MotoGP 2015

**Reckless** · 5th February 2015, 13:46

Originally Posted by pritch

Just one comment on that report, (for which thanks) I read somewhere that it is no longer the NGM Forward racing team. NGM have departed but the team have found another sponsor.

HA Pritch Its off the official MotoGP site too LOL ??
There is heaps of stuff of interest linked to the official site that pops up on my Facebook almost daily. Like Rossi and JL's comments on the new Yammy, but I don't want to flood the thread??

**trustme** · 5th February 2015, 15:51

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

You can compare the Tryphonos and any Vyrus because their front ends are virtually identical. The benefits Shaun found on the Tryphonos will be the same on the Vyrus. The main difference is the Vyrus front end has been under development since 2001 (before that with Bimoto since about 1991), whereas the Mike Tryphonos appears to have moved on to other things.

The main advantage for hub centre steers is under braking. Because there is virtually no dive caused by the brakes or engine braking there's still tons of suspension left. So instead of using up all of the suspension travel then having the front lock cos the tyre is trying to stop the bike as well as do the job of the suspension, riders are able to brake much, much later and hold full brakes all the way to the apex. The riders are usually advised to go past their usual braking marker, wait until they see God, give it an extra 25m or so then hit the anchors and turn in.

If the riders are roughly equal ability you can't use a bike with forks to out brake a properly set up hub centre steered bike without making a complete balls up of it.

I remember them going through all this with the ELF bike & Nessie. The theory is great but they could never build good feel into the system, something that like it or not the traditional forks does pretty well. How important is ' feel ' ask Rossi about his Ducati days. Forks give better feed back to a rider than any other front suspension we have seen so far.
What was the Brittens achilles heel, it's forks !!!

**Mental Trousers** · 5th February 2015, 16:19

Originally Posted by trustme

I remember them going through all this in the with the ELF bike & Nessie. The theory is great but they could never build good feel into the system, something that like it or not the traditional forks does pretty well. How important is ' feel ' ask Rossi about his Ducati days. Forks give better feed back to a rider than any other front suspension we have seen so far.
What was the Brittens achilles heel, it's forks !!!

The problem with the ELF bikes is the designer was a car guy and wanted the bikes to behave the same way as a car, so that meant minimal dive on the brakes etc and none of that inconvenient weight transfer. Weight transfer is needed on bikes.

As Shaun mentioned above, the problem with the Britten was there was no flex at the front so it had no feel. Like weight transfer, flex (controlled flex) is also necessary on bikes. That's partly why Ducati had so many problems with the monocoque bikes - the engine doesn't flex. (Being stubborn, arrogant Italians who treated advice as criticism didn't help either)

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Vyrus goes because it's the only funny front end that's still in development after 20 years, so they've worked most of the basic problems out of it.

**Autech** · 5th February 2015, 16:51

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

The problem with the ELF bikes is the designer was a car guy and wanted the bikes to behave the same way as a car, so that meant minimal dive on the brakes etc and none of that inconvenient weight transfer. Weight transfer is needed on bikes.

As Shaun mentioned above, the problem with the Britten was there was no flex at the front so it had no feel. Like weight transfer, flex (controlled flex) is also necessary on bikes. That's partly why Ducati had so many problems with the monocoque bikes - the engine doesn't flex. (Being stubborn, arrogant Italians who treated advice as criticism didn't help either)

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Vyrus goes because it's the only funny front end that's still in development after 20 years, so they've worked most of the basic problems out of it.

What is the chances of it making it in to the big boy Moto2 series? I can't imagine too many teams willing to step that far and cough up some dough for a bike which is so different. Maybe it will kick arse in the Spanish series? Still won't knock it though as it's staying true to the Moto2 mission of "Build a chassis around this engine".

Great to be back on the Motogp site after a lengthy break, this year should be awesome I'm thinking.
Love how many bikes Honda brought along to the testing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

plus a former world champion test rider $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

**Drew** · 5th February 2015, 16:52

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Vyrus goes because it's the only funny front end that's still in development after 20 years, so they've worked most of the basic problems out of it.

Lap times will be the test of that, and since there no generations of riders to copy and get advice from it's not likely to get enough backing to stay out there. At least not long enough to truely gauge.

**Mental Trousers** · 5th February 2015, 17:47

Originally Posted by Autech

What is the chances of it making it in to the big boy Moto2 series? I can't imagine too many teams willing to step that far and cough up some dough for a bike which is so different. Maybe it will kick arse in the Spanish series? Still won't knock it though as it's staying true to the Moto2 mission of "Build a chassis around this engine".

