MotoGP

[KINDOY2]

MotoGP | Di Giannantonio signs with Ducati for two years and stays in VR46 | Motorsport

 

https://www.motors-addict.com/.../668a546cee06fdf9e00f680...

 

 

[p6x]

The Kazakh MotoGP has been officially cancelled for 2024. Substituted by another race on Misano in Italy.

Jack Miller is almost certain to move to PRAMAC next year.

Edited July 16 by p6x

[p6x]

A few facts that I gleaned from the latest GPMAG magazine:

The stats are correct up to end of June 2024;

1.042 seconds is the average time between the winner and the followers for the seven first GPs; this is the smallest gap ever recorded during the motoGP era (2002-2024).

Aprilia only needs 3 hours to rig down their pit stand after the race. The slowest teams take 4 hours. I would have preferred to have the figure for the rig up.

Maverick Viñales winning the Austin GP became a member of the 3 wins on 3 different machines; Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia. The others are:

-Mike Hailwood (Norton, MV, Honda)

-Randy Mamola (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha)

-Eddie Lawson (Yamaha, Honda, Cagiva)

-Loris Capirossi (Yamaha, Honda, Ducati)

600 grams is the rubber loss per GP of a racing tire (Barcelona 112 km)

The oldest winner of the top motorcycle racing category is Fergus Anderson; he won the Spanish GP when 44 years old. The youngest winner is Marc Marquez 20 years old COTA in 2013.

Did you know?

BREMBO the brakes specialist:

1961 company created initially a small mechanical workshop

1964 started to produce brake rotors for the automobile industry

1972 produced the first complete braking system for motorcycle for both Moto Guzzi, then Laverda.

1975 start to equip Ferrari's F1 racing cars.

1980 aluminium and carbon rotors, initially only for F1 cars.

today:

32 production sites over the world, 9 R&D centers.

15632 employees worldwide.

600 titles.

 

[p6x]

Francesco Bagnaia got married yesterday.

I don't remember who said it, but the writing on the wall is that you lose your competitive edge after you tie the knot. That you are no longer by yourself, influences your mindset. I am not talking girlfriends, but commitment after you are lawfully married.

How does being a hawk on track may be affected by the other party.

I often see families in the box, and I wonder how it affects or distract from the concentration necessary to achieve greatness.

[GuzziMoto]

That can happen, but it is usually more from having children then a wife in my opinion. I got married and it did not slow me down, but it can slow some people down. Children tend to be a bigger effect, though. But even there some are able to have children and not loose their edge. For me my wife helped me concentrate and go faster. But then she liked racing.

[Lucky Phil]

When Kenny Roberts was in a battle for the world title back in 80 or 81, can't remember which with Randy Mamola he said that when he saw Randy showing up at the track with his girlfriend at the time he knew he had the title won, lol. Good old "take no prisoners" Kenny R. Riders these days are racing from 3 years old esp in Italy and Spain. I don't think it makes that much difference anymore. Plenty of GP and WSB winners these days have a wife and kids during their racing careers (Johnny Rea, Alvaro Bautista, Maverick Vinales, Troy Bayliss to name a few) Getting married didn't slow down Casey Stoner either. The racing world has changed. A lot perform better with a partner/wife as the sport is now a pressure cooker and they need the emotional support. back in the 80, 90s and before that after the racing it was party time in the paddock and everyone get smashed together. Now it's whisked away with your family and PA.

Phil 

Edited July 22 by Lucky Phil

[p6x]

You may already know, but the 8 hours of Suzuka were won by Honda, and Johann Zarco, current LCR Honda rider, was one of the three riders involved in the success.

It seemed to have spawned some interest from Ducati, since Francesco Bagnaia hinted that he will be racing in the 8 hours of Suzuka next year too....

Will we see more MotoGP riders pitching in the 8 hours of Suzuka in 2025? Rossi and Colin Edwards have, and Casey Stoner too.

[GuzziMoto]

Word is Simon Crafar will be taking over from Freddie Spencer as the head steward next year. That seems like a good thing. It is a hard, thankless, job. But I feel that Simon will be better at it then Freddie.

https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2024/07/24/simon-crafar-to-become-chairman-of-fim-motogp-stewards-panel-from-2025/504347

[p6x]

2 hours ago, GuzziMoto said:

Word is Simon Crafar will be taking over from Freddie Spencer

Interesting information!

I was just reading an interview of Carlos Ezpeleta in which he was saying that he was going to keep being at the helm of DORNA/Liberty as he was still in good health.

The question popped up about the controversies of the current Stewards panel, and he said that Dorna had had no say in nominating Freddie Spencer, that it was the FIM and IRTA's exclusive prerogative. Which feels like a white lie since everyone knows that Dorna is always part of everything, including pilots' onboarding.

