Wsb Now The Premier Race Series ?

Yeah, MotoGP seems to be very much in the same vein, and going down the same dead end, as F1.

And I often wonder how much of the technology developed is fed down into production motorcycles.

 

Rider modes, traction control, ABS, Aero?

 

IMHO yesterday’s MotoGP was a corker.

 

Have to say I am in agreement with the OP. As MotoGP rounds go, Silverstone is about as bad as it gets from a spectator's point of view. Massive featureless, flat, wide open expanses of ground, littered with the acne of corporate hospitality suites and facilities (built specifically to accommodate the F1 event). It not an appealing circuit. Not surprising given it's an old airfield. Would far rather see it hosted somewhere that is more in tune with motorcycle racing and that was less of a cash cow venue for Dorna, the FIM and Silverstone's Management.

In terms of the racing itself, again I have to agree with the OP. Pretty sanitary when it came to the on track action. Once Bezzechi crashed out, and right up until the last two laps, it was processional. WSB right now is very much the opposite. It's more relatable in terms of the machinery, the racing is much closer and occurs more frequently and as a consequence it is way more engaging. When I think back to the Chili, Foggy era, it's almost on par and at that point in time, I barely gave MotoGP a glance. Sadly, I think I am beginning to feel the same, all these years later, which is inevitable if Dorna and FIM insist on incrementally turning MotoGP into a souless travelling circus, with a growing pre-madonna membership.

 

Love to know which part of yesterday’s racing was boring lol.
Yeh it’s a shit track to spectate at (in comparison to others) but close racing to the final corner across all three classes.
What else do you want?

Wsb has been dominated by ab1 and super sport by bulega it’s not even close!

 

So much rose tinted glasses in wsb v moto gp discussions imo.
I suspect it got worse since a certain scruffy haired Italian retired too
It was always Honda v Yamaha with the odd ducati or Suzuki thrown in , now it’s ducati v aprilla and ktm (and if I recall rins won on a Honda in cota this year too).
Are there too many ducs on the grid? Yes probably in an ideal world you’d want to see a bit more balance but the racing is still of the absolute best quality wise and that’s what we all want to see isn’t it?

 

And those bemoaning silvershite (rightly so in some respects) wait til we get to the a ring. Now that’s a fucking boring circuit barring a few nice views behind it.
Point and squirt repeat x4 lol.

 

I'm not entirely sure you would have needed racing let alone MotoGP for any of these.

BMW fitted ABS during the 90s and many bikes at the turn of the century had fuelling that would automatically change maps with changes in engine temperature. Yes, it was all a little crude but much of the subsequent advances are probably more due to increased computer power plus TFT screens to enable the user to access than anything else. Not to mention increased emission regulations.

Traction control is just another short processing step away once some bright spark at bosch came up with the 9 axis accelerometer thingumy bob, wheel sensors etc.

Aero/wings is definitely a race derived feature that has arguable benefit on the road.

 

To be fair silverstone is massive and probably holds 250k in seats alone so always looks a bit empty even when VR46 was racing but I agree donnington felt more special.
Wsb crowds have felt even more meagre this year though? Certainly seemed it on tv.
Re donny they just need to sort out the dreadful Melbourne loop, every single one of the “facilities” and pretty much everything else to host that kind of event.
And as much as I loved donny it always, without fail, took you about 6 hours to get out of the fkn car park lol
One year we were even diverted down starkeys straight it was so congested. It’s too dated as it stands.

 

Dorna own the rights to both series and I’m sure will do whatever is necessary to maintain the distinction between the two, to the detriment of WSBK. There are those on this forum who will remember how Carmelo Ezpeleta killed off the opportunity for WSBK to go to India and look where MotoGP is going now. IMO, the UK is too small a market to exert any influence on the direction of either formats. Andy

 

In which case I would say moto gp by an absolute country mile.
The only one thing keeping wsb interesting over the last 3-4 years is toprak and the emergence of the v4.
Otherwise it would just be the *ahem chirpy Irishman winning every year.

 

It took 4 seconds of googling to confirm that MotoGp brings in more than double the average attendance of Wsbk. The only exception is Qatar; interestingly the fact that motogp is suffering the same middle Eastern sheik sports washing as F1 is because it is considered the premier race series.

I'd certainly love motogp at donny, but it simply can't cope with those crowds without significant investment.

 

Two hurdles, Jonathon Palmer and insufficient real estate to create the run off to meet current FIM safety standards for MotoGP without changing parts of the circuit, significantly. Andy

 

There's no question that MotoGP is and always will be the premier class of bike racing. MotoGP bikes are purpose built racing machines and have nothing in common with road bikes, where as WSB bikes are based on production bikes. A MotoGP bike starts with an average cost of €200K just for the engine, and each rider is allocated 7 engines per season, then there's chassis, body panels including aero packages and then the electronics and tyres, etc, so it's about €2 million a season to run a MotoGP team each season. The power to weight ratio and speed of these bikes take them to speeds in excess of 230mph, and are extremely difficult to ride and control, that's why MotoGP riders are the best in the world. Compared to WSB, yes they too are very powerful and fast bikes, but as I said they basically production bikes but they have been modified so much that they used to be a long way of your standard road bike, but now with likes of BMW MRR models and V4R Panigales etc, a lot of the development within WSB has filtered down. A lot of WSB riders, particularly brits have made the move to MotoGP, but unfortunately they have been competing with the Spanish & Italian riders who have been trained from 4 & 5 years old to reach the standard to become a MotoGP rider with all the sponsorship financial backing, which where we brits lose out. Just my tuppence worth.

 

The racing is closer due to article 2.4.2.3 of the FIM regulations which allows for the bikes’ rev limits to be adjusted after every 3 races. The Ducati V4R has had its rev limit decreased twice by 250rpm each time, Kawasaki has had its rev limit increased twice by 250rpm each time and Yamaha had the rev limit increased by 250rm for the race at Most. Andy