Not that it uncovers any major trends though, and conditions weren't
optimal to boot.

pablo <(E-Mail Removed)> Fri, 5 Feb 2010 06:48:21
>Not that it uncovers any major trends though, and conditions weren't
>optimal to boot.

Well Honda (or at least Pedrosa) has effectively a brand new bike. New
frame, swingarm, engine, ohlins, fairing.

Hard to draw any conclusions as it was stupidly hot and they lost half a
day to rain. And of course, it's only testing.

Doe the engines used in these tests (and the one day ones later in the
season) count towards their 6?

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"Julian Bond" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> pablo <(E-Mail Removed)> Fri, 5 Feb 2010 06:48:21
>>Not that it uncovers any major trends though, and conditions weren't
>>optimal to boot.
>
> Well Honda (or at least Pedrosa) has effectively a brand new bike. New
> frame, swingarm, engine, ohlins, fairing.
>
> Hard to draw any conclusions as it was stupidly hot and they lost half a
> day to rain. And of course, it's only testing.
>
> Doe the engines used in these tests (and the one day ones later in the
> season) count towards their 6?
>

How about Edwards running in 3rd and saying the M1 has a lot more grunt down
low?
That is interesting as hell. Vale says it is quite fast, as well.
What did they do to move the power down lower and still keep the bike fast?
I wonder how many races the engine will do.


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Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
05 Squiddo

Andrew <(E-Mail Removed)> Fri, 5 Feb 2010 11:32:39
>I wonder how many races the engine will do.

There's a bunch of bets, or maybe a drinking game
- Which of the factories will have an engine blow up first on a factory
bike?
- How many race before Suzuki elect to start from the back of the grid
in order to get a fresh engine?
- Which Rookie will have a huge high side first? (already won by Marco
Simoncelli)

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Mark N <(E-Mail Removed)> Fri, 5 Feb 2010 20:01:15
> - The Yamaha remains the best bike.
Rossi remains the best Yamaha rider.

> - Honda still has problems, viewed from both the factory and the
>satellite perspectives.
Honda riders still have problems. The Bot creeps up on a good time. The
others are confused.

> - Stoner's bike remains far ahead of the other Ducati riders' machines.
Stoner remains far ahead of the other Ducati riders.

> - No question among the rookies, even with a bad case of jet lag and
>being the only guy having to learn the track, Spies led the way.
Again, Spies impresses with the methodical way he approaches it. No huge
high sides, just continuous steady progress.

> Closest was Espargaro,
He's going to surprise this year with the way he can get the Ducati
solidly into the mid field. (love that faint praise!)

>Simo in particular is being embarrassed by comparison to Spies, since
>he's supposed to be the big MotoGP prospect who will blossom on a bike
>more fitting his size; one wonders if he's actually at more of a
>disadvantage on the electronically-controlled DaniBike (still haven't
>seen a picture of him dwarfing that thing).

Simo
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html
Pedrobot
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html
http://www.crash.net/motogp/picturea.../0/photos.html

>Anyway, the overall impression is stagnation,
- 4 riders making a proper race of it at the front. 2 Texans and
occasionally others 10 secs back. That's not so bad.

>On top of that, Matters also reports the factories are lobbying for the
>goddamned 800s to stay through 2012 - fuuuuck...

That's going to be interesting. Why don't they go all the way...
- 800 free prototypes
- 1000cc restricted bore, valve springs only (no pneumatic, no desmo)
- 1200cc twins with a weight advantage
Then in a couple of years they can phase out the 800s and further
tighten the 1000-1200 rules. Perhaps they could introduce a complicated
rolling handicap system for the 1200-2s. And a 3 part final qualifying
session. And a bizarre points system like AMA and BSB.

Oh. Wait.

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Champ <(E-Mail Removed)> Sat, 6 Feb 2010 11:52:18
>er, Jules, those photos don't seem to point at what you think they do.

Bloody crashnet. Oh well. Somewhere on crash.net are a bunch of photos
from the Sepang test. And some of them are of Pedrobot and Simoncelli on
the Honda.

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Mark N <(E-Mail Removed)> Sat, 6 Feb 2010 07:27:25
>So Ducati has been and remains essentially Stoner-only,

With a new engine configuration. aka Big Bang, or soft bang or
something.

>the Honda 800 remains the DaniBike it started out being,

Seems to me this year's Honda has a bigger fairing that is almost
identical to the Yamaha and not that dis-similar to the Ducati. And a
new frame. And new suspension. And everyone gets one. And yet Pedrosa is
still significantly faster than everyone else.

>and maybe now Yamaha has tweaked its machine Rossi's way

Edwards complained last year about lack of power when the engine
lifetime limits started to bite. But now he's saying how powerful this
year's engine is. It'll be interesting to see what he says 3-6 meetings
into the season.

>I'll believe it when I see it. And midpack for a undistinguished MotoGP
>rookie on a satellite Ducati isn't exactly faint praise, if one
>defines midpack as ass-end of the top ten...

If Espargaro ends up 3rd Ducati and close in times to Hayden then he
will have done well. And I think he might manage that. But then who
knows what Barbera will do. Run people off the track?

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Mark N <(E-Mail Removed)> Sat, 6 Feb 2010 06:28:28
>It may not be. But at this level, in roughly the front half of the
>MotoGP grid, I just don't believe any rider is a second faster than
>another purely on their own,

Err, why? Rossi 1s faster than Edwards at Sepang doesn't seem surprising
in the slightest. Why should Stoner being 1s faster than Hayden be
surprising?

>My point was that there is nothing new here, building a six-race life
>big-bang motor hasn't changed the math significantly at Ducati. What
>seemed to finally and generally be confirmed last year was that Ducati
>makes a bike Stoner can ride (fast) and others can't, and that even
>Ducati didn't quite seem to know why.

Or that Stoner genuinely is 1s faster than anyone else on a Ducati. At
Sepang.

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Mark N believes:

> It may not be. But at this level, in roughly the front half of the
> MotoGP grid, I just don't believe any rider is a second faster than
> another purely on their own,

To paraphrase, "Beliefs are like assholes, everybody's got one."

In this case, a second difference between two riders on identical
MotoGP bikes is not unusual at all. Besides rider ability, which
can be a second or more easily, bike setup can be another big
hunk of time.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

sturd <(E-Mail Removed)> Mon, 8 Feb 2010 07:54:17
>In this case, a second difference between two riders on identical
>MotoGP bikes is not unusual at all. Besides rider ability, which
>can be a second or more easily, bike setup can be another big
>hunk of time.

Especially at Sepang with a > 120 secs lap time.

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