Taken from Matthew Birt's recent MCN tweet "Ducati has started working on the radical revamp of its Desmosedici machine it hopes will finally end a winless run stretching back to the end of 2010. That’s the good news for British rider Cal Crutchlow. The bad news is the complete re-design of the bike will definitely not be ready until 2015 and Crutchlow will have to race for the rest of this year on the Desmosedici he’s currently struggling to find confidence and speed on. Having been at the helm for six months now, new Ducati boss Gigi Dall’Igna said he has a clear understanding of the Desmosedici’s deficiencies and has begun the massive task of designing a new bike capable of ending Honda and Yamaha’s premier class domination. Solving the chronic understeer that has been a long-term flaw of the Desmosedici will be Dall’Igna’s number one target. But he admitted it is a ‘impossible’ task to deliver sweeping design changes this season. Speaking to MCN, Dall’Igna said: “I have a better idea about the problems with the bike and we have some ideas to solve them. But this takes time and it is not something we can solve in a few days. I’m happy with the improvements to the bike at this time and if we continue in this direction we can reduce the gap. But I have started the design of the new bike for 2015. It is a brand new bike and it is not an easy job and impossible to have anything ready before the end of this season. I would like to do the job only once, so to do that I need to have a clear idea about what I have to do and I have to design and develop some new solutions. Up to now I have needed this time to know the people and the bike and to learn everything about Ducati. Now we can start working on something new.” Ducati rolled out a revised engine spec in Mugello last weekend, with new parts boosting top speed performance. Top Ducati though was Andrea Dovizioso in sixth and he was never close to the podium fight"
I fear it may come too late to allow Cal to prove his potential at Ducati, and someone else will have his ride in 2015.
At the moment you have to ask yourself if he has as much potential as Iannone or Dovioso. Is that mean, or is that results?
He'll have to be careful position himself as the one to help implement and take forward, to continue to be 'potential' especially on any new machine to garner future confidence and merely not be too critical of this years effort. Has he learnt italian yet? for example . Simple ways and means to be positively ingratiating, as well as having riding talent. that may come to nothing though , if as Glidd says, they merely 'measure' results, and decide someone else's offers more for 2015. Hopefully Cal has a decent plan.
According to BT Sport commentary he has a great rapport with his team & is making the effort to learn Italian.... I think going forward though he REALLY needs to improve his oral if he wants to keep that ride.... Shame as I love Cal to bits & hoped he'd be able to tame that bike... early days but the initial signs aint good...
Wrong place, wrong time for Cal I fear. The real problem is that there are only two bikes and four riders in with a realistic chance of a win.
according to the Italian press Iannone will be a factory rider next year...Crutchlow will only be retained if Dovi leaves
His Cov-alian is hilarious... He has that awful upward inflection that my 16yo daughter has too... If Ianone can sort his consistency out & get his head round the fact he has the potential I then I see great things for that lad.... I reckon if we are looking for an Italian with attitude to replace Mr Rossi when he retires its either Ianone or Fenati... Shame its not Simo
Was simo really that great? I can't remember much of his riding, I only remember his death. I don't want to belittle his achievements or dishonour his memory, I'm just curious if he truly was a racing great or was just remembered for what happened to him.
His rise through the lower ranks was fast & consistent, fair enough not as rapid as say Marquez but the potential was clear to see right from the 125's... FF to his step up to the satellite Honda & what he lacked in technique he made up for with the pure unadulterated fight I've not seen in a rider for a long time prior to that & certainly not after his death... It was a natural assumption the technique would follow & he would be a future champion... Bloke was funny too... He bought attitude back to a paddock that was ruled by petulant Spaniards & Stoner.... He made MotoGP fun again.. I really miss the big lad
I wonder if the 'radical revamp' will stick with the 'engine as a structural component approach'. It would be a brave to stick with that approach after the failure of the bike based on the first attempt, and years of trying to get that bike to work. At the same time, it would be bad from marketing perspective to abandon this now it's the approach used on the road bikes - no matter how good they actually are.
Cal has a 2 year contract for 2014/15 . Not that he couldnt be bought out of it but it would cost Ducati to not use him more than it would to use him.
Mmm, thought I'd read that it was a two year contract with get out (performance related) clauses half way through for both sides...
Hes only had 6 races out of 18 in 2014 . The only ones thinking about his departure are on this forum .
I think Sic was the most exciting thing to happen to MotoGP at the time. Great personality, got right under Lorenzo's skin and a great advert you don't have to be 5ft 0 to race... Worth going to his Museum in Coriano, its not big, but worth a look...
Simo had 'that something' that most don't, and would IMHO have become the new Vale-darling for the fans Was he as good? We never got to see, unfortunately. But he certainly was aggressive enough and wanted to race!
true Brads, Simo on a Gigi made duc... wow... i Always felt Crutchlow made his Pict-warrior stand till he got the Duc contract... and then witherred without ever been able to outun or outsmart Dovi , who is not an alien himself... Ducati set July deadline for Crutchlow decision | Bikesport News | BSB, MotoGP News Cal could be a good rider to join Chaz... don't see him do anything major in GP ...
