Moto GP Sepang Test Video

[G.Irish]

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Notice the smooth but alien sound of the Yamaha M1 compared to the bark of the RC211V (especially from idle).

[.RJ]

Ducati was very fast in testing @ Sepang -

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Wonder if they will be able to challenge Rossi this year. Between WSBK and GP its gonna be a good year for bike racing

[G.Irish]

Ducati's fate lies in the hands of Bridgestone. If the Bridgestones are more consistently fast this year then Ducati will do well, if not, they'll only get the odd win at Bridgestone-friendly tracks as they have in past seasons.

[.RJ]

Well, in past years they didnt seem to have the handling of the RC211 or the Talent of Rossi on the bike, although the power was definately there. They're still a relatively new team, but I think they have a great rider package and it will be interesting to see if they are challenging for wins more often this year.

[Ginger]

Gibi & Capi? They'll mop up

They've definitely got the talent, Gibi not withstanding, but as G pointed out, tires need more consistency and, I think, so do the riders.


This should be a fun season.

[.RJ]

Will gibby the clown will win a race with the Rossi curse?

[REED]

Ducati's fate lies in the hands of Bridgestone. If the Bridgestones are more consistently fast this year then Ducati will do well, if not, they'll only get the odd win at Bridgestone-friendly tracks as they have in past seasons.

How is a course friendly to a certain tire? and at this level I would think the performance of the tire should be pretty consistent, what is the deal with bridgestone?

[.RJ]

Type of corner (high speed vs. low speed), cooling time for the tire (lots of straights vs. lots of corners), pavement surface, temperature, can all play toward one tire or another. At the top level of motorsport, tenths of a second are huge.

[Ginger]

The tires for GP bikes are pretty much one offs, just like everything else on the bikes. No production parts allowed (the Roberts bike lost their KTM engine halfway through [was it 04?] the year once because factory pieces were found in the motor). If Bridgestone were to investigate a new compund and find out that it ended up working great in testing but not under slightly more humid race conditions the day after the good tests... they're screwed.

Make sense? Stuff like that can really throw a group off. Think that if the tires Bridgestone brought weren't the step forward they expected because of whatever reason that they didn't encounter in testing - sure, they'll have their tires from the prior development with them but it's entirely possible that the other manufacturers made functional steps forward without going backwards at the same time.... then you're really in the gutter. Stuff like that adds up.

[G.Irish]

KR lost his KTM engines because KTM had sunk in more money than they had intended to and decided to cut their losses. The team that got hit with having production parts in their engine was WCM. They had R1 parts in their bike I believe.

[Ginger]

KR lost his KTM engines because KTM had sunk in more money than they had intended to and decided to cut their losses. The team that got hit with having production parts in their engine was WCM. They had R1 parts in their bike I believe.

Thanks, my mistake.

[.RJ]