Portimao : it seems that the 1198RS days are over... It's getting a whooping, no? Really looking forward to what the Pani will bring.... Koen
It's the age-old problem of trying to compare apples and oranges; WSBK revises the rules each year based on which machine was most successful the year before in an effort to make things balanced. Unfortunately it seems that all they managed to do is penalise the winner each year! As 2011 champion, the Ducati had an extra 6Kg balast this year (min 171kg) over and above the other bikes (min 165kg - no change) which explains it's slow top speed. Not that there's a pattern or anything... 2006 Troy Bayliss - Ducati 999 2007 James Toseland - Honda Fireblade (Bayliss on the Ducati 4th) 2008 Troy Bayliss - Ducati 1098 (Checa on the Honda 4th) 2009 Ben Spies - Yamaha R1 (Haga on the Ducati 2nd) 2010 Max Biaggi - Aprilia RSV4 (Checa on the Ducati 3rd) 2011 Carlos Checa - Ducati 1098 (Biaggi on the Aprilia 3rd) 2012 Max Biaggi - Aprilia RSV4 (TBC!) 2013 Carlos Checa - Ducati 1199 Panigale (TBC!) etc I think you can see a consistent pattern of one bike emerging and being penalised through rules the next year. Others may say it's down to consistency, or rider changes, or other factors, but I think there's a general trend for this to be true.
But the panigale has fared no better in superstock trim at Portimao, it was getting blitzed down the start/finish staight. Ducati will have to release an R version with some serious Titanium internals .
The pani is relatively new and so the teams have not had any time to develop it yet - same situation with the BMW which struggled in its first year or so but is now competitive.
Only 3 points behind lead in Eurpean Superstock Championship. PFG I say. Might be best race to watch at Magny Cours. Carlos and Guiliano to race it for Altea WSB next year. Fabritzio is on a Duke too. When do they start testing next years bikes? Follow on from Magny Cours is it?
4th in the championship surely doesn't mean it's getting whopped. But I thought Antonye's analysis pretty sound.
and we're to believe the insiders : it's all about electronics... 250K a year in BSB.... so development will take time and effort ... out of the crate fast as in the 916 days seem to be gone forever...
If you wanted to take a really objective look, it would be interesting to go through the rule changes each year to see what happened and which bike won for that season. We've seen IL4s jump from 750 to 1000cc, Ducatis jump from 1000 to 1200cc, intake restrictors come and go, minimum weight changes, etc, etc, and even mid-season restrictions being lifted. I guess that this inconsistency in the rules makes it very hard for teams to continue developing along a specific path; basically because you develop your bike and then the goal-posts change so your path, updates and data all become irrelevant. The rules in WSBK are at odds with those in MotoGP, which is less restrictive in it's rules. MotoGP gives you some parameters (min weight, bore/stroke, rev limits) and lets you get on with building whatever you want. However, as a series based on production bikes, which encompasses the majority of manufacturers and engine configurations, it does a pretty good attempt at levelling the field.
