That tyre rule again (Spoiler)

Think on this. Friday and Saturday were 34-36 deg C, Sunday was 21 deg C
on a damp and drying track. Those slicks and cut slicks that they
changed to half way though the race had to come from their allocation of
dry tyres. The cut slicks had to be cut on Sunday morning. So who had
chosen a couple of tyres in their Thursday night choice that were
suitable for a cold drying track? My guess is that it's Capirossi as a
back up if Stoner has problems. De Puniet and Elias as a Hail Mary
decision. And Rossi and Hayden went out on slicks that were totally
*unsuitable*. Rossi didn't have brake problems, he had a front tyre that
didn't work under braking. And of course Guintoli had a bigger set of
options than anyone as they don't apply to Dunlop.

Meanwhile Espelita throws a cat among the pigeons on Saturday night by
proposing a spec tyre rule. Please, no. But the current rule isn't right
either. And I think the problem is that a small mistake in judgement on
Thursday night or a change in weather between Thursday's prediction and
Sunday's race can seriously affect the competitiveness of a rider.

 

There is such a thing as a dramatic abomination. And while the "style"
of the race was horrible to purists, the fact of the matter is that it
was likely quite interesting to casual fans Which creates a problem.
What image is Dorna trying to project? Considering they're in reactive
mode of late, trying to protect the Rossi dynasty seems counter-
productive at this point.

-jim

 

Just a passing comment, I have been riding for 40 years, and watching
racing for at least 30, and am a huge fan, with extensive knowledge of the
rules, and the various championships - I loved the race. And not just for
Stoner's win.

He raced on the same track as the rest of them. Teams made choices,
factories built bikes, streamlining, fuel, tyres, leathers and all sorts of
trick shitz. No matter what the rules are - dating back to the beginning -
ANY set of rules and circumstances will evoke from the many players a
multitude of varying choices and attitudes and actions and skills.

If we had a one make tyre rule, what would have happened when God made the
rain? People would make choices within the current framework, some would be
right by skill and or luck, some would be wrong thru stupidity or faulty
calculations - and at the end of the race ONE person would stand on top
spot.

I think all this tyre conspiracy/domination theory is a crock. If they all
had exactly 300 tyres to choose from, what would be the result? If they all
had exactly 3 tyres front and rear, what would happen?

If you removed the tyres form the many factors, do we move on to a single
manufaturer for the valves? Or the rims? or the Crankshafts?

There is a reason why it is a PROTOTYPE series. If no-one other than
Bridgestone competed - guess what - it would self level - both in market
terms and in real world effect. Other manufacturers would leave, and some
would say - geee lets spend MORE money and effort and kick Bridgestones arse
publicly and win some sales / kudos. If they didn't - I assure you at lease
one or more teams would eventualy turn to some tyre company somewhere in the
(perhaps mistaken) belief that if all the rest only have the stanrad
Bridgestones, mebbe our ChingShingWhaWha's will make that little bit of
difference and turn our KR218V into a winner (oopsie).

Still it would move on thru the process of weeding out the engineers,
riders, managers, dieticians, psychiatrists, and milkmen that go to putting
someone, just one, at the front at the end. And still there would be the
complainers and the theorists (yes - just like me), who would try and make
it something more than what it is - a result.

End of rant
for now

 

Far better to have some danger, some variety, some whimsy, and extract skill
from those sorry players who are filling spots 6-last every week. Do we
want F1 sobriety, lack of interest and general malaise?

Nup,

Bring back the open megaphone V8's and skinny tyres...

at least, take whatever actions would allow an unfettered lash at being the
best/fastest on the day - no matter what - no matter how - as long as at
least 1 wheel is on the ground for a reasonable amount of the race...

sigh

 

Indeed. It also surprised at least two teams (Yamaha and Repsol Honda)
who didn't have any tyres that were suitable for the conditions. Because
they were forced to make limited choices on Thursday night about what
the weather might or might not do on Sunday afternoon.

 

It's very simple: when you have unpredictable weather conditions and
limited choice, most people will be forced to gamble because they
don't have the option of covering all the contingencies.

