MotoGP 2017

[Doppleganger]

fantastic racing in all three classes, pleased for the Ducati team and impressed with MV and Vale.

ps haven't seen any dear George comments latley

[Autech]

fantastic racing in all three classes, pleased for the Ducati team and impressed with MV and Vale.

ps haven't seen any dear George comments latley

That's cause he's doing better and better every race and it wont be long till he's whopping Rossi's butt at a few more tracks. That Ducati has the potential to dominate them all if they can get it to turn.

Which brings me to a question for my peers (you cunts):

Test riders, Ducati have Pirro and Stoner, two very capable riders who can jump on the bike and duel with the best racers in the world without any embarrassment.
From my memory Honda's test rider (can't even remember his name) usually places right at the back of the pack when he wild cards. He close but not there.
The Yamaha chap does ok usually when he wildcards.

Are Honda's struggles down to the fact they don't have a test rider capable of putting the bike to the limits that their race riders do?
Just something i was thinking about over the weekend.

[roogazza]

fantastic racing in all three classes,

ps haven't seen any dear George comments latley

Saw one on Bikeme,so there is a new one.
All about his first lap dash and then fade from there.

[merv]

Yeah what is up with Honda - have they lost their way. Once there was a time (about 2011 or so) when they had been the first with seamless gearboxes and no other bike outdragged them out of corners. Occasionally a Ducati might pip them for top speed but they were usually right up there.

Now these last few seasons they are all over the place. Win some, but mainly lose some.

We saw Stoner crash at Suzuka due to a stuck throttle, then John McGuinness come to grief at the NW200 and Guy Martin had a big off at the Isle of Man and they are all blamed on machine problems.

Then there is the Formula 1 team which is having a shocking time, but at least in their Indy Car series they seem to have gained a speed advantage over Chevrolet.

Come on Honda, time to pull finger and make Honda great again.

[Autech]

Yeah what is up with Honda - have they lost their way. Once there was a time (about 2011 or so) when they had been the first with seamless gearboxes and no other bike outdragged them out of corners. Occasionally a Ducati might pip them for top speed but they were usually right up there.

Now these last few seasons they are all over the place. Win some, but mainly lose some.

We saw Stoner crash at Suzuka due to a stuck throttle, then John McGuinness come to grief at the NW200 and Guy Martin had a big off at the Isle of Man and they are all blamed on machine problems.

Then there is the Formula 1 team which is having a shocking time, but at least in their Indy Car series they seem to have gained a speed advantage over Chevrolet.

Come on Honda, time to pull finger and make Honda great again.

Honda had the best electrics on the grid, they're fucking clever with that shit. Now they have some feking italian windows 95 machine to work with and they're struggling. They also have a top rider that demands that the bike can be ridden very aggressively and they're trying to build it to work for him.
He's also apparently still using the 2014 chassis, so there development is being halted by their two factory riders (Dani included) binning bits that don't work for them, hence why I think a good test rider is actually what they need. Instead of:
"Hey Dani, Cal, Marc, here's a new bit we want you to try out to make you go faster" they could say:
"Hey Dani, Cal, Marc, our test rider Autech tried out these parts in the last test, with the new swing arm he felt that he could brake softer and carry more corner speed into the corner, we checked his data and it seems to be the case as he was lapping .1 faster through this section"

That's my 5cents on their issues.

[Crasherfromwayback]

:
"Hey Dani, Cal, Marc, our test rider Autech tried out these parts in the last test, with the new swing arm he felt that he could brake softer and carry more corner speed into the corner, we checked his data and it seems to be the case as he was lapping .1 faster through this section"

That's my 5cents on their issues.

Think a large part of the prob is having test riders that aren't doing the sort of times those guys can do. Things behave differently at that 100% mark vs 95 %

[malcy25]

Think a large part of the prob is having test riders that aren't doing the sort of times those guys can do. Things behave differently at that 100% mark vs 95 %

Mladin's complaint for years. he also would not change the bike in terms of set up until he had achieved the known lap time for a known set up and that circuit.

[onearmedbandit]

That Ducati has the potential to dominate them all if they can get it to turn.

So what is Dovi's excuse then?

[husaberg]

Mladin's complaint for years. he also would not change the bike in terms of set up until he had achieved the known lap time for a known set up and that circuit.

Hondas long term issue tends to revolve arround their tendency to worship HP at the expense of drivability and ease of use.
Burgess had cured them of this, but it looks like thay have came down with another case.
Yamaha have developed a complete package with Burgess that works as a whole on a variety of circuits.
The philosophy is Race circuits tend to have only one long straight where top end HP is used but for a few seconds, yet they have multiple exits to corners where drivability and the ability to get power to the pavement counts. Do the maths.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Mladin's complaint for years. he also would not change the bike in terms of set up until he had achieved the known lap time for a known set up and that circuit.

Always saw it as a huge shame he didn't get another crack at the GP circuit.

[Autech]

Think a large part of the prob is having test riders that aren't doing the sort of times those guys can do. Things behave differently at that 100% mark vs 95 %

Where as Ducati have Pirro and Casey Stoner (occasionally). Plus Gigi at the helm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BMWST?]

Honda certainly seem to have problems.As i said somewhere else it would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago that MM wouldnt pass a sattelite Ducati on a LOOONG straight.The tyres are a problem for the Honda too but i think that illustrates they have gone too far down one particular path.I dont think they have a rider who can give them the feedback they actually need at the moment

[Crasherfromwayback]

Honda .I dont think they have a rider who can give them the feedback they actually need at the moment

Funnily enough, the Stoner haters that used to wank on about his lack of test rider feedback (Hi Oscar!!), have been pretty quiet of late. Both he and Pedro used to win races reg like when he was on the Repsol payroll. Now...the Ducati has won races Rossi couldn't. Fluke? Doubt it.

[malcy25]

. Now...the Ducati has won races Rossi couldn't. Fluke? Doubt it.

Some guy Gigi may have helped....

Even Stoner said himself, his win rate on the Duc was decreasing the longer he was there. I reckon they bottomed out around 2012-2014 on overall performance of the bike.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Some guy Gigi may have helped....

Even Stoner said himself, his win rate on the Duc was decreasing the longer he was there. .

Hell yes. And I think Ducati may well have been too stubborn to listen to Stoner regarding the bike back then. Toward the end, he was crashing his brains out on the thing out riding it.