MotoGP News
Date: 5/March/2012
MotoGP races could see more sideways action and increased physical effort in 2012 following revealing comments regarding the rate of tyre wear at the recent Sepang test.
This season marks the switch from 800 to 1000cc engines, but a more subtle change is in the form of revisions made by tyre supplier Bridgestone.
Following criticism of the time taken to get last year’s tyres up to operating temperature, Bridgestone has made construction changes for 2012. This will mean that the tyres warm-up far sooner, but will also degrade at a greater rate.
This degradation, magnified by the larger engines, resulted in a dramatic drop in tyre grip after just a handful of laps when the likes of Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow completed their first race simulation on the 2012 Yamahas.
Former world champion Lorenzo said: “It was really tough physically, doing the race simulation on the last day, but it was very important to see what happened.
“This year it will be really, really hard to keep a constant pace to the end of the race because after just three or four laps the rear tyre grip suddenly drops, and then it continues to drop steadily after that.
“So the rider that can manage his tyres to the end of the race will have a strong season.”
The effort of hanging on to a sliding 200mph motorcycle for so many laps has also prompted Lorenzo to ramp-up his training. “Now I need to train very hard to be more prepared physically,” he said.
Tech 3 rider Crutchlow gave a similar verdict: “I did a long run and the new tyres were sliding around quite a bit. It made it very physical, but quite good and it looks like tyre management is going to be more important than ever.”
Lorenzo and Crutchlow were fourth and fifth fastest at the test, but the pace-setting Repsol Hondas of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa did not to complete a race simulation.
Lorenzo, runner-up to Stoner last season, said: “If we can improve the race pace by two or three tenths that would be perfect.”
One more pre-season test remains, at Jerez, before the start of the 2012 racing season.
Stoner shakes his way to the top at Sepang
MotoGP News
Date: 5/March/2012
Reigning champion Casey Stoner proved he will again be the man to beat in MotoGP’s new 1000cc era, having continued his unbeaten 2012 run during the second test at Sepang in Malaysia.
But it wasn’t plain sailing for the Australian. Stoner had to overcome continued shaking problems with his new 1000cc Repsol Honda and missed day two when engine checks grounded all of the RCV riders.
Honda Racing boss Shuhei Nakamoto explained: “We stopped testing because we didn’t know exactly what had happened to cause the warning light on Dani Pedrosa’s bike (on day one) and if an engine blows up it is dangerous for the riders. Now we understand. The engine has no problem at all. We have not had to modify the engines or change the performance.”
Stoner returned for the final day to finish 0.175sec clear of Pedrosa at the head of the timesheets. The top five riders were covered by less than 0.52sec, but Stoner warned he was far from his limit.
Stoner said: “When I did my fast lap it was with 52 degrees of track temperature, the highest of the day, and 19 litres of fuel. So we’re pretty happy. We thought we could have gone faster this afternoon, but we’d finished everything so there was no need to risk anything.”
Another factor likely to worry his rivals is that Stoner stayed on top despite continued chatter problems with his Honda through the corners. The chatter (vibration) has been present ever since the latest Bridgestone tyres were fitted to the new Honda.
Stoner admits he may have to race with the issue: “The fact that we’ve had it this long and not really improved it means we might have to do race one, and maybe more, with the chattering.
“We’ll try and improve it, but if we can’t we’re still competitive.
“We’ve definitely got a few more tenths in us without the chatter, but my main concern is if we get to tracks where maybe we haven’t got the perfect feeling, the chatter will make it worse.”
Stoner will aim to complete a 2012 pre-season sweep during the third and final test at Jerez from March 23-25.
Date: 5/March/2012
Reigning champion Casey Stoner proved he will again be the man to beat in MotoGP’s new 1000cc era, having continued his unbeaten 2012 run during the second test at Sepang in Malaysia.
But it wasn’t plain sailing for the Australian. Stoner had to overcome continued shaking problems with his new 1000cc Repsol Honda and missed day two when engine checks grounded all of the RCV riders.
Honda Racing boss Shuhei Nakamoto explained: “We stopped testing because we didn’t know exactly what had happened to cause the warning light on Dani Pedrosa’s bike (on day one) and if an engine blows up it is dangerous for the riders. Now we understand. The engine has no problem at all. We have not had to modify the engines or change the performance.”
Stoner returned for the final day to finish 0.175sec clear of Pedrosa at the head of the timesheets. The top five riders were covered by less than 0.52sec, but Stoner warned he was far from his limit.
Stoner said: “When I did my fast lap it was with 52 degrees of track temperature, the highest of the day, and 19 litres of fuel. So we’re pretty happy. We thought we could have gone faster this afternoon, but we’d finished everything so there was no need to risk anything.”
