I have read a good article about how the big 3 (members of MMSA) have proposed cost cutting suggestions. The only decent reply was from perioso and Ducati.. He stated the biggest cost was getting the bike down to the weight limit to be competive. Which is a good point and this was confirmed by the CRT teams. Yamaha stated they have no interest if resticted to rpm limit Honda stated the rules are to make ducati competitive (this years weight rise) They still have it bad for VR ! twats!! So i reckon next year all motogp bikes should be 170kg.. keep cost down and fill the grid!
If you make it less of a prototype series then it just becomes WSBK on steroids. They do have to address the costs though, the grid looks sparse and in reality, there isn't a great deal of competition right now. I'd love to see another few big factory teams have a MotoGP presence and that can't happen when the economics mean teams like Suzuki can't afford to race. There should be MotoGP as a shop window for the latest tech from at least 6/7 manufacturers and enough rules to keep it competitive without dumbing down the prototype nature of the bikes. Rev limits and restricted ECUs don't work for me but if it is needed to keep it going then fair enough. There was better racing in other series last year, BSB etc was great. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
I don't think Motogp in it's current format will exist in 5 years time. I suspect by then WSBK and Motogp will have been combined.
Id like to see the back of traction control , anti wheelie electronics . Any rider enhancing electronic gadget should not be used. There are some great riders further down the field that we wil never see at the front because of some small electronic box that there team cant get/afford. They should all be on the same front electronically . Preferably without it so that we can again see what real riding skill is.
I still maintain that the rule book is too expansive in motogp, and that's what's costing the teams money. How many rules do you need for a premier prototype series? Number of wheels...number of gears maybe...minimum weight, and a maximum capacity, although even that's debateable. In some ways I don't want to see electronics being banned - we need to progress in terms of bike technology, we're way behind the car world - but there's no doubt it is now interfering with the enjoyment of watching racing. Perhaps the electronics can be limited in some way. Opening up the rulebook would allow for some maverick thinking. Aerodynamics is one way to improve the breed without breaking the bank. Funny front-ends, wankel engines, KERS systems...there's allsorts. But the current rules pretty much dictate a four cylinder four-stroke in an alloy beam frame, when we all know there's much more to motorcycling than that.
How about if the rule book says that electronics are there for creating a spark only Everything else is banned. capacity is 1200cc and you can use any configuration you want to get there . Weight limit is a minimum 230 kilos including rider . Anything else goes. That should get us back to the good old days where engineering should be the only technological progress allowed . Technology would then be sustained on the track by people that are interested in racing and going fast not in the computer nerd room.
Figaro is right, it is prototype racing, we already have excellent production based racing (which should stay that way i.m.o.), so tear up the rule book for the prototype's and let's see the development begin. Without development and progress we'd still be living in caves dragging our knuckles. Now where did I put those two sticks to light the fire? Anth
You mean matches? I am all for tear up rule book however I would also like less electronics. I would say leave lunch control/anti wheelie for start only if they want.
Matches, Sticks, Boy scouts...it's all the same thing mate. Agree with your comments re electronics -from what I've heard most of the riders woudl prefer that too. S'pose it's 'progress' ?
Now that is what I call progress.... I don't suppose it really matters anyway with Prototype v's Production / Electronics v's Right Hand racing, as CRT is the first step to one series anyway and we'll only get what Dorna and the big guns want in the merged series they create anyway.... Anth
I think that's a key tension with the factories though: the punters, and the series owners, and as you say probably most of the riders, would cheerfully lose the electronics; but the factories are insistent that developing electronics for wider commercial purposes is central to their motive in participating in MotoGP, and that if they lose the development incentive they won't bother. This seems to me at the heart of their difficulties going forward. A control tyre is one thing - the manufacturers don't make those. But a control anything-else - ECU, engine - undermines the entire purpose of their participating. I think the next couple of years are going to be messy...
