MotoGP 2016

FZR400RRSP

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Might as well start it seeing as 2015 has been settled, riders are in place with their 2016 teams and testing on the Michelins has begun.:clap:
Times for Michelins from today suggest they're doing fine, just need race-length testing.
 
Am recording today & tomorrows test's for a bit of viewing when home mostly because of the Michelin's & Scott on the Ducati :)
 
Marquez#s lap times were in the 31s.
And this was with a front that none of them are very sure about it yet, although they all agree the rear is wonderful.
He's scarily talented on a motorbike.
 
Rumours flying Casey Stoner is testing for Ducati in 2016 and doing a few wild cards.
Man, I hope it's true*
Mind you, Rossi will just say it's because Stoner wants to help everyone apart from him...;)

*rumour has come from boss of KRP racing, Mark Keen. He claims it's true on his Facebook page.
 
Quite a lot of front ends down over the course of the two days but all learning from it both Suzuki's did extremely well Scott looking good on the Duke Cal on it as are the rest so should be an interesting season next year. Still not sure if i like the idea of the new software mainly because only the top "in MotoGP" e.g. the longest serving manufacturers get a say in its development Honda Yamaha & Ducati hopefully that will change after a season or two.

As for Casey coming back well i will wait to see if it happens but as a long time fan of the man i am not sure if i like the idea or not as its been a while since he won his first 2007 & time does move on.
 
2007 since Stoner won his last championship, yes.
But 5 race wins in 2012 and very competitive lap times at the Suzuka 8 hour in 2015 (prior to a throttle problem made him crash).
I think he'd be right up there, TBH.
 
Its been confirmed Casey back to Ducati as a test rider & ambassador but i think it highly unlikely you will see him back on track racing but who knows.
 
It will be interesting to see how the riders get on as the tyres wear out over the course of a race with less sophisticated electronics to rely on.
 
Not long to go now to the first race of 2016.

Lorenzos looked good all weekend, and set his pole setting lap on his 2nd lap of qualifying, putting doubts into those who said the Michelins would need a few laps to get up to speed. :thumbsup:

Did anyone see Marquez??, thought he'd got another lap in qualifying, set a great time, only to realise he'd started the lap when the flag was already out, and then made a complete balls up of his practice start. :rolleyes:
 
It will be interesting to see how the riders get on as the tyres wear out over the course of a race with less sophisticated electronics to rely on.

Yesterday's race was 7 seconds faster than last year's, and a new lap record as well.
So looks like the Michelins and control ECUs are doing just fine. :thumbsup:
Cal Crutchlow's ECU went a bit awry though.
Apparently thought it was on a different part of the circuit and refused to close the throttle butterflies, meaning he arrived at the corner 60kph faster than before.....o_O
 
Yeah the new tyre and electronics package looks great. Lots more smoke and sideways. At last it looks like it's down to the rider a lot more.

Those damn wings look awful though.
 
The 'strakes' are under review.
If they don't get banned altogether, I would imagine their size will be greatly limited.
Riders complaining of severe turbulence following a bike fitted with them.
 
I knew you'd know the official name:). The smallest ones don't look quite so hideous but I can only imagine that means they do little to nothing, apart from in the riders head. And I wouldn't ever want to be the first fallen rider to be hit/clipped by Jorge's m1 with those massive tea trays I think Colin Edwards called them. On that note I really hope BT sport would take him on in a full time role. He's a proper no nonsense biker/racer.

Id also really like to learn or find out how different bikes use different tyres.(rears mainly, but fronts too) The Dukes both used softs and Jorge used a medium and Rossi a hard, if my memory serves me correctly. And they all went the distance with no visible issues. Which I think for a returning tyre manufacturer is damn impressive in my eyes.

Really looking forward to Argentina
 
Think Jorge was running a hard front and soft rear iirc. The rear tyre (on Jorges M1) didnt look to bad at all in parc ferme for saying Jorge had just caned them for the last few laps.

Brilliant performance from Jorge, Setting a string a fast laps when he needed to, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 20/22.

Those bloody teatrays want banning as they look awful.
 
Yes, Jorge took a risk and went for a soft when everyone else was on a hard.
The good condiution of the tyre was surely, in part, down to suspension.
There was a 90 minute Jorge documentary on BT sport last week where he credited his championship to Patrick, his suspension guy.
He said Patrick noticed how Rossi picked the bike up out of corners in a more gentle manner than Jorge, and that's what transformed his season last year.
 
Yes, Jorge took a risk and went for a soft when everyone else was on a hard.
The good condiution of the tyre was surely, in part, down to suspension.
There was a 90 minute Jorge documentary on BT sport last week where he credited his championship to Patrick, his suspension guy.
He said Patrick noticed how Rossi picked the bike up out of corners in a more gentle manner than Jorge, and that's what transformed his season last year.
I'm not knocking his amazing speed and talent, and hard work, but did that charity stuff in that documentary feel a bit forced to you? It made me laugh when Lorenzo was saying he never tried to upset anyone....he obviously forget he'd asked to attend Rossi's tribunal:D.

Looking forward to next weekends races.
 
Today's race will be edgy, I expect a lot of turn 1 crashes. Worrying that the tyres aren't suitable for the track as there are harsher tracks to come in the season
 
Bit of a lottery today, as Michelin have withdrawn the 2 compounds of tyre, and brought out there backup "Medium" tyre.

Extra practice session scheduled for 1pm.

Its raining at the Rio circuit and the proposed 1pm FP5 has been cancelled.

Warm up at 2:40.
 
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Shame about the forced pit stop and bike change. Rossi looked like he was going to have a good battle with Marquez on their number one bikes.
 
Gonna try and get back into MotoGP this year. Just kinda tailed off watching it a few years ago for no real reason, but everytime I catch a glimpse I'm really into it. Just gotta make sure I record it now. :)
 
Moto3 was an amazing race for a young Pawi, Moto2 glad to see Sam up there, the main event well what can you say for a moment it look like a Moto3 race but hugely entertaining a shame about the forced bike change (but after seeing Scott's incident i could see why, but i hope it was just one bad tyre).
 
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Can anybody give Marquez a fight at COTA??

He just kept getting faster today in free practice.
 

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