And there would appear to be only one rider in the World SBK paddock under 80kg that is having any success so let’s penalise him to appease all the whiners. Reading has been the most vociferous whiner and he had the opportunity but blew it. Andy
Dont see the problem myself Alvaros got the winter ahead stocking up on chippy teas while scotts still going to be cycling 200k a day in the pissing rain.
But he has been the most frequent whiner about how unfair it is. And yes, I am not and have never been a fan of Redding’s public persona. Andy
That article is an interesting read and highlights the other aspects of bike performance affected by increasing it’s gross rolling mass. Ducati have a right to feel aggrieved too as they will be hit by a double whammy, getting shafted on rev limits and rider minimum weight. @Red899, now look what you have done, set me off one one Andy
Did he whine in MGP about it when pedrosa et al as tiny sub 60kg fellas?! No…. At least they aren’t adding 30kg…. They just need to add a normal battery and stick some headlights on the Ducati
"and the concept of reducing RPM limits during the season based on performance will be cancelled, with RPM limits instead being set before the season and remaining in place for the duration of the season" Are they getting shafted?
Yes because their base setting for the year (2024) will be 750rpm less than what they started this (2023) season. So a bike built to the extant regs gets penalised before it moves a wheel, capped at 16,000 rpm instead of the 17,500rpm the regs allowed and now it's 750rpm even less. Andy
In this season there was a minimum combined weight limit in supersport and ssp300 classes...anyone noticed this? In 2017 Kawasaki was running 15200rpm, this had been reduced to 14100 for 2018 season. (-1100 ) 2021 Kawasaki designed the engine for 15100rpm, only to be limited by Dorna to 14600rpm at the beginning of the season. I believe it is only fair to look on the other side of the fence as well....
Listening to the commentary on Eurosport (which can be difficult sometimes!), they are suggesting Ducati will get their revs back.
Taking the revisions to the rules as a whole, it's looks to be quite a complicated picture moving forward for all of the manufacturers. IMO, it will be the team with the best electronics engineers who’ll manage to create the best overall package performance. Watched an interview with Alvaro the other day and I’m not so sure now that the minimum rider weight is going to be a deciding factor after all. His fitness regime is punishing and deliberately not focussed towards muscle mass. A tweak to his training you’ll see him bulk up a bit, put on maybe 10kg, so the weight penalty will be 5kg or a bit less. Not so sure the manufacturers are going to be testing a 2024 package at Jerez next week but at least it’ll be interesting to see how TR and JR fit on their new bikes. Andy
Yep, that would make sense. If AB is, say, 66kg’s now, he could bang on 10kgs in muscle over the winter making him 76, 50% difference from the 80kg baseline and he would only have to carry an additional 2kg’s. Certainly makes sense for him to beef up, and get stronger, as opposed to trying to stay light and as a result have to wrestle a bike carrying an additional c7kg of ballast. It seems the new 21 litre fuel limit rule, reduced down from the current 24 litres, is perhaps a bit of a none event, as most manufacturers are reporting that they only use 21 litre as it is!
TR can't try the BMW till december i think i heard on the comms today. Ducati will get the REVS back at the start of the year, they may reduce it at some point though.
Apparently not, WSBK will agree the rev limit at the start of the season and there will be no further adjustments to any manufacturers machine thereafter
the fuel flow and the tank size down to 21ltr is just as bigger news as the rider weight stuff, there is going to be no point in Ducati revving the bike to 16500rpm, may as well put a 20% heavier crank in (they are allowed +-20% and make it up in torque