This situation is very similar to what a club racer is faced with
during those conditions. Instead of swapping bikes, you're swapping
rims and you don't have the quick change equipment. So if the
conditions are still uncertain 15 minutes before the race, you just
have to gamble what tires you're using. And I've seen this happen,
where half the field will grid up with rain tires and half the field
will grid up with DOT's or intermediates. Inevitably, when things get
under way, 50% of the riders will be effectively out of competition.
You can't easily fix this situation at a club level, but the fix
_would_ be to have everyone be able to come in and hop on a
differently prepped bike mid-race, like the pros do now. Basically,
the solution is to allow competitors to have more back-up plans.

I believe the same thing can be said about the current MotoGP tire
rule. You don't need a spec tire, you just need to expand the maximum
number of tires riders are allowed to choose on Thursday. Or you can
make them choose their sets Friday instead of Thursday. Anything to
make their choice making more assured and lessen the possibility of
teams having to play tire craps.

 

According to the commentators Hayden went back out on cut slicks.


--

Andrew
00 Daytona
00 Speed Triple
71 Kawi H1
05 Kiddo

 

To some extent, but hardly entirely. In the old days, the race would
have gone off as wet, and riders would have to make some call on the
right tire, maybe a hard rain, maybe an intermediate or cut slick. But
if a cut slick, at least it would be of a rather soft compound,
appropriate for conditions. And they'd know that would be the choice
for the entire race, unless they came in for a costly change of tire.
There would be some guys shooting long odds because they can afford
the risk.

Now they all start on rains, but at some point have to make the call
on the fly about coming in for a bike change, and that was to either a
fairly hard slick or cut slick, given the Thursday choice and hot
weather predicted. The Bridgestones seemed to work better once off
rains, probably another indication of their wider range of
application. So we saw Rossi really struggling, Hayden making little
progress dispite his early switch, Edwards also way down field, all
'Stones on the box, Dunlop higher than they've been for years, West
charging back to 7th after a ride-through, 1st Michelin in 9th. And we
saw pretty much everyone doing a rather dangerous run through the pits
to change bikes, then tip-toing out on cold, mostly inappropriate
tires.

I think the rules have made all this more dangerous and more
unpredictable than it used to be. And the three guys on the podium
going in had only three podiums this year between them, no wins, and
were 8th, 11th and 13th in points. Has something like that ever
happened before?

 

Different decision at a different time but it is always a tricky call
with large margin of error. The effect is the same though in that you
end up with an unusal finish order albeit a different unusual finish
order.

 

In the few races we've had where they've swapped bikes, it feels like
there's a failure of management and comms between team and rider. The
teams should have been watching the very first people to pit to see what
they're split times were like. So it should have been obvious that
coming in early was a winning strategy well before the front runners
came in. So why didn't they put out pit boards telling them to come in?

Or. Did Yamaha, Repsol and Ducati (for Stoner) know that the dry tyres
they had available wouldn't have worked anyway? So opted to keep them
out for as long as possible on the deteriorating wets.

It does seem though that it's a rider decision when to come in with
little input from the team.

 

It's not that they can't do the quick change, it's that wet setup
brakes are different than dry setup brakes and you can't swap back and
forth without either moving or changing the brake calipers and/or the
brake pads.

-Dirt-

 

I know pits to bike radio is not allowed but what about pits to a
pit-board holder a few corners back from the pit entrance who can
signal the rider to come in on *that* lap? The rider should be aware
of what's happening (or been given a warning pit signal from the
normal station) so should be looking for it

This is what we do in endurance karting - were pits.to kart racing
*is* normally allowed but we are cheapskates.

 

Not only that, but the whole setup is different. At a club level, you
might see top guys setting up their bikes for rain or poor traction
with less preload and softer damping settings. At the pro level,
you're probably looking at a geometry change as well. Certainly, the
MotoGP bike will have different springs for the wet. In an interview
a few years ago, Jerry Burgess talked about wet setup -- everything's
different. To summarize, the bike is set up softer with with more
weight transfer allowance.