Valentino talks (BIKE - UK)

[peter f]

Well, the greatest ever said about MotoGP:


“…motoGP has changed very much, too much for me. Very much it is the tires and also the electronics. Maybe 50/50.

We made the first season of MotoGP without traction control. I tried the first system with Honda at the end of 2002. What they had then is one per cent of what we have now, but when I tried the first time I went back and I say “****, noooo”, I mean with this system everybody can ride the bike. That was 1%, now we have 100% so the difference is massive.

After 2002 we made a big, big step with the electronics, not just in acceleration, also in braking. You remember the braking in 2002…big slides into the corners. Now, in braking the bike stay straight because the engine brake sub-system helps a lot.

With the 500s and 990s, exit from Coppice was very hard work because wheelie, change gear, wheelie, change gear, always controlling the bike. Now is full gas, brmaaaa!!!

You have the anti-wheelie and you go, it is for this reason that the bikes are not close during the races because the rider cannot make the difference any more. With electronics every rider (Casey, do you copy?) can use 100% of the drive.

The style of riding during the races has changed very much since the 500s and 990s, Before it took tree laps for the tire to arrive at the right temperature. After that you had 5-6 laps with 100% grip and after that you start to slide so you have to change your style. But the biggest step the second step happened usually 7-8 laps to the end of the race. During these laps the bike becomes a completely different bike.

Now, you have max grip from the first lap, so you can ride the first 4-5 laps at 99%. After that you have a step, but if before the step was like this (i.e he means big), now is like this (i.e he means small), so you don’t have to change your style and you have 15 laps. Maybe during the last 5 laps there is another small step…but more or less the riding style is the same.

Now the computer and the tires help a lot, so when a guy is fast, he can be constantly fast, so all the guys can ride at maximum pace all the time, so everyone stays apart.

Before, every rider had a part of the race when he was fast, so positions always changing, more overtaking. A lot of the time with 990s and 500s we made a setting that I knew would be worse in the first laps but would be better in the last laps. Now, the same setting works all the race.

So now, everything is more flat for the rider and the engineer because the bikes are too good and the tires are too good. For sure the electronics in general are very bad for the motorsport, is very good for safety but very bad for the sport. It is the same in football because now they make the ball lighter to make more goals.

The problem in motoGP is that the factories make the rules and of course they want their engineers to make their job to develop the bikes…”

[Kieran R1100S]

So what's he saying!

[cageyar]

Originally Posted by Kieran R1100S

So what's he saying!

I believe he is saying that the electronic controls on current MotoGP motorcycles is taking the rider and "riding" out of the equation.
At Indy last month, the application of traction control was prevalent all around the track. Everytime Rossi, for example, accelerated out of an apex, the traction control was activated making the staccato hammering sound all around the track.
They don't really sound like motorcycles in the traditional sense due to the constant TC action.
On the back straight, at the end of each session, the riders stop and wait for other riders to arrive and then they "practice" starts seemingly for crowd entertainment as much as for practice. The technique looks as it always has:
Lean over the front wheel and launch controlling it with clutch and throttle. Now, it looks more like, lean forward, rev to rev limiter and dump clutch. Then the TC fires for 50-100 yards, first constantly, then less with each shift, clearing out once they are into the upper gears.
Not that he needs my confirmation, but Valentino is 100% correct. Cut back on the electronic controls and let's get back to "riding" the bikes.

[Guest24]

+1 cag. The riders skills are less a factor than pre-traction control, same tyres yada yada yada. But, on the other hand, only Stoner has been able to make the Ducati behave the way it must to win. Nicky is still trying to get there.

Back straight start drag racing and AMA rolling starts. All for the crowd but not traditional motorcycle racing.

[peter f]

Originally Posted by Kieran R1100S

So what's he saying!

Salutes the old days I'm afraid (Men only apply please).

Additionally, outlines an era (soon) where MotoGP and that...er..."exciting" F1...thing could be the very same aspect of the very same boring "sport" (but that's expected since the very same company holds the ad rights for both).

Moral: too late.

[R111S]

I'm all for technical progress and safety...the rider still has 50% input if I understand VR correctly.

If it's as easy to ride fast as VR says then why aren't more riders at the front?

Maybe he would like to keep his skill advantage intact versus being eroded by electronics on competitors bikes?

If the bikes get too easy to ride he'll have to work that much harder to stay ahead...no?

I think he still has control over the following:
1. Take the fastest line in a curve.
2. Brake at the latest possible moment.
3. Control body position to enhance the situation at hand.
4. Select the correct gear for the situation at hand.
5...?

I observed VR make a wrong line into the corner just before he crashed in the next corner...can he blame the electronics or himself for this?

[signit98]

Rossi needs to stop crying... times change and the ones who adjust the quickest are the ones who usually have a chance to mix it up... he is still right there, just with a couple other guys breathing down his neck. That ought to make him happy...

But I guess at some point, enough is not enough anymore...

Yeah, the good old days of the two-smoke bikes... they are gone... as are the bikes... the way of the dinosaur. Never really any good for the street anyway... at least not in 90% of the applications for 98% of the riders out there.
Sure they were harder to ride and I loved mine when I had them... but I do not miss them... not a bit!

That, of course is just MHO... much Rossi has his... just when I started to care for the guy, he turns into a little girl!

[Herb]

Originally Posted by signit98

Rossi needs to stop crying... ... just when I started to care for the guy, he turns into a little girl!

Its quite a long article and if you read it all in context it never sounds like a whinge, just his opinion on the state of his sport.

This is not an article from a has been, or a never was. Its from a multiple champion still racing at the top of the sport.

[sgoodwin]

Rossi rules and could outride you girly men with a moped!

[peter f]

Originally Posted by sgoodwin

Rossi rules and could outride you girly men with a moped!

Probably, but we are far more sexy (according to my Scientific Research - N34)