Sepang test musings.

Yes I know it's only early days[1], but it's interesting to see De
Puniet doing well in the Sepang test. Maybe Jerry Burgess was right
when he tipped him as a potential top MotoGP rider a couple of years
ago (maybe Burgess's endorsement was why De Puniet got hired, I was
certainly skeptical at the time, although he did seem to do a
reasonably solid job last season).

Nice to see Hopkins posting some good times as well - I was wondering
if moving to Kawasaki was a good move for him, as I felt the Suzuki's
probably had the edge on the Kawasaki. I suppose comparing Vermulen
and Hopkins this season will give some sort of guage on the relative
merits of the bikes.

Has Rossi been over hasty in ditching Michelin ? Perhaps he'll end up
forever chasing the best tyres, and always be one season behind

Melandri is only ahead of Guintoli and test riders - that can't be
good for him.

Edwards 2nd fastest - perhaps there's life in the old dog yet.

[1] Anybody care to to a statistical correlation between Sepang test
times and the subsequent season standings

Cheers,

 

It really is too early to be drawing any conclusions. We don't know
what tyres are been used or what parameters each team is focusing on.
Same with Stones vs Lins, this is only one track and even if the Lins
come out on top it may well be a different story next venue.
Edwards often practiced and qualified well last season then they gave
him 5 forward and one reverse gear for the race, thats how it seemed
so I'm not geting too excited with him being fast.
Lorenzo seems to be adapting well, whether that will turn into race
pace remains to be seen.

Still it's great t have the season upon us again and give us all
something to speculate over.

Paul

 

While Toseland seems to be just quietly getting on with it.

 

Heh Heh, I'm a Kiwi living in Scotland and call them Stone's and Lin's
with toungue in cheek. There was a thread last year and someone
commented on on the Bridgestones been called "Stones" saying next
thing Michelins will be called "Lin's" so I decided to try it for a
laugh, it is naff though I admit.

Paul

 

I agree entirely. About the only definite thing I would say is that
Melandri is struggling (relative to what might be expected of him).

Indeed. And on the final day Hayden took the top spot (on qualifiers).

Cheers,

 

Toseland said he'd get into the 2m1s on the last day and he did.

It's not just Melandri struggling. So are Elias and Guintoli. Guintoli
must be gutted to be 18 on 2min 3.628s when Jorge is up the other end in
3rd with 2m0.766s

 

Yes, but they're in the D'Antin team, and you'd have to put Elias and
Guintoli behind Melandri in terms of rider talent. Is D'Antin running
2008 Ducatis, or are they using last years bikes ?

Is there some friction between Guintoli and Lorenzo then ?

Cheers,

 

Lin's Lop's Li's and 'Stones, I occasionally hear that at tracks, but
it's mostly just shop talk...

 

There was talk about how now D'Antin had Alice sponsorship, they'd be
closer to the factory. But as usual it seems that all the satellite
teams are step behind the factory teams.

Only that he left Yamaha to join Ducati. And the 2nd string Yamahas with
Michelins seem to be doing rather better than OK. See above, the
Edwards-Toseland (and perhaps Lorenzo) Yamahas seem to be much closer to
Rossi's than say De Puniet's Honda to Hayden's.

 

What I found interesting was that Hayden didn't start using the pneumy
motors until the afternoon of the 2nd day, and then talked of power
deficit and older springy motors that don't seem to match well with
the new chassis. Today it was back to the old motor again in the
afternoon. That suggests Julian was right, Honda is behind on their
factory team motor development and may not be ready with it by the
start of the year, and certainly will still be trying to squeeze out
more power at that point, if not all year long as in '07.

The other thing is that it seems like Michelin is showing promise, and
at a track that should favor Bridgestone (although Pedrosa had a good
race there last year). But if correct, Stoner doing a 2:00.9 on race
tires is very quick, a second faster than pole last year. Seems like
most of the faster guys did mid-01s on race tires.

On qualifiers...

What those three have in common, other than being on Ducatis and being
250-bred, is that they're new on the bikes. Given the peculiarities of
that machine, I think it's too early to judge much. But if neither
they or Ducati can make the changes necessary, it could be a very long
year. Well, for Melandri anyway, I really don't think anyone is
expecting great things from D'Antin, are they?

 

Chris Paine asks:

I predict that is so. Betting against Michelin in MotoGP over
the long term is a bad bet. I bet.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2008/mgp/sepang-january-test/joliet/t98.htm
Exhausts in the back! Or maybe a closed system.....

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2008/mgp/sepang-january-test/joliet/t5e.htm
Does a pneumo motor really need to be that tall? Seems like a
packaging
problem for a two wheeler.

He'll start going backwards when the lights go out.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:12:06

They've already started chucking toys around as the engineers from one
team keep sneaking into the other garage.

Hard to see but there are plates over the exhaust ports during the
build.

Those photos on SuperBikeWorld are pure tech pr0n.

 

Julian Bond gets a woody:

You think there's a plate there hiding the exhaust ports? I can see
where the top of the cylinder is, next piece I'd expect is bottom of
the head. Either it or the next piece, with that tube on it, has to
have the exhausts if they are on this side. Is the tube sealing them
off? Maybe it's used for something as it's got a cap of some sort on
rider left. I think it's a cooling connection though, similar to the
one
at the bottom on rider left.

Pervert.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 

Howard Kveck points out:

I think you're right but... If you look at the other view,
taken from rider right, there's a wire that goes to maybe
a temp sensor? covered in blue. It is bolted really close
to what should be a manifold bolt.

Mighty tight in there.


Regards
Mike S.

 

I think all the V-4s are now using screamer engines. They all have 4-2
exhausts with equal length headers before the junction which suggests a
360 deg crank. Now Kawasaki is testing a screamer engine leaving Yamaha
as the only one on a big bang.