Rookie rule scrapped by dorna (announced today) Pedders gone then ? BUT what will other teams get in exchange to agree ? My guess is that if a team has not won a race in 2 years the engine 6 rule will be scrapped for them to use 12 (ducati) we may seekwack and suzuki return now.
Marquez will be on the HRC Repsol Motogp bike next year. Julian Ryder admitted as much last night on stage. Pedrosa said his new deal will be confirmed in the next couple of weeks but i can't see him being in the same team as Lorenzo. He was also cracking a few jokes on stage. Lorenzo and Cal have struck up a good friendship. Maybe this is a precursor for Cal being in the Factory Yamaha team next year. Stoner said he is only coming back if Dorna allow 750 2 strokes. Never seen him smile so much before.
My guess Repsol pedders Marquez Yamaha Lorenzo Cal Suzuki Coca Cola VR and Spies (watch this space :wink Kev 34 returns Ducati Hayden Redding Tech 3 yamaha Dovi and Smith San carlo honda Battista plus CRT ? LCR Honda Bradl and CRT Pramac CRT CRT etc Pramac both CRT
That Suzuki is working on a MotoGP prototype for a return to the premier class at some point in the future - 2014 is the date Suzuki staff have referred to officially in all their communication - is well-known. There have been several reports of the bike being tested, but no real photos or information on the bike. Until yesterday. On Tuesday, respected US publication Cycle World published spy photos of the brand new Suzuki on its website, taken while testing at Sugo. Even better, along with the photos, they published a detailed technical analysis by Kevin Cameron, the magazine's technical editor and probably the leading authority on motorcycle racing technology. The bike, according to both Cameron's analysis and Cycle World's sources, is an inline 4, and not the V4 that Suzuki had previously hinted at. The engine is inclined forwards considerably, Cameron suggesting that it could be by as much as 30°. The engine is just visible in one photo, and is clearly inclined significantly, certainly more than the Yamaha M1 engine used in their 800cc bike, which they displayed at Valencia. The advantage of using an inline 4 is improved weight distribution, with the space behind the engine (where the rear cylinder bank would be on a V4) freed up so that the fuel tank can be located there. Based on the two exhausts visible on the right-hand side of the bike, as well as reports from persons present at the scene, Cameron also deduces that the engine does not use the normal "screamer" firing order as commonly found in inline fours such as Suzuki's own GSX-R1000, BMW's S1000RR or Kawasaki's ZX-10R. The two separate exhausts suggest a "long bang" configuration, similar to that used by Yamaha's M1 MotoGP bike and YZF-R1 sportsbike, in which the crank pins are spaced at 90° angles two each other. The most interesting piece of speculation by Cameron concerns the electronics. Cameron writes: "in one of the cornering photos, [the rider] has the throttle pinned, suggesting advanced electronics in use." The intriguing possibility is that Suzuki may have elected to drop Mitsubishi, who supplied electronics throughout the Japanese factory's period in MotoGP, and are testing another system. The technical partner stickers that appear on the bike show oil company Motul, spark plug maker NGK, chain supplier RK, tire manufacturer and data recording supplier 2D. A sticker bearing the name Mitsubishi is absent from the bike. The technical partner stickers themselves beg the question of why they are there in the first place. Though Suzuki have made no secret of their MotoGP program, it is still a little way off being ready for public consumption. So why they would add the sponsor stickers to what is clearly a development prototype is rather puzzling. Why go to all that effort? Unless they were expecting photos of the bike to appear, that is. The spy photos obtained by Cycle World are of the highest quality, clearly having been taken by a professional photographer using top-of-the-range equipment, including a large zoom lens. Though Sugo is a public track, when rented out for a private test to a manufacturer, photographers lugging 500mm lenses around are generally shooed roughly away. There is clearly a benefit to Suzuki to have spy shots of their bikes appear in the media, as it raises the profile of Suzuki's racing program, and generates a lot of publicity. So perhaps the photos were leaked, or if not leaked, then a blind eye turned to the presence of somebody taking photos of something they ostensibly shouldn't be looking at. Allowing spy shots to be released to the press generates interst in the program, and could perhaps be a sign that it is further along than previously announced. Though the official press release announcing Suzuki's withdrawal from MotoGP stated that the goal was to return in 2014, once source close to Suzuki recently hinted to MotoMatters.com that a 2013 return was not beyond the bounds of possibility. For the full and detailed analysis of the spy shots of the Suzuki MotoGP machine, we heartily recommend that readers head over to the article on Cycle World and ponder Kevin Cameron's thoughts on the matter.
It seems more likely, given the future of motogp certainly seems to revolve around CRT, that Suzuki want potential customers to know of their bike as a customer bike rather than a full works machine.
Wonder if the smith deal had some moto2 performance related small print. Just don't see him cutting the mustard and don't think he deserves a place (yet)
SpeedMaster (owned by Rossi) He might end up on one of his own crt bikes with pasini next year.. rumour also is rossi's brother Luca will ride in the speedmaster moto 3 team in 2013
I can't see him putting himself with his gigantic wages on his own payroll for as long as someone else will and I don't believe for one minute there's not a ride out there with big backers for him.....
you know what i mean if Cal had not had to get past 11 of them blah blah blah . but whats the reasoning behind them when a world superbike is faster !
Cheapness. And to try to encourage more teams on to the grid. Perfectly laudible in my opinion. Remember how slow and crap moto2 was going to be...until the first corner of the first race..? A grid full of CRTs would work, mixing them with full factory kit doesn't.
A grid full of CRT great idea.....like an expensive fancy framed WSB race? :frown: This is the first step for Dorna combining the two series it now owns.
Motogp will die if they can't get bums on seats - both in terms of riders and spectators. That's a fact. But which way you go to attain that is the problem. Moto2 and all it's control measures has been a rip-roaring success from day 1, and moto3 doesn't seem to be any less of a series since the ban on 2-strokes, so maybe stringent control measures in motogp is the way to go. Except enforcing control tyres hasn't worked, so maybe control ECUs, rev limits, etc won't work in the premier class. What about, then, opening up the rule book to allow for new designs, new ways of thinking? Perhaps we're ready once again for multi-cylinder engines, turbo and superchargers or super-aerodynamic fairings. Clever design could overcome massive budgets...except all the really clever engineers appear to be dead. Britten, Newcombe, Fior, Kaaden; they don't seem to last long, perhaps their brains explode. But something must be done. The factory teams don't want to make customer bikes, or want to charge too much for them, and the smaller teams can't afford to compete at the front - remember that Tech3 weren't really in the running until Spies burst onto the scene and Yamaha gave them a few choice bits. So what else can they do? In the absence of any other ideas, CRT is it. It ain't perfect by any means.
MCN stating Ducati going after Cal , surely it will end his chance of winning a race ? but he will be secure finacially
I would try to provide an incentive to innovative designs that would make teams take the gamble. Non telescopic fork fitted bikes could get more fuel or a slightly greater capacity etc. Or more cylinders with less capacity. I am sure that creative people could devise a reasonable list of options that would also exclude Honda etc from just pumping huge amounts of cash in. I am not against Honda spending money on new ideas but not if it demotivates and stifles others. The creative bit comes in trying to accomodate everyone.