Nobody wants to be the first and spend the money on what might turn out to be a lemon. But it has a really good chance of doing well in the CEV, as long as they don't run into problems with funding etc and can keep it on a maintenance and development program similar to all the other bikes.

Originally Posted by Drew

Lap times will be the test of that, and since there no generations of riders to copy and get advice from it's not likely to get enough backing to stay out there. At least not long enough to truely gauge.

Yep, but I'm hoping that's not how it goes.

**steveyb** · 5th February 2015, 18:52

Originally Posted by pritch

Just one comment on that report, (for which thanks) I read somewhere that it is no longer the NGM Forward racing team. NGM have departed but the team have found another sponsor.

Yeah a bit of an oversight on MotoGP.com's part there.
The bikes only have Forward on them and all of the NGM stuff on Bradl's leathers was taped over.

The pics of the riders hard on the brakes were pretty awesome.

**merv** · 8th February 2015, 19:41

At the end of the first test in Sepang even I was surprised the Suzukis didn't do that bad really and Maverick did okay for a rookie. Clearly he's no Marc Marquez jumping on a MotoGP bike and topping the time sheets as a rookie but then this model Suzuki is new to this too and they appear to have sorted the reliability issues with the engines, now thye just need a bit more power. Perhaps they should go back to a V4.

**Shaun Harris** · 10th February 2015, 08:02

Originally Posted by merv

At the end of the first test in Sepang even I was surprised the Suzukis didn't do that bad really and Maverick did okay for a rookie. Clearly he's no Marc Marquez jumping on a MotoGP bike and topping the time sheets as a rookie but then this model Suzuki is new to this too and they appear to have sorted the reliability issues with the engines, now thye just need a bit more power. Perhaps they should go back to a V4.

I was rapped by both riders results in testing, They will do bloody well as a virgin team as such this year. Maverick is pure class, and will be one of the top men in a couple of years I think

**Luckylegs** · 10th February 2015, 08:35

Go MARCO

...Ho hum

**pritch** · 10th February 2015, 08:43

Moto2 & Moto3 are testing at Valencia starting today.

**Shaun Harris** · 10th February 2015, 08:56

Originally Posted by pritch

Moto2 & Moto3 are testing at Valencia starting today.

Dam, I failed to buy my Motogp pass, and purchased a trick Millar welding unit instead

**Reckless** · 10th February 2015, 10:18

Marquez fastest bike ever around Sepang

http://www.motornews.co.nz/bikes/mot...otogp-testing/

All lap times on there to. I see Iannone has stuck the Duc between the Hondas and the Yammies

FRIDAY TEST TIMES:

Pos Rider Bike Car Time Gap Laps
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m58.867s - 52
2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m59.006s 0.139s 41
3 Andrea Iannone Ducati Ducati 1m59.388s 0.521s 47
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m59.401s 0.534s 49
5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 1m59.624s 0.757s 55
6 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m59.851s 0.984s 50
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m59.874s 1.007s 33
8 Stefan Bradl Forward Yamaha 2m00.294s 1.427s 49
9 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m00.384s 1.517s 50
10 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki Suzuki 2m00.486s 1.619s 36
11 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 2m00.536s 1.669s 67
12 Maverick Vinales Suzuki Suzuki 2m00.964s 2.097s 51
13 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Racing Duc 2m00.970s 2.103s 48
14 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda Honda 2m01.029s 2.162s 46
15 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Duc 2m01.183s 2.316s 57
16 Michele Pirro Pramac RacingDucati 2m01.232s 2.365s 56
17 Scott Redding Marc VDS Honda 2m01.263s 2.396s 67
18 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 2m01.508s 2.641s 52
19 Loris Baz Forward Yamaha 2m01.624s 2.757s 46
20 Jack Miller LCR Honda 2m01.895s 3.028s 50
21 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 2m01.924s 3.057s 63
22 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Ducati 2m02.128s 3.261s 49
23 Karel Abraham AB Motoracing Honda 2m02.297s 3.430s 43
24 Eugene Laverty Aspar Honda 2m02.334s 3.467s 57
25 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Yamaha 2m02.363s 3.496s 22
26 Takumi Takahashi Honda Honda 2m03.113s 4.246s 64
27 Alex de Angelis IodaRacing ProjecART/Aprilia 2m03.471s 4.604s 32
28 Marco Melandri Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 2m03.641s 4.774s 61