|
2014 World Champion? This poll is closed. |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Valentino Rossi |
|
13 | 19.40% |
| Jorge Lorenzo |
|
13 | 19.40% |
| Dani Pedrosa |
|
8 | 11.94% |
| Marc Marquez |
|
33 | 49.25% |
| Total: | 67 votes | ||
|
hayden. posted:Laughed hard at this. Race was lovely, probably most boring in a long time. Glad I didn't try to fly and go see it. I went. Just like last year, the only truly exciting race was Moto3. Moto2 was alright, and the GP was boring as hell. There were an unusual number of crashes this year, though. I was sitting at the turn 19 and lots of people were lowsiding or going off into the runoff there,but there was a huge Redbull sign held up agains the crash fencing so I never saw how the guys went down until the marshals were running out to check on the guys and pick up a bike. Edit: The race commentator also seriously sucks. He sounds like he is about to fall asleep. I wish we would import one of the English commentators, or someone with a little more passion for the sport. MetaJew fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Apr 14, 2014 |
#
?
Apr 14, 2014 05:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:57 |
|
|
Ben spies should be in the box every race. Fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2014 06:52
|
|
|
Totally agree with the Ben Spies stuff. Can't tell how great it is having an actual rider telling us about those guys out there who are riding. Love hearing about the technical stuff and what a rider is actually going through with each corner and techniques and stuff. Also the circuit of the Americas is mental and I love the 'slalom' section, looks really good with all the riders in a line transitioning from one to the other like some sort of centipede or some poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2014 21:56
|
|
|
Was Ben the guy with a Texan accent on the Fox broadcast?
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 00:37
|
|
|
hayden. posted:Was Ben the guy with a Texan accent on the Fox broadcast? The fox broadcast had two idiots jabbering for 60 minutes. Spies was not involved.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 03:11
|
|
|
I didn't think so but wasn't 100% sure. Glad it wasn't because they sucked. Weren't even getting riders' names pronounced correctly.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 03:55
|
|
|
I thought that was a British past-time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 04:13
|
|
|
What are you guys generally watching it on then? I thought bt sport had exclusive broadcast rights. Cant remember where I read that though
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 06:22
|
|
|
Naan Bread posted:What are you guys generally watching it on then? I thought bt sport had exclusive broadcast rights. Cant remember where I read that though  Generally a quick google will get you a stream of the BTsports coverage
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2014 19:16
|
|
|
BT needs to get Ben into the commentators booth more often. It was pretty obvious that he knew much more about motorcycle racing than either of the commentators but was kind of dry otherwise. It was cool to see just how quickly he could pick up on things that the commentators couldn't see (chatter, tires going off ect).
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 04:48
|
|
|
There was a survey sent out by CoTA after the race. This was one of the questions. Out of touch much?
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 04:50
|
|
|
No Bugatti or Koenigsegg? Out of touch indeed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 04:54
|
|
|
MetaJew posted:There was a survey sent out by CoTA after the race. This was one of the questions. Out of touch much? To be fair, they're probably asking for advertising purposes that don't care about people who are overly price sensitive about their car. You don't have to advertise Kias to enthusiastic motorists.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 05:20
|
|
|
KodiakRS posted:BT needs to get Ben into the commentators booth more often. It was pretty obvious that he knew much more about motorcycle racing than either of the commentators but was kind of dry otherwise. It was cool to see just how quickly he could pick up on things that the commentators couldn't see (chatter, tires going off ect). I absolutely loved having Ben in the booth, it was super informative. Good example was when Rossi was dropping off he pointed out how he looked uncomfortable and it may have had something to do with the front end.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 05:38
|
|
|
Spies was great in the booth. There's gotta be some way to appeal to American TV and show them how they could do a brit style broadcast with guys like Spies and Edwards. The old eurosport coverage and this new btsport coverage has been great and if we could have it with knowledgeable Americans that would be the poo poo. Spies: "What's gotta be nice to see is the Ducati going up the inside on a triple apex right hander" Commentator: "What did they do in the off season to improve so much" Spies: "Just make the bike better...." lol nsaP fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Apr 16, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 06:31
|
|
|
Even my girlfriend, who's knowledge of Ducati in motogp is "those red bikes that kinda suck" laughed at that exchange.
|
|
#
?
