Whats the next whinge going to be from Ducati?

[Eddieb]

Do the IL4's still have intake restrictions? I wasn't a big fan of that idea either. If a vehicle is to be allowed to compete in a series it should be able to compete to the best of it's mechanical ability, handicapping it by a method like that doesn't seem good sportsmanship.

I would much rather see a power to weight restriction applied. Any vehicle of any configuration can complete as long as the power weight ratio is within or does not exceed a specified range or amount. This should keep performance at a competitive level while allowing teams to focus on either or both of engine development and weight reduction that suits their chosen engine configuration. I think a mixed class run right offers a lot more interest and variation as different configurations excel in different track sections.

Heh, yup. However I think Mike is just having a hard time of it at the moment, wouldn't hurt for us to cut him some slack

I don't know Mike and his current situation from a bar of soap, I do know other posts of his I have read are normally fairly intelligent and above the usual standard of drivel you so often can get here. If he's having a hard time I hope he gets through it soon.
It annoys me though when people pre-empt something that hasn't happened and may or may not happen. Sure Ducati has a history that indicates there's a good chance it will and when they do it's open slather. But until they do it's merely speculation and gossip mongering.

It's the same as the constant 'Ducati's are unreliable', everyone loves to put them down, yet most of them have no real idea and are just going off what they read on a forum somewhere with no actual basis in reality.
My own experience in the 25,000km on mine is that they are as good if not better than some Japanese models. I've been on 1000km trips with Honda's, Kawasaki's etc where the only bike nothing fell off was my Ducati.

[imdying]

It's nice one that is, 888s have always been dead sexy, nice to hear it's treated you well (I'd wager that the reverse has applied too then).

I detect a hint of "He's correct, it is coming" from your post?

[slowpoke]

Faaark, Ducati have got nuthin' on the folk around here when it comes to the whinging champs: WSB stands for Whingy Sooky Bubba's.

Compare valve areas between a twin and 4 and all Ducati have been doing is seeking parity, not an advantage. Valve area = Horsepower.

Even when the 4's had a massive valve area advantage with the introduction of 1000's, Ducati still competed and competed well but at a huge cost disadvantage to make the twin competitive. The latest 1200cc twin rule levels the playing field by equalising valve area and running costs between 4's and twins. Simple. (ignoring the extra weight a twin still has to carry and not forgetting of course that twins are simply not capable of pulling the same revs as a 4, despite Ducati's best efforts with titanium rods and desmo valve gear etc.)

Ducati have easily been the most committed manufacturer in the paddock as they have fully backed/run a Factory team for what seems like for ever, with most of the Jappa's on again off again or hiding behind semi-supported defacto efforts. Try buying a WSB spec bike off Yamaha/Honda/Suzuki/Kawasaki and you'll be laughed at whereas Ducati are only too happy to supply very competitive WSB customer bikes. So who do you reckon is more deserving of success?

Tall poppy syndrome, peoples.

Ducati have set the standard for factory committment and teamwork and people want to punish them for it. If the rest of the manufacturers had shown half as much committment they'd all have better looking trophy cabinets. But no, they go off on tangents building TLR sacks of shit, or race the same ZX7RR's for what seems like decades, or fundamentally flawed RC45's that require huge develpment to go as well as the old RC30, or running a great effort on the stunning R7... and having a rider fuck it up with poor off track choices. They all dropped the ball while Ducati just stuck with evolving the tried and true and reaped their well deserved rewards.

The only other advantage the twins (which anyone could build) have had is with traction. Even with "Big Bang" two strokes around for decades it's only now that Yamaha have had the nouse to do something similar and eliminate that advantage. They are fully deserving of their recent success as a result.

Nup, the more the merrier, and that applies to manufacturers as much as machine types. Any rules that allow more variation is a great thing as far as far as I'm concerned.

[Dave_G]

Surely it comes down to whether you want to see all the major manufacturers competing and competitive or else you want WSB to become a procession of 4 cylinder bikes. Personally, I'll take the former as it makes for much better racing and the variety of bikes is fantastic this year, so I think the capacity rules have worked pretty well...and for the record I've never been an Italian fan!