the first year of the 800s it wasnt even, the ducati engine was leaps and bounds ahead in terms of power, anybody who watched them in their first season (2003) will rember it killing everything else on the straights but just couldnt corner, shame ducati didnt listen to stoner when he said the bike needed to be redesigned 2 years ago
Thats true. The yam made the ducati look about as agile as a one legged cat trying to bury a turd in a frozen pond.
Your right, and yes they had the power in the loris early days, never forget him passing everybody on the straights, but when it went to 800s it levelled things and ducati got it right and the bike was awesome (with stoners help) but the others have caught up and taken over... My point was if it stayed at 800 ducati would have never closed the gap (just as they wouldn't if it stayed at 1000s before) - with the rule change it might just wipe the slate clean enough to have a competitive bike??
Hmmm... I didnt think ducatis problems were power, more the carbon airbox/chassis design making the whole package too stiff, thus making the front too vague. Rossi is older and wiser than stoner, nowt to prove, been there done that, so wouldn't push the bike beyond what he thinks it's capable of delivering and risking injury. Stoner though, well, he had to go for it really, and as mentioned, always complained about the bike even when winning, so clearly he knew he was riding on the ragged edge and wasn't happy about that. Power wise, cant remember anyone saying ducati were lacking.
yes i totally agree it will have helped to level the field out. as ducati are using the big bang engine which i think produces slightly less power than the screamer engine just imagine how much more power this years engine could have produced if they had chosen the screamer engine + the factory engine will probably have a few extra ponies over carol abrahams bike, i bet 260bhp wouldnt have been out of the question
At the risk of being flamed I found GP totally boring the last couple of years to day it was an F1 type procession couldn't be closer to the truth!
i have to agree with this, BSB has been 10x better since this new rule changes on a tiny budget compared to GP
Karel Abraham have they spoiled ducati's party again or is this just the 2011 bike painted in 2012 colours, im thinking its actualy last years bike as it doesnt look much different, certainly not 90% new anyway
Yea, I tend to agree with ya there. Ducati are certainly keeping everything up their corporate sleeve just lately. That's obviously because either a: they might just have an answer, or b: theyre shitting themselves
We only know 1 thing about the gp12 and thats a positive 1... 250+ bhp. I doubt they are crapping it about straight line speed. i think you have to give full credit to ducati to spend countless millions on redesign after redesign, then scrapping the entire bike and starting again. With the economy as it is ducati need this bike to work to get some of that money back. i honestly will be amazed if we dont see the ducati at the sharp end within the first 4 races
I really do hope so. Someone has to give stoner n lorenzo summat to think about. Its alright having 250 or even 300 hp but its how ya transfer that to the tarmac, and how ya contain it with regards to stopping, turning and handling. Lazt. Years yamaha (crutclows anyway) struggled with acceleration. Bugger all to do with power, it was the anti wheelie and traction control, ya could almost hear it 'stuttering'. Honda, in the past, have gone backwards trying to go forwards by seeking more horses, when all the riders wanted was a way to USE it. As I said before, the duke has the power, it just corners like a fookin electraglide, the yam in comparison seem to have a hinge in the middle!! IMO.
I will be interested to see if the new so called deltabox frame is a true deltabox style frame at all, as the last images I saw of the GP12 it had a twin spar alloy frame but with great bigh holes cut in the main side spars to allow the coolant pipework through. Apparently without designing totally new engine cases they had no other way of routing the coolant pipework. I think its a legacy of the trellis frame when it was easy for the pipework to pass through, but a great big hole in the side of a twin spar alloy frame does'nt sound the best solution to me and is definitely no deltabox copy. I won't be popular saying this but I honestly believe Rossi is on a downward trend in form and thats regardless of what bike you put him on. The likes of stoner and lorenzo are just plain faster than him today IMO, be it a combination of skill, talent, bravery or just shear desire but IMO they are faster than Rossi. I have just finished watching the DVD fastest and it reminded me of the terrible 2010 season Rossi had on his Yamaha M1 and how he was outclassed by Lorenzo all season long. There is a comment mentioned at the beginning and end of the fastest DVD and its something like "All that matters now, is the simple question, who's fastest now ?" for me its either Stoner or Lorenzo and I genuinely cannot see Rossi winning another title on any bike in the premier GP class, sad but true IMO. The game moves on and alll that matters is who's fastest now, time for people to take of the rose tinted glasses regards Rossi IMO.
I take ya points blade, but i'm also considering the fact that rossi insists he's still got the hunger. If he felt he couldn't win I believe he would get out while the going's good. I know he had a crap season but everyone knows the duke was shit whereas the others have progressed. Unless it's pure pride, and he wants to try turn ducatis fortunes around just because they are fellow wops. Only time will tell and either way, the racing needs to be better or else motogp will dissapear up its own arse.
