MotoGP 2012

[denill]

I'll be so happy if Dovi or Nicky take a win next year. Be interesting to see how Dovi gets along with the Ducati. It's a significantly different beast to the Yamaha which seemed to suit him so well.

Stoner has etched himself into history - as the only man to tame the untameable Ducati.

I don't think that Dovi's style will suit the Ducati, as would Jorges' not suit the Ducati and we know VERY well the VR46 could not make it happen............

They are precise riders. Not the 'chuck it in and see what happens' like Stoner and Crutchlow can do with what ever they may be riding. They are 'seat of the pants' riders. Rossi et al are not.

The next shoe to drop will be, who takes the Monster Yamaha vacancy? Presuming Crutchlow takes one of them.

[tail_end_charlie]

The next shoe to drop will be, who takes the Monster Yamaha vacancy? Presuming Crutchlow takes one of them.

Bradley Smith has a contract to race in the other seat of the Tech 3 MotoGP team next year. Last thing I read seemed to be that 'ol Herve will honour the contract. Hopefully they keep Cal.............

[merv]

tail_end_charlie I think if you check you will find Ducati introduced the CF frame in 2009 and Stoner won the 2007 title on the trellis frame bike.

[BIG DOUG]

I have no idea why (apart from cash) you would chuck bradley smith on a moto gp bike,hell if he was moto 2 champ or was always towards the front of moto 2 fair enough but really he's done fuck all.

[denill]

Bradley Smith has a contract to race in the other seat of the Tech 3 MotoGP team next year. Last thing I read seemed to be that 'ol Herve will honour the contract. Hopefully they keep Cal.............

Yeah, I forgot and of course you're right.

What a fkn waste of a good ride................

[Crasherfromwayback]

Stoner has etched himself into history - as the only man to tame the untameable Ducati.

.

Also as the winningest rider of the 800cc era, one of a select few to have won titles on two diff makes. Has beaten the so called GOAT more times than he's been beaten by him. More race wins than Lawson, Rainey or Schwantz, most poles in a season.

Not too shabby for a moaning wee poofta.

[Drew]

Isn't there a bit of the age old argument asking if your are being persistant and trying to refine a design, or that your just flogging a dead horse and need to start new. Ducati has gone for three totally different chassy designs since they got into MotoGP (steel trellis, CF, and now Al beam) where as everyone else has more or less just stuck with the Al beam frame (other then a couple of the privateers doing steel trellis).

So Ducati started MotoGP in 2003 (correct me if I'm wrong) and have had 3 frame types, going from steel trellis ('03-'06), CF ('07-'11) and now Al beam. Seems a bit like they are good at coming up with new ideas, and engineering them, but then put them out there and are a bit lackadasical about trying to refine those designs. If you look back at Honda and Yamaha especially, ther have had more or less the same overall design for both chassi and engine through each iteration of the Moto GP class (990, 800 and 1000), but have been introducing new parts and tweaking things as the season goes to try and find what works.

Seems like Ducati just throw out a design, lazily change a couple of things in a season or two, then wad up that design and throw and completely new design at the problem. Do they not understand the concept of the scientific method? You know, change one thing at a time so that you can tell what actually made a differance in performance.



Disclaimer: I don't actually know what I'm talking about and everything I say should be taken as words of wisdom from a armchair general/mechanic/engineer/racer.

There is a school of thought, that thinks the engine layout is the problem. The run an L 4 configuration, and it makes the bike very long. If they tilted the L either way they can bring the headstock closer to the swingarm pivot, thus creating more noticeable feedback from the front contact patch.

I struggle with that because it is very counter intuitive. Longer means everything happens slower, if it happens slower then you've got more time to react. Input required is greater to acheive the same geometry changes to effect the same direction changes, so it should be harder to fuck it up.

Some folk round here might remember when Rossi climbed on the M1 for the first time. He did a couple sessions at the most, rode the thing into the pit and told them to chop 20mm out of the swing arm, they did and welded it up there and then. He went so much faster in the very next session out that bookies would have been altering odds and shitting their pants at possible money losses for the following season.

So this all adds up to what? Not a fuckin thing I'm afraid, just some interesting things that don't seem to add up at all really, draw from it what you will.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Some folk round here might remember when Rossi climbed on the M1 for the first time. He did a couple sessions at the most, rode the thing into the pit and told them to chop 20mm out of the swing arm, they did and welded it up there and then. He went so much faster in the very next session out that bookies would have been altering odds and shitting their pants at possible money losses for the following season.

.

Don't quite believe that sorry. Unless Dukie was in their pit box.

[Drew]

tail_end_charlie I think if you check you will find Ducati introduced the CF frame in 2009 and Stoner won the 2007 title on the trellis frame bike.

Which says more about Stoner than the trellis frame I think. I think it's funny as fuck that Ducati road bikes have gone away from the trellis, and moved onto another failed frame from their GP bikes, that every other manufacturer has already toyed with and moved on from.

[merv]

Hey Drew is that why you crashed so much, that stinking trellis frame? Maybe you coulda crashed even better with carbon fibre .

[Drew]

Don't quite believe that sorry. Unless Dukie was in their pit box.

Was well publicised, with pictures of the very obvious fresh welds on the swingarm. Jimmy is good with shit like that, he will likely remember the source of the article.

[denill]

We will never, ever know - but would Stoner have continued to notch up wins on what ever Ducati put under him?

I think he would have..................

[Drew]

Hey Drew is that why you crashed so much, that stinking trellis frame? Maybe you coulda crashed even better with carbon fibre .

LOL, you have no idea.

[Drew]

We will never, ever know - but would Stoner have continued to notch up wins on what ever Ducati put under him?

I think he would have..................

I doubt it very much. The Honda LEAPT ahead last season, not only under him but Pedrosa and Dovi too. Then this season the Yamaha and the Honda are side by side.

He's great, but the bike is not getting better, and everything else is at an astonishing rate.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Was well publicised, with pictures of the very obvious fresh welds on the swingarm. Jimmy is good with shit like that, he will likely remember the source of the article.

Have you seen the shape of the swingarms dude? You can't simply cut two inches out of them...the bits won't match up. And to be precise the thing would have to be in a jig etc. They don't tend to do much in the way of fabrication at the track now days. Think you'll find they lifted the engine in the frame a tad, and actually made the swing arm longer. They hooked it up between two other bikes and stretched it there and then.

Or....not.