Ducati know how to make a 90 degree V handle. The weight difference between a twin and a four might make a difference but i doubt its significant. Therefore shall we assume that this is not the critical factor with their current problems.
Just read the article linked to above. I dont know the relationship on the superbike twin between the gearbox sprocket and the swingarm pivot but i bet Preziosi does. If this is a significant factor he will have been aware of it and designed the correct values in on previous generations of GP engine. So i dont believe that this is something that needs to be corrected at the next iteration of manufacture. Of course i know no more than anyone else on the internerd about the finer points of motorcycle development but this looks too simple a factor to still be waiting to be rectified doesn't it?
i think what the article is getting at is that to keep the sprocket in the correct position as you say where it more than likely is with the current 90 degree engine they end up with the COG issues identified and the window of opportunity to change it is limited by the said engine. with a more narrow v engine a la honda etc gives more scope to rotating the engine to move COG and obtain the more optimum weight distribution keeping the sprocket in the correct place.
With respect Andyb, i wasn't saying i dont understand the article. Read what i wrote again. I dont believe that Preziosi isn't fully aware of what the other racing Ducati has and that is also a 90 degree V. This is not a critical parameter in the GP bikes problem in my view. Remember that Ducati are not developing the GP bike in isolation , they have good data from the other side of the Corse workshop.
Ducati still seem to assume you can make the most powerful engine possible, bolt a frame to it and wheels at either end and it will win races. Motogp is nothing like that, you have to make a bike that works with the tyres provided. When Ducati won the Championship in 2007, Bridgestone made tyres that suited the way the bike worked and not the other way round.
an I personaly think that is the point racing is supposed to improve the breed. The one tyre rule stifles that. Ducati are developing a bike or at least are trying too that works with the tyre. A tyre thar we will never have on the road. A tyre should be just above an acessorie but Moto GP is making the tyres the be all and end all Look at the specials that have hit the road. The Desmosedici only bridgestone make tyres for that. And the hyausa you dont have much of a choice of tyres for that but at least you get a special bike
The point i was trying, maybe unsuccessfully, to make was not that we on here know more than all the experts involved, but just to suggest or guess at what it might be that those affore mentioned experts already might know, but are unable contractually to talk about, or get Ducati to even think about changing. if, and it's a big if, it is the engine, then it would be ironic if the part that makes it a Ducati, is also the part that prevents it from fulfilling it's potential. i wonder if JB will be allowed to speak his thoughts freely when the season is over.
Imola how much of that power is being applied at the point just before the Apex of a corner where VR is having his biggest problem trusting the front end. Certainly not the remainder that a GP bike has over the twin.
I was told my someone involved in the frame designs that the engine is little more than two 90 v-twins bolted together. Ducati appear to have tried everything else but change the V angle.
I vaguely remember reading an article that said they couldn`t steepen the steering head angle enough because on full fork compression the tyre would rub on the horizontal head. I don`t know if this is true. What I do know is I`m fed up with "my" Ducati trailing around at the tail end of the field. I just hope Ducati can work miracles and give us something to cheer for next year.
Accept what you say is true Imola, but the power at this point is no longer fully on so i maintain that this wont be the critical factor in any difference between the 2 versions of factory racers.
All this theorising is all very well, but surely it is obvious that the poor performance of the Ducati in MotoGP it is something to do with the tax disc - it clearly needs one, but the question is where to put it!
This thread is deeply enriched by flashes of wisdom such as this A vaguely remembered flashback, the truth of which is uncertain A business class ticket to Borgo Panigale awaits you Sir, Ing Preziosi will have the red carpet out and eagerly awaits further insight and succinct diagnosis:redface:
