Rossi in top shape, even with JL out for the win.. CC, well there is Always this little something for it not to happen. the bike? cal himself? this was his to take. still great fight at the end.. Rossi back on a fast footing would spice it up even more.. Ducati, well... been discussed over and over again. No winning bikes , no winning riders, no idea where they're going.. and the comp is pushing themselves silly to develop their magical bikes even further... the only hope there is is for them to be drawing something from scratch this very moment or they'll wont be around in 2014... back to wsbk i say, loads and loads and loads to do there...
Awesome race from Jorge, truly superb piece of damage limitation. Man has balls of steel. Valentino also showed there's life in the old dog yet, if he's found a good base setup then he's not out of it yet. I think there will be more race wins to come. As regards the red bikes, they've got the riders blaming the tyres now for being too stiff or something, I can't rightly remember. But the Bridgestones are a constant and everyone has to use them. It's not getting beaten by Espagaro that's embarrassing, because the Aprilia has more fuel and more engines to use, and is a full factory machine, it's the fact that it's miles behind the Hondas and Yamahas - Dovi is getting beaten by Bradley Smith nowadays and that's not a question of talent or engines. It's a massive question as to what to do though. Nicky made the point that the bike isn't very adjustable in engineering terms, so they're a bit stuck. So what do Bologna do? We know the frames were subcontracted out when they first switched to an aluminium frame. Is this still the case? If so, is the frame designed to Bologna's spec, or the subcontractors? Clearly part of the issue is getting feel into the front end, so do they need to move the engine forward (and up?). I failed an engineering degree so I don't have the answers, but it looks like Honda make a near-as-possible 90 degree vee motor work. We know the bike is hard on its tyres? Is it due to the suspension, the pressures in the tyres, or the power delivery? It shouldn't be beyond Bologna's ken to build and test a big bang motor (if it isn't already). So Ducati have work to do on the electronics too, it would seem, and potentially a new motor. Essentially, it looks like they need to rip it up and start again, and completely again. You almost wonder if they should just buy Kalex or FTR to be honest, hand them the engines and electronics to fit into a frame of their design and give them a credit line at Ohlins?
...which Rossi and Burgess tried to get them to do...sometimes it is bad tools, not a bad workman to blame
As Ducati are certain to employ a V4 in whatever incarnation of GP bike they persist with, should they just slavishly copy as much of the Honda as possible?
An engine will never be claimed. And even if it was, how do you fit into a chassis not designed for it and what are the conditions to be able to run one?!
Don't all moto gp bikes have to be prototype bikes, and wsb bikes production machines? Would be impossible to race a superbike in moto gp
Best two quid i'll be spending in September Only just managed to watch the race and I really didnt see that coming. A great result for VR, its been a long time coming. I will never count him out again
That's certainly the case these days, but it wasn't always so. You could never call the Manx Norton a prototype, there were billions of the blighters.