Another factor likely to worry his rivals is that Stoner stayed on top despite continued chatter problems with his Honda through the corners. The chatter (vibration) has been present ever since the latest Bridgestone tyres were fitted to the new Honda.
Stoner admits he may have to race with the issue: “The fact that we’ve had it this long and not really improved it means we might have to do race one, and maybe more, with the chattering.
“We’ll try and improve it, but if we can’t we’re still competitive.
“We’ve definitely got a few more tenths in us without the chatter, but my main concern is if we get to tracks where maybe we haven’t got the perfect feeling, the chatter will make it worse.”
Stoner will aim to complete a 2012 pre-season sweep during the third and final test at Jerez from March 23-25.
Dejected Rossi ‘didn’t fix anything’
MotoGP News
Date: 5/March/2012
Valentino Rossi’s optimism ahead of next month’s start to the 2012 MotoGP season wilted in the Malaysian heat during the second pre-season test of the year.
The Italian megastar looked to have regained some of his old swagger as he spoke of aiming for an opening-round podium, after finishing his debut test on the new Ducati in fifth place.
But the dejected Italian was thwarted in his efforts to improve during the second Sepang test and plummeted to tenth place as a result.
Rossi, who suffered his first winless MotoGP season after moving from Yamaha to Ducati in 2011, said: “The only positive is that the distance to first place is a bit less. But unfortunately our position is a lot worse.
“Being just behind the factory Hondas and Yamahas after the first test was positive, but everything we tried here to fix our biggest problems didn’t work.
“We are closer to the top (1.0s), but now we also have the satellite Yamahas and Hondas in front of us. We are very worried for this reason.
“Unfortunately with this bike I’m not able to go faster and faster like the guys on the other bikes. We have to understand why.”
Ducati has made massive changes to its MotoGP racer to try and unleash seven-time champion Rossi’s enormous potential, including switching from carbon-fibre to a more conventional aluminium frame.
Rossi said: “I think we have improved from last year because I had two or three moments where with last year’s bike I would have crashed!
“But it is not enough….unfortunately we didn’t fix anything.”
Indeed, despite the radical technical changes for the new 1000cc MotoGP era, Rossi seems to be struggling with disturbingly similar issues to last season’s 800cc bike.
The 33-year-old is battling to turn the bike, using the brakes too much to compensate and is too slow in the corners as a result.
Confusingly, team-mate Nicky Hayden - the only manufacturer rider slower than Rossi - is facing different issues.
The American, able to test properly for the first time this winter after undergoing recent shoulder surgery, is losing time on the way out of the turns.
Hayden said: “The bike feels better for me on braking and into the corner, and I like the feedback it gives me. Now we need to work on some vibration and on corner exits.
“The bike has different problems to last year I would say.”
The third and final pre-season test will take place at Jerez, in Spain from March 23-25.
Date: 5/March/2012
Valentino Rossi’s optimism ahead of next month’s start to the 2012 MotoGP season wilted in the Malaysian heat during the second pre-season test of the year.
The Italian megastar looked to have regained some of his old swagger as he spoke of aiming for an opening-round podium, after finishing his debut test on the new Ducati in fifth place.
But the dejected Italian was thwarted in his efforts to improve during the second Sepang test and plummeted to tenth place as a result.
Rossi, who suffered his first winless MotoGP season after moving from Yamaha to Ducati in 2011, said: “The only positive is that the distance to first place is a bit less. But unfortunately our position is a lot worse.
“Being just behind the factory Hondas and Yamahas after the first test was positive, but everything we tried here to fix our biggest problems didn’t work.
“We are closer to the top (1.0s), but now we also have the satellite Yamahas and Hondas in front of us. We are very worried for this reason.
“Unfortunately with this bike I’m not able to go faster and faster like the guys on the other bikes. We have to understand why.”
Ducati has made massive changes to its MotoGP racer to try and unleash seven-time champion Rossi’s enormous potential, including switching from carbon-fibre to a more conventional aluminium frame.
Rossi said: “I think we have improved from last year because I had two or three moments where with last year’s bike I would have crashed!
“But it is not enough….unfortunately we didn’t fix anything.”
Indeed, despite the radical technical changes for the new 1000cc MotoGP era, Rossi seems to be struggling with disturbingly similar issues to last season’s 800cc bike.
The 33-year-old is battling to turn the bike, using the brakes too much to compensate and is too slow in the corners as a result.
Confusingly, team-mate Nicky Hayden - the only manufacturer rider slower than Rossi - is facing different issues.
The American, able to test properly for the first time this winter after undergoing recent shoulder surgery, is losing time on the way out of the turns.
Hayden said: “The bike feels better for me on braking and into the corner, and I like the feedback it gives me. Now we need to work on some vibration and on corner exits.
“The bike has different problems to last year I would say.”
The third and final pre-season test will take place at Jerez, in Spain from March 23-25.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)