[Uridium]

Anyone up for MCN Fantasy Roadrace this year....??

It's completely free and adds a fun element to the year's upcoming races.

MCN Fantasy Road Race

Anyone interested just visit the site, create your team then choose enter a private league. Pin for the AVF league is 2893

[Miss Chief]

Joined.

[themilkman23]

Joined as well, thanks for that.

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Miss Chief

I'm sure a talented engineering team could manufacture a prototype engine to put out more power than anything based on a production engine?

Yes, but they then have to do it on 2 litres less fuel than a production based engine.
That's the hard bit!
Honda said recently that even 1 litre more fuel would have them making loads more power.
They're lucky to get over the line just now.

[alexs2]

Sepang testing now in progress.

Once again,Stoner on top and getting the better of Pedrosa,which must be driving Grumpy mad.

Rossi improving slowly,on the Duke.

Seeing Stoner and Pedrosa battling for top dog at Honda should be interesting.

[KiLLiNG-TiME]

[alexs2]

Honda certainly look good so far in testing,and Stoner has laid down a real marker for Pedrosa.

[FZR400RRSP]

I just treated myself to a Nicky Hayden Tissot, to celebrate the start of the season.

[Miss Chief]

if the honda has a front end Stoner can believe in and trust, Stoner for the title.

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Miss Chief

if the honda has a front end Stoner can believe in and trust, Stoner for the title.

I'd predict some serious sulking and toy-chucking if Stoner,as the new boy in HRC gets the upper hand.

Should make for a good year's racing amongst the HRC guys,even if the rest look a bit off-pace.

The Yamahas so far look almost there,but not as dominant,and the Ducatis are significantly slower.

[FZR400RRSP]

Here's a stat you may (or may not) find interesting.

Watching the WSBK at the weekend (bear with me, I know it's a not a WSBK thread).
I was taken by the lap times of the 600 supersport bikes.
It set me thinking about how they compared with old 500cc bikes of the Doohan era, when he was winning there.
For the life of me, I couldn't find anything giving me Doohan's race lap times from his championship winning race of 1998.
I could only find his largely irrelevant qualifying time.
But I did find that Doohan's average race speed on a full factory NSR500 with hand made Michelin slicks was 168.7km/h.
Scassa's average race speed on an R6 with treaded tyres was 166.8 km/h.

I don't know if I'm impressed with progress, or sad that the demi-gods of 500cc racing are almost matched by blokes on road-bikes.....

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

I don't know if I'm impressed with progress, or sad that the demi-gods of 500cc racing are almost matched by blokes on road-bikes.....

I know what you mean....in a sense it's a pity,but in another,it shows how much tyres,suspension and engines have changed,and every time you do something to slow the machines down,engineers find other ways of clawing some speed back.

[graemet]

Originally Posted by alexs2

I'd predict some serious sulking and toy-chucking if Stoner,as the new boy in HRC gets the upper hand.

Should make for a good year's racing amongst the HRC guys,even if the rest look a bit off-pace.

The Yamahas so far look almost there,but not as dominant,and the Ducatis are significantly slower.

I wonder if this will be the year that HRC realise that their pet Pedrosa will never actually win a championship no matter how much time and money they throw at him?

I've said since he started in MotoGP that he'd never win a championship and I don't see this year changing that.

If you look at his record of race wins, it's pretty poor having only won 12 races in 5 years at the top level. This is compared to Stoner who's managed 23 in the same time. I'm not a big fan of Stoner but when you compare their statistics it's pretty obvious that Pedrosa's going to be playing second fiddle this year.
Personally I'd love to see Dovizioso beat Pedrosa this season

[Miss Chief]

Dani shows signs of being up there but he's always been one to win from the front. I don't know what it is but unless he starts from the front and stays there he doesn;t seem to have the stomach for a fight or pushes too hard.

[alexs2]

Pedrosa is as quick as anyone on his day,but that doesn't seem to happen too often.

His biggest single advantage,as has been proven over and over,is his power/weight advantage on starts,and that often allows him to pick up places,or build a lead early on.

[Se777eN]

When does the season start??

[FZR400RRSP]

Originally Posted by Se777eN

When does the season start??

20th March, Losail.

[alexs2]

Hondas still at the top of the testing times,with Stoner and Pedrosa swapping times,and the Ducatis slightly better than before but still way off the pace.

[Miss Chief]

Only Spies has managed to split the Hondas. if Losail goes the same way as the testing Stoner and Pedrosa will be riding away from everyone and fighting between themselves for the win.

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Miss Chief

Only Spies has managed to split the Hondas. if Losail goes the same way as the testing Stoner and Pedrosa will be riding away from everyone and fighting between themselves for the win.

True....maybe Lorenzo is sand-bagging a bit,but he does seem a bit out of sorts and below par,whereas Spies has just grabbed the chance with both hands.

I always did think Spies was the real deal,and his form since arriving in MotoGP seems to have borne out everyone's hopes of another to join the "aliens" at the front.

I think Stoner will want to lay a marker down for Pedrosa ASAP to show him who's the best at HRC,and I can see that leading to a really good battle.

[FZR400RRSP]

Motegi's been postponed, unsurprisingly.

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by FZR400RRSP

Motegi's been postponed, unsurprisingly.

Yes.....they're having a terrible time currently and things don't look to be getting better.

HRC's entire effort seems to have been very fortunate in escaping any injuries on home soil.

[alexs2]

1St Practice session finished at Losail....Stoner way out ahead and the rest of the Hondas doing well,and surprise,Rossi up to 5th,and even more,Barbera in a shock 3rd.

[bobflunkit]

Hate to say it but Casey looks f!*$ing fast.


and does jorge lorenzo's no 1 (jl) look like the JLS logo.

I can't help but picture jorge in next jls single/video(oh dear)


and when it comes to moto2, come on Scott redding.

And by the way the missus has had enough of all this already.

[emmiller]

When is qualifying on? Eurosport says now but its just showing 125cc i think.


martin

[themilkman23]

No one watched?

Lorenzo was happy and so he should be looking at practise times in the off season.

[alexs2]

Good first race.....should be plenty more of the various grudge matches(Stoner Vs Pedrosa,Simoncelli Vs Dovi etc)

Crutchlow did well on his debut,and Rossi despite his shoulder problems still managed to be top Ducati rider,albeit 7th.

[themilkman23]

I think Rossi's tactics on the first bend were just all or nothing, hopefully get in front of people and slow them up as long as he could, unfortunately it didn't come off though.

And when he was dicing with Spies he pushed the bike over it's limit and it looked like she wanted to lay down.

Those Honda's though - wow.

[KiLLiNG-TiME]

Good race but no HD Transmission by the BBC typical ......

[smoochiez]

Yeh the Honda's do look formidable, but i am hoping the Yamaha's will be able to develop the bike during the season to close the gap. It was also good see how pleased Lorenzo was with his second place finish.

Good weekend performace for Crutchlow, with a better qualifying position than i was expecting him to get and decent finish.

Anyone know how injured Loris is after the incident with RDP? Also is Elias ok after that high speed fall?

Just thought i would mention Smith's top 10 finish in Moto2 after his jump up from the 125's. Very good start to the season for him.