In any case, there have been too much criticism of the current panel for Dorna to ignore. Frankly, some of the decisions were really without any logic or rationale.

We shall see what happens... in any case, a change is much needed.

[Lucky Phil]

8 hours ago, GuzziMoto said:

Word is Simon Crafar will be taking over from Freddie Spencer as the head steward next year. That seems like a good thing. It is a hard, thankless, job. But I feel that Simon will be better at it then Freddie.

https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2024/07/24/simon-crafar-to-become-chairman-of-fim-motogp-stewards-panel-from-2025/504347

Simon Crafar is far too much of a suck for this job. His post race interviews with riders sound almost like a cringy public marriage proposal at times as he tries to suck up to them. There's not wishing to offend anyone and then theirs what Simon engages in come interview time. The concept of a professional straight forward question is not in his nature. In addition I've never and I mean never heard him criticise a riders action or manoeuvre on the track with regards to an altercation with another rider or an incident. He always plays the suckie sit on the fence guy desperate not to appear critical in case it gets back to the rider/s in question. The head steward needs to be firm but fair and nobodies fool, not interested in being "liked" by riders because unpalatable decisions for some riders need to be made. He's the last guy for the job. Spencer was rubbish at it as well, no consistency at all. MotoGP is turning into F1 anyway so it's going down the road of what happens off the track is going to swamp the on track performances. We now have the totally ludicrous situation where riders need to not only manage tyre wear but also drop positions and ride single file for a few laps to manage their front tyre pressure and the winner and place getters are now decided hours after the event when the powers that be review the tyre pressure data. This sort of thing is what makes F1 so tedious and it's now arrived in MotoGP. Popularity just ruins some things entirely.

Phil  

[audiomick]

15 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

... suck up to them....

For those not familiar with Australian vernacular, this might help:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy

I have the strong impression that Phil is not that impressed with the man in question...

[guzzler]

10 hours ago, audiomick said:

For those not familiar with Australian vernacular, this might help:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycophancy

I have the strong impression that Phil is not that impressed with the man in question...

A lovely dose of understatement Mick....

Cheers 

Ps he's bloody right about the bullshit rules of Moto GP and F 1 too...unwatchable!

[GuzziMoto]

Yeah, I would say Phil is in the not happy about this move camp. But many other people seem to have a different opinion of Simon Crafar, especially on the AF1 Forum I also frequent. I do not agree with Phil's assessment of Simon Crafar, but it's a free forum. We don't have to agree. Well, we do agree that Freddie is rubbish at the job and needs to go, I think. Time will tell how it works out.

[LowRyter]

I've seen plenty buffoonery at the GPs. Perhaps the worst actor treated with kit gloves was Marquez in '15.  I suppose Rossi had his way in the '00s with Biaggi, Gibernau and Stoner.  It seems it was a bit of give and take and Rossi largely came out ahead, I'm not sure I saw clear bias as much as Rossi just being better in conflict- no one had more skill than Stoner however.  Marquez really changed the whole deal, very aggressive, even dangerous, OTOH he has skill to pull it off, more ruthless than Rossi and more skilled than Stoner.  But from him it all escalated, now a good part of the field is as aggressive and now handful of riders are on his current skill level.  I can't blame Freddy a bit.  If Marquez was set down in '15, things might be different now.

Edited July 25 by LowRyter

[GuzziMoto]

I would agree, before Marquez riders were aggressive but they seemed able to keep things balanced. A give and take. With Marquez, he brought a Dale Earnhardt sort of mentality. He would be more aggressive with his passes then he had to be as a way, it seemed, to intimidate the other riders. Sometimes he would flat out knock the other guy down, even if there was room to make the pass cleanly. That way, next time they would give him more room knowing that otherwise they could end up on the ground. Now you have a generation of racers that model themselves after Marquez.

Another factor is, in my opinion, this trend of paving the runoff right up to the edge of the track. That adds an element of confidence, the guy knows even if he blows the corner he will still be on pavement and likely won't fall down. While I get paving the runoff area, I would suggest adding a strip of grass between the track and the paved runoff. Sure, a few guys may fall down in the grass, especially in the wet. But that is the risk of running off the track.

Freddie has lacked consistency and has no respect from the current racers it seems. It is a hard job, you are never going to please everyone. But Freddie seems to be pleasing no one. Simon is respected among the racers, and seems to understand racing. He seems to have a decent grasp of what is legit hard racing and what is over the line. I won't be surprised if I find I don't agree with some of the calls he makes. That should be a given. But I think he will make the right calls based on a good understanding of being a racer. His biggest hurdle may be putting aside his personal relationships with the riders, and avoiding any favoritism. But he seems well known and liked by most of the riders so perhaps that won't be an issue. Harder to play favorites when they are all favorites.