Honda and Yamaha have stuck to what they know best for years . In wsb Kawasali Yamaha Suzuki etc have all stuck to thier basic design. Ducati have changed just about everything they could and ever since dropping the trellis frame , what they know best , and tried the newer designs they have gone backwards. The new panigale will be a dissaster in racing as is the GP bike . If they cant see the mistakes they have done and get back to what they know then Audi will not be there saviour . I cant believe how badly they have been managed.
Except that the Panigale has already won 2 World Superstock races......we havent had success in BSB with it because of the need to remove the Marelli electronics and replace them with the Motec......one comment thats already been made is that its like taking the central processor out of a Typhoon Eurofighter and replacing it with a Spectrum ZX......not my words btw......
What would you prefer, technical excellence and boring racing, or a step backwards to produce spectacular racing? At the moment the racing is crap, only one of three riders can win on only one of two bikes. But what if all the bikes were CRTs and all had a fighting chance of battling for wins? Would the aliens even make the top ten?
Why cant you have both? Maybe opening the rules up entirely as suggested above incl tyres will breed innovative tuning behaviour, then its just getting the right riders
Well when the 916 came out it won the wsb then the 999 then the 1098 all won the wsb . The panigale wins 2 Superstock races . Yeah thats a real encouraging start to the new Ducati effort. They were that convinced of that it would be a worthy replacement they didnt even bother to give it a try in wsb. Well see how good it will be but I for 1 have grave doubts that it will do any better . Frame aint good enough. They have tried and failed with a similar setup in motogp and that didnt work either. Get back to the trellis and they might well get some results as they have proven in the past.Engines are more than capable just the rest thats shite.
Er well lets get facts right then....the 996 ran in WSB for a year after the 999 came out, and the 999 carried on for a year after the 1098 came out......and Foggy was still running the 888 as a factory bike in 93 when the first 916 came out....he didnt ride the 916 til 94...so thats what Ducati do.......
Think you will find it was the 998 that ran on after the 999 was brought out but yeah you are right . But that dosent account for the motogp effort going down hill big style since the trellis was dropped in 2007 . I will stnd by what I have said . The 999 ran the same displacement and beat the rest . the 1098R had 200 mcc more but still won when it was raced in wsb . The 1199 will be Ducatis biggest racing flop of all time . If they ever put it on the wsb scene but we will see .
They will race it next year.....so we'll see. But I DO think they should have kept the trellis frame on the GP bike.....easy and cheap to cut and reweld.....you cant do that with a carbon airbox or an beam frame.....
Yeah they may well race it but I doubt it will win anything. It will be like this years motogp effort. Crap.
Well I think that as TB has had a big hand in developing it, and in road format he rode it round Portimao faster than his WSB 1098R times, it will win.......but Checa's an old git now and they need a young brainless idiot on it......
Problem with the trellis frame though is its inconsistent, with over 30 welds each frame feels different to the rider, the whole point of the shift was for consistency, cost and weight saving. Personally the trellis frame has been a great success easier to control flex and changes can be made quickly if you recall the 999Fxx has removable spars on each side to increase/reduce flex not that easy on a carbon air box/stressed member
But its been consistantly useless Jon.......whilst the trellis was consistantly good, and cheap too.....
I'm not disagreeing, I recall ready an article in a bike mag many moons ago interviewing Ron Maxton (strangely while sitting in Maxton's reception picking up my R1 forks) about his history with HRC and how suspension doesn't work in relation to lean angle so flex has to be introduced into the chassis to perform the same function. Then years later reading how ducati's carbon airbox has reduced the size of the frame and in turn reducing the amount of flex (remember flicking a ruler on a desk and pulling the ruler back as it wobbled to change the frequency and the noise it made... Same theory I guess) and now it's all change with a beam frame, crazy no experience and years of trellis knowledge discarded.
Read up on the latest on welding tech that 0roblem is a thing of the past. Stoner dissed the trellis frame and the rest is..... You know the rest
Thing is issue we have here with frames, Ducati not performing while others sticking to what they know (to be good) is rules of MotoGP. I guarantee that if there were real prototype rules, everything goes as long as it has two wheels, rider, no TC and cc limit on engine for all the same, you would have innovative developemt from Honda, Yamaha or others. Simply because if for example Honda stayed to long with what they know they would be in essence standing still while more adventureus factories would be going forward. Wait few years and Honda would wake up to going backwards as others already have experience and race going models that are as fast if not faster. Do what name suggests make it a prototype series and we will be fine. Also allow tabacco/alcohol companies to sponsor. Sorry but if some people get brainwashed by few stickers on a bike well maybe they should be ....
Hmmm .. I'm not sure that's accurate. Stoner, rightly, said his two bikes felt different but, and knowing what we know now about Preziosi and Ducati's technical direction, I think it's safe to assume the rest was was down to Ducati wanting to make the bike lighter and repackage the mass centrally. They didn't listen to anyone's requests until Valentino..
Oooo you can't do that If you let the only two lines of industry that are booming invest in motorcycle and car sport advertising.....that would be less money left for the government to TAX.........
Ha! If you're going to allow cigarette and alcohol advertising, you might as well go the whole toxic hog and allow banks to advertise. Er, wait a minute! But seriously - the last time I looked alcohol advertising wasn't banned. But promote lung cancer so that we can enjoy bike sport? No, not a good plan.
