimJen]

the Honda is substantially beefed up, the position of the weld to the area where the swingarm fixes has been moved further up the beam due to a change in flex/strength in that area. The swingarm size/bracing has been increased also.
Biggest change this year is the fact that Bridgestone have finally changed the carcass of the tyres, this was a major factor in the ducati's failure according to Rossi.
He has said that the GP12 is substantially better and he can now ride it how he likes it! Still a way to go.
I was reading an article on Jeremy Burgess speaking about the way that Ducati left the bike alone pretty much when Stoner was winning on it, when he crashed they never analysed why!
Stoner just rode at 105% the whole time, sometimes he pulled it off, other times he crashed. Ducati had a different mind set than the other manufacturers.
Ducati's bike was one that only Stoner could ride, Capirossi/Melandri didn't get on with it in too well despite Capirossi winning on it once!
Whereas the Yamaha's and Honda's are made to be ridden by multiple riders and are designed to be easy to ride from the off as can be evidenced by the number of guys doing pretty well on them.
Interesting times ahead.

[slowpoke]

Ducati's bike was one that only Stoner could ride, Capirossi/Melandri didn't get on with it in too well despite Capirossi winning on it once!
Whereas the Yamaha's and Honda's are made to be ridden by multiple riders and are designed to be easy to ride from the off as can be evidenced by the number of guys doing pretty well on them.
Interesting times ahead.

Not quite right. Capirossi had seven wins on the Duc over 4 years and was a genuine contender for the championship (equal leader after 3 rounds, finished 3rd) in 2006 until he had that big first corner crash with Sete Gibernau that was a turning point. The same year Bayliss came from a year out of MotoGP to jump on it and win at the last round. The D16 was obviously a bloody good bit of gear back then, and it's only later that it got to be such a unique beast.

Stoner, Bridgestone and that early Duc were a phenomenal combo but even his results slipped after that 2007 season as the thing became harder and harder to use.

[pritch]

Marquez may miss the first two Moto2 tests. The spokesman was still optimistic but...

[pritch]

Watch comments about front end feel , if things like " its still vague in the front " then its the design and a fundamental design problem


now back to cheap lunchtime claret

Stephen

Rossi's comments to date indicate that he is very happy with corner entry on the new bike. Which may indicate the front end problems are less of a problem, or better yet a thing of the past.

This new bike is a major redesign. Nobody is talking about the shape of the engine but there is more room at the front. The pundits claim this means the engine has been rotated backwards.

Last year apparently the Ducati tank actually held gas, unlike the other bikes which store it under the rider's family jewels. This bike though has room for a tank in the same place as everybody else.
This sort of suggests that there is more room at the back as well as at the front. Hmmmmm

Enjoy the vino Tinto...

[Mental Trousers]

This new bike is a major redesign. Nobody is talking about the shape of the engine but there is more room at the front. The pundits claim this means the engine has been rotated backwards.

Last year apparently the Ducati tank actually held gas, unlike the other bikes which store it under the rider's family jewels. This bike though has room for a tank in the same place as everybody else.
This sort of suggests that there is more room at the back as well as at the front. Hmmmmm

There's a bunch of pics from the Sepang test showing the tank and exhaust routing are very different. The changes make sense if the engine is rotated around the crankshaft so that the front cylinder is closer to vertical/rear cylinder more horizontal. If that's the case then it's transferring weight fore/aft much better than it was which means more feel, much more predictable handling and changes do what they're meant to.

[SimJen]

Not quite right. Capirossi had seven wins on the Duc over 4 years and was a genuine contender for the championship (equal leader after 3 rounds, finished 3rd) in 2006 until he had that big first corner crash with Sete Gibernau that was a turning point. The same year Bayliss came from a year out of MotoGP to jump on it and win at the last round. The D16 was obviously a bloody good bit of gear back then, and it's only later that it got to be such a unique beast.

Stoner, Bridgestone and that early Duc were a phenomenal combo but even his results slipped after that 2007 season as the thing became harder and harder to use.

It has been a good bike, but every rider has commented on the front end feel despite some good but inconsistent results. It has been a unique beast. It seemed like it reached a point and couldn't get faster! Rossi's times weren't too bad on it initially beating previous years times from Stoner, but everyone else had been able to get a few more seconds a lap from their bikes.

[BMWST?]

this is the other thread i look at....there are lots of pics there from sepang.

[pritch]

There's a bunch of pics from the Sepang test showing the tank and exhaust routing are very different. The changes make sense if the engine is rotated around the crankshaft so that the front cylinder is closer to vertical/rear cylinder more horizontal.

I've seen a lot of them. The one that got me going was the one that showed what appeared to be a fuel tank where the rear cylinder of an L should have been, regardless of how much it had been rotated.

So far I haven't seen a pic sans fairing, when we do it might answer my question.