Suzuki testing

And I do think it takes more than money to make a

Something that's been puzzling me. The USA Suzuki team recently did some
testing. But they were completely on their own. Suzuki MotoGP weren't
there and neither were Alstare (Kagayama, Corser) or Rizla (Reynolds,
Smart). Those three teams are now tied together by having Paul Denning
as a common factor. That's not to say he's directly involved but he
clearly knows all the players. So are the USA team off to one side? Or
is this just a question of timing and there's nothing to read into it.

 

Only that they're an hour away by train (across the channel) and
Kagayama is there after two (traumatic) years working for Denning.

How the hell does this all work? Is Yoshimura part of the factory? What
actually gets passed from the factory to Yoshimura? Part finished stock
bikes? Or finished race bikes? Or does the question not make sense
because we're talking about next door buildings.

My understanding of the Rizla bikes is that they are built in the UK
with some parts (gearboxes, swingarm, throttle bodies) being supplied by
the factory. So how is the Yoshimura team leading development?

I just find the whole thing odd. The GP team, and the BSB team are both
based in the UK. Alstare are just across the channel. They've been the
official WSS team for several years and were the official WSB team up
till the year before last. It's hard to imagine they don't all talk to
each other. But we're supposed to believe that the other major team in
the world talks only to the factory and is leading development?

 

This seems to be the nature of racing. Even when there's no direct
competition, a lot gets kept close. It feels like it's not necessarily
good for business though.

Now imagine if they were software geeks! You'd think that the race
engineers of each of Suzuki's (or Ducati, or Honda) teams would have a
private secure email list and IRC and would be talking constantly about
problems and solutions they'd found. Of course, this type of
communication isn't the Japanese way. But you'd expect Ducati with their
TPG backers and they're embracing the web to do this. Maybe they do.
Austin, Monstermob, Fila and the factory should be constantly talking to
each other.

Considerably harder but now try and imagine this happening with the
riders. eBoz, Laconi, Toseland, Emmett building their own private
communication back channel? Mat, Aaron, Reynolds, Smart, Kagayama,
Corser? Yeah, right, as if. But they should.