GuzziMoto

Luckily I know better. I think it is likely that Marc will win a race or two, but I don't even see him as the favorite, much less a sure thing. While it is good that Marc is on a better bike, I think the days of domination, and even the days of a small number of "aliens" who are head and shoulders above everyone else, are gone. There was a time when guys like Marc were at a different level then everyone else. I don't see a return to that.

Everyone seems to think he is headed to Honda and Puig is out. Could be. I imagine Mir would be happy to see that. Yamaha could also use the help. And Yamaha might be a better place for him, more like Suzuki was. It seems he left early after being pushed out of his original role with the F1 team.

Yeah, And he is one of the top track designers for some reason. He was part of the team that designed COTA, wasn't he? I am not sure the tracks he designs race well, though.

So it isn't "dinosaur juice"?

Clearly we will never agree. And that is fine. It doesn't really matter as the odds of MotoGP coming to Barber are pretty slim and have nothing to do with what you or I think. But here is a basic comparison, the longest straight at Barber is 1600 feet, a bit over a 1/4 mile. The rinky-dink track by me, Summit point, has a better then half mile long front straight (2900 feet). Back in the old days the original Road Atlanta had a roughly mile long back straight (it is slightly shorter now). COTA back straight is 3326 feet long. The front straight at Road America is 4400 feet, and you come onto it fast. Barber is flowing, but fast? As I said, it doesn't matter. I don't think MotoGP would pick Barber as a second track to run a race at along side COTA. It is a better facility then most tracks in this country, I would agree with that. And having the museum on site like Indy has helps. But it lacks any decent length straights for bikes that are made to run 200+ mph. I agree Road America is not getting the race. But the track itself would be spectacular for a MotoGP race. I would go to see that. But it isn't likely to happen. It sounds like they would want a track in the north, and I don't think Putnam Park will be it, nor would Grattan or even Mid_Ohio. We really only have two tracks currently that could do it, and one is already hosting a race. Maybe someone will build a new track, that seems to be a popular way to go. Just please don't get Herman Tilke to design the track.....

I read that as well. Not sure if it is true or not, but it is not surprising if it is. The part I am not sure I believe is the part about someone signing Alex Marquez to ride their bike because they wanted him. I can believe Yamaha said no Marquez on their bikes, but it is hard to believe that someone wanted Alex Marquez on their bike. Especially at that time when Alex was horrible. What Gresini did makes sense, get Alex on their bike with the hope that Marc would follow. And it worked. Brilliant. But for RNF/ Tech3 / Petronas to sign Alex just for his talent, not for the hope of getting Marc? That seems hard to believe.

Barber was built to a high standard at the time it was built. But the layout is not suitable for MotoGP bikes. It is way to slow and tight. MotoAmerica Superbikes are really too big and fast for that track. Barber is a great track to ride on a motorcycle. Doing a track day there would be fun. But it doesn't race well. It is a hard track to pass on, and it is already hard to pass in MotoGP. It is a very pretty track, lots of money was spent on it. But as a race track, I don't agree that it is the best track we have. Watch a MotoAmerica superbike race there and watch one from Road America and tell me which one is more exciting to watch. And the issue with the location is what is around it, as well as how close it is to the already existing round at COTA. Having a second round there would not really expand accessibility of MotoGP races in this country that well. A race that is closer to people who aren't close to COTA would be better. Also, the track has to be able to hold enough people, I don't think Barber would hold enough fans (not that you could get enough fans to go there). Indy was doing well until they added the COTA race, the attendance at Indy was higher then COTA. But over 100,000 people in a track that holds 300,000 people is going to look thin. By motorcycle racing standards the attendance at Indy was huge, but by Indy standards it was light. In the end, Indy lost interest after they added COTA. I don't know if they would be interested in trying again. In fact, I am skeptical that we will get a second race. But if we do, there aren't a lot of options for where to hold it.

Yeah, Barbers is way to tight for MotoGP. Road America is probably the fastest track in this country. It's problem would be safety at the sort of speeds MotoGP bikes would run there. But it would be epic. Indy has a good mix of speed and safety for bikes, and it has a few options on how to run. It's main shortcoming is how flat it is. There is near zero elevation changes there. Both PittRace and NJMP would be interesting options, but would need serious money spent to get them up to spec. PittRace has a very nice flow to it with great elevation changes. And it is a nicer track then many US tracks. NJMP is in NJ, so it is flat and boring in that respect. Then there is VIR, they could run the full course, that would be pretty wild. But not really likely.

I don't know if they will have a second race in the US, but if they did, my favorite track would be Road America. It would take a lot of money to get it up to FIM standards, but the race would be epic. Realistically, Indianapolis is the only track that is close to standards and capable of hosting enough fans to make it worth while. The races they had in Indy were well attended and it was an enjoyable race to go to. It was also well located for people to get to. Barber could be possible, but it would be a bad location and a boring race. Plenty of decent tracks here, like NJMP and PittRace, but I don't see them as being up to MotoGP standards. Saying we will have a second race and actually having a second race are two different things.

If I need a motorcycle and there is an electric one that fits the bill, I would certainly consider it. If my experience with electric cars is anything to go by it could be serious fun. There is a basic attraction to motorcycles with internal combustion engines. But electric motors do have their advantages. They tend to be fast and very responsive without all the noise.

1/4 mile is still the standard. The two top fuel classes have switched to 1,000 feet, but all the other 1/4 mile classes still run a 1/4 mile. There are a number of 1/8 mile tracks out there, but around me it is still 1/4 mile is the standard. 0.035 is a nice reaction time. Good job @fotoguzzi

The Mike Rich pistons are designed to be the same weight as the original pistons, despite a higher dome. Since they are the same weight, they are drop in with no rebalancing required.

I don't know how many miles the OP's engine has on it, but the valves and valve guides seem to be made of some sort of hard cheese, maybe Parmesan. If you are replacing the pistons I would also makes sure the valves and valve guides are good. It would be a good time to have the port work cleaned up as well. You don't need the ports hogged out or anything, but cleaned up and matched well would be nice. The heads have to come off to do the pistons, so you might as well have the heads done.

For sure, if your rear tire isn't sexy, chicks won't even give you the time of day......

Pretty sure #4 is the adapter that connects #19 to the throttle body, not the part that connects it to the airbox.

I am not sure this thread is as full of people calling Tesla's unsafe as you seem to think it is. I have not called Tesla's unsafe in this thread. But I have pointed out that Tesla's "Auto-Pilot" is not a full self driving auto-pilot as some seem to think it is, and I also am aware that their "Auto-Pilot" seems to have issues with things like motorcycles, cyclists, and pedestrians, in some situations. I like safety features, but there are some fundamental flaws it seems with Tesla and their driver aids that allows people to put all the responsibility of driving on the "Auto-Pilot" system and then when a limitation of that system is exceeded the driver is not in a position to prevent something bad from happening. That would not be such a big deal if no one was getting hurt, or even if only the driver of the Tesla was getting hurt. Unfortunately this moments are resulting in innocent bystanders being hurt or killed. I had an episode a couple months ago where I was getting off the main road on an exit ramp. The ramp went up a hill, then at the top of the hill there was a traffic circle where halfway around the traffic circle the road I was getting on went. There were cars in front of me. I was on the left hand side of the exit ramp, slowing down as to match my pace with the cars in front of me. Suddenly I realized there was a car pulling up next to me on my right like I wasn't there. At first I thought the driver was just being a bad driver, but I realized she had no idea what was going on, she did not seem to be paying attention. I honked at her and waved to her to get her attention, she saw me then but seemed confused as to why I was along side of her. It was later I realized that she was probably relying on her car to drive, and she really had no idea she almost ran me over. She probably still doesn't know she almost ran me over. No doubt the safety features her car has are over all a good thing. But for me that day they almost got me injured or killed. Improved safety features on todays cars are a good idea, a step forward. But if they aren't designed to maintain the involvement of the driver they need to be better and smarter then they currently are. Or they can be designed to maintain the involvement of the driver. That seems to be where Tesla falls short, their systems aren't good enough but they also do not require the involvement of the driver. From a legal perspective, if a car (any brand) is being driven by itself and it injures or kills people who is responsible?

If I had a set of them I would install them when I had the engine apart for anything. It is a fair amount of work to install them, so taking the engine apart to install them for no other reason might not be the cheapest idea. Still a good idea, but better if the engine is having work done already. As I recall, the Mike Rich pistons improve the shape of the combustion chamber (the space between the cylinder head and the piston), improving the squish area, as well as increasing the compression ratio for faster and more complete combustion. I would not expect a massive difference, but on bikes I have done similar mods to I have experienced better throttle response and a small increase in torque. No earth shaking power, they aren't going to turn your V11 into a top fuel dragster, but an improvement none the less.

Look at the video I posted above. The ground level video does make it look like it was Marquez's fault. But keep watching and the video will show the overhead view where you can see they were side by side going in to the corner, with Marquez on the inside. At that point, it is on Bezzecchi to yield. At that point the line is Marquez's. I do not like Marquez, I don't like how he rides. He has no issues knocking others down, and this BS of getting a tow in qualifying (frankly, that is amateur hour shit) needs to stop. In all three classes they need to switch to single bike one lap at a time qualifying. It is even worse in the lower classes. But that doesn't matter when it comes to these wrecks. Whether you like him or not, neither one was him riding irresponsibly or dangerously. One was the fault of Martin, who literally ran him over, and the other was more of a racing incident with two racers going for the same line and the one on the outside loosing out. Again, that Bezzecchi and Martin say it was Marquez's fault isn't important. As one of the two racers in each of those incidents their "opinion" is biased. But Martin was trying to pass Marquez and instead he ran him over. By the time Martin was even partially alongside (he was never truly alongside) they were already in the corner and there was no gap on the inside for Martin to go through. And Bezzecchi already had Marquez side by side with him going into that corner. He could see he was there and failed to give him room. As the rider on the outside, that was going to end poorly for him.

We (the wife and I) are gearheads and love old school motorcycles like our Guzzi's. We also have a pretty extreme Jeep, a true dinosaur. But on the other side of the equation we have an EV. No self driving but it does have all the standard blind spot detection and front / rear collision warning. I like EV's, and I like safety features. I like TPMS sensors. But the issue in the original story here is someone mistaking Tesla's "Auto-Pilot" feature for an actual auto-pilot, it seems. It isn't that the Tesla was "unsafe", unless you count that it allowed the driver to operate it without actually paying attention, then it was "unsafe". It was that someone thought it was fully capable of driving itself when it is not. That seems to happen on a regular basis, often injuring or killing the idiot who made that mistake. The sad thing here is it wasn't the idiot that paid the price for his stupidity, it was a motorcyclist who, as far as we can tell, was just riding down the road on his Harley minding his own business. That could have been any of us (except for the part about it being a Harley), it was just a matter of dumb luck as to who it ended up being. The core issue here was two fold, Tesla markets its driver assist as an "Auto-Pilot", which it isn't (and they tell you it isn't) and the driver of the Tesla didn't safely operate his motor vehicle, instead thinking the Tesla could safely operate itself without his input (it can't). The end result is a motorcyclist is dead and both Tesla and this idiot should be held responsible but given the way things are I worry that neither will be held accountable in a meaningful way.

In the Martin / Marquez crash, it was Martin that took the risk. It was Martin that made the low odds risky move. I am not surprised Martin thinks it was Marquez's fault, but I am surprised that anyone else agrees with him. He literally ran over Marquez from behind. Marquez was racing Martin, cleanly I might add (that is not always a given with Marquez). It was Martin that ran into Marquez from behind. A basic rule in racing is that it is the responsibility of the rider behind to make a clean pass, to pass the other guy without hitting him or otherwise causing him to crash. In no way did Martin deliver on that. I am not a fan of Marc Marquez, he historically has been a dirty rider, a guy who would hit others (often knocking them down) while passing. Sometimes he even had room to make a clean pass, but would still hit the other guy as if to make a point. I don't like Marquez. But in this case Marquez did nothing wrong. He was doing what all racers should do, race as hard as he can for every position cleanly. That Martin was in the fight for the championship should not enter into it. I don't understand why Martin thinks he deserved special treatment, that others should have let him through. No matter, Martin had already lost any chance at the title with his earlier mistake in the race. So now it is just sour grapes. Instead of owning his mistakes he instead deflects and blames others. Lame. As to the Marquez / Bezzecchi crash have you watched the overhead video? That shows the two racers going into the corner side by side and Bezzechi turns in like Marquez isn't there. I get that Bezzecchi thinks it is the other guys fault, but that doesn't make it so. The overhead video seems to indicate otherwise.

I am not a fan of Marc Marquez, but I do respect his talent. The crash between him and Martin was 100% on Martin, Marquez did nothing wrong. No one out there, except Martin's team mate, was in any way obligated to let Martin through. Zarco was the only guy out there that might have a stake in helping Martin do better, and even that is debatable. All everyone else was obligated to do was to race Martin (and Pecco) clean. Marc Marquez did that. Sadly, Martin did not return the favor to Marc. Martin was behind Marquez by his own fault. It was not Marquez's fault Martin was behind him. That was on Martin. At that point, it was up to Martin to cleanly pass Marc Marquez. He was unable to do so, and instead he put Marquez on the ground in a vicious wreck. Martin gesticulating at Marquez after he wrecked Marquez was pathetic. He was the guy that put them both on the ground, not Marquez. Martin needed to be more patient, he had a faster bike then Marquez did. He should have been able to pass Marquez without putting one or both of them on the ground. Martin needs to grow up. Also, the crash between Marquesz and Bezzecchi was not as clear cut as Marquez taking out Bezzecchi from what I have seen. That looked to be a racing incident, with Marquez clearly up the inside of Bezzecchi but Bezzecchi tried to close the door when it was too late. The overhead shot of the crash seems to show it pretty clearly I am told.

Vinales knew who it was, pretty sure Martin passed him a couple times and Vinales slipped right back by, but even before then Vinales pit board would have told him who is behind him. But passing others is what Vinales is paid to do and what he enjoys doing. It is called racing. For Martin to suggest Vinales should have done anything less is crazy. About the only thing Vinales "owed" to Martin at that point was to race him clean and not risk putting one of the championship contenders on the ground. And Vinales did do that, he raced Martin clean but hard. Kudo's to Vinales. Martin was not going to win the title that day, it was out of his hands. But his performance wasn't worthy of winning the title regardless. The guy who deserved the title won the title. I am not sure Martin is ready to win the title. He seems like he still has some growing up to do.

I too use Wiki for basic knowledge. It is actually a good source. But some people like to dismiss it because it doesn't agree with their version of facts. But it is publicly reviewed, if someone posts info there that is wrong someone will flag it as wrong and it will be corrected. People like to do that.

Clearly "Mapping 8" did not mean "Let Pecco win". It was pretty clear that "Mapping 8" was the message meant to tell DiGi it was time to go, as that was exactly what he did when he received that message. Also, given the history of that message at the factory Ducati team it seems unlikely Ducati would have picked that message to tell DiGi to let Pecco win. I don't think Ducati is that stupid. If they did want to throw team orders into it I am pretty sure they would have used a different message. But it seems there was no team orders, and that is what Ducati has been saying all along. Well, they do admit to one team order, don't knock other Ducati mounted racers down. That was a team order Ducati found out they needed. I know people like a good conspiracy theory, but there is no there there. All you should get out of that is a chuckle, as it was funny.

Sounds like another case of someone treating Tesla's driver assist feature as an "Autopilot". Tesla keeps saying it is not Autopilot, but the confusion is understandable as they seem to promote it as such. They even refer to it as "Autopilot". But it is not. I hope that the driver and Tesla pay for killing a motorcyclist, but I have little faith they will. That could have been anyone of us. It is just a matter of dumb luck. If Tesla and the idiots that buy them don't start paying a price for this it will continue.