Apr 16, 2014 06:57
|
|
|
It was disheartening to hear Spies say "fail" after one of the other commentators misreported Rossi crashing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 05:06
|
|
|
I really enjoyed following MotoGP for the first time last year but by the end of it I was just confused and now I am further confused: Why the gently caress are the Repsol Hondas so much blindingly faster than all the other bikes? It seemed like it was closer last year, but it may be my imagination. Also how is Marquez so much faster than Pedrosa on the same bike?
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 14:38
|
|
|
Gozinbulx posted:I really enjoyed following MotoGP for the first time last year but by the end of it I was just confused and now I am further confused: In answer to your first question: Honda is currently the best developed bike, particularly surrounding their traction control software. These things run in cycles. A few years ago, it was Yamaha that was unbeatable. As for Marquez? Simple answer is; the kid is an alien. Absolutely fearless, but he's also getting more and more mature every race. That means he makes less mistakes. Absolute confidence and riding with intellect means that he's very very hard to beat. In terms of talent, Jorge Lorenzo is his equal, and might even be a smidgen better because he's got more tricks at his disposal due to his greater experience (really a matter of opinion), but his bike isn't as good. Pedrosa is very quick. Unfortunately he's been racing against the best riders the sport has ever produced; Rossi, Lorenzo, Marquez (and previously; Stoner). He's also got a knack for getting injured badly and not recovering quickly. In motorcycle racing, healing time can have a massive impact on your competitiveness. Those who get back to fighting fit sooner, score more points. I also suspect that he's not as confident as he used to be. I have no doubt that when Casey Stoner retired, he saw his opportunity to be number one and finally claim that world championship. Then some punk named Marc Marquez came along and claimed the championship in his first year. That'd knock anybody's confidence.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 14:46
|
|
|
I didn't even know there was traction control in MotoGP. That explains alot. Thank you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 17:37
|
|
|
darth cookie posted:In answer to your first question: Lorenzo is nowhere near as good a rider as marquez or stoner, not currently. Maybe he can mature and change, but he's just not at the same level. Interestingly enough, Spies thinks that Stoner is a much better rider than Marquez...I'm inclined to agree, unless Marquez can hop bikes/manufacturers and wins a championship out of the gate.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 17:41
|
|
|
Traction control is a major reason the modern MotoGP bikes perform as well as they do.. we'd see a lot more rider mistakes without it because even as skilled as they are the margin of error is minuscule so computers are necessary to keep the machine pointed the right way. Compare with Moto2 which has the electronics dramatically reduced.. they're frequently sliding all over the place.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 17:45
|
|
|
Traction control also really helps manage power delivery when you're getting that much power out of an engine and running it lean as hell to get the fuel to last the race.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 18:41
|
|
|
I just started watching MogoGP last year, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. I'm still on the fence regarding technology like traction control, wheelie prevention, seamless gearbox, etc. On the one hand, manufacturers pour buckets of money into R&D, which (eventually) is good for everyone. It's like how war yields amazing inventions. We get to see better bikes, shorter lap times, and Faster Moving Things. On the other hand, this competition we call MotoGP is becoming less about the rider and more about the technology. On a long enough time scale, we might as well just replace riders with robots. I've come to realize that MotoGP is usually less exiting than Moto2 and Moto3, as all the bikes and riders just get into their normal positions, and unless something happens, that's how they're going to finish. If the riders pick the optimal apex of every turn, every time, it just becomes "who has the better bike". There's a part of me that thinks, to really identify who is the best racer, everyone should ride identical bikes. (I'm partly playing devil's advocate here, and I'm not even sure I believe my own words yet... just thinking out loud.) What do the more seasoned MotoGP watchers think?
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 18:47
|
|
|
All I can say is don't try to get into Formula 1. GP racing is a business first and a competition second.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 18:56
|
|
|
I think in principle if a rider can do something but a computer does it for him instead, that's bad for racing. Generally, anyway. Obviously we don't want riders having to move a lever while they're accelerating to control the ignition advance manually, which they probably did at some point in history. And some kind of restrictions to keep costs down makes sense, so that the podium in every sport isn't just RedBull RedBull RedBull. How you actually write that into a rule book I have no idea. Seems like every major motorsport fails when trying to implement those principles.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 19:41
|
|
|
My solution is to watch prototype racing for the world records and fanfare, then attend local racing events to get the real oil-under-the-fingernails type of racing. Go to a lemons or chump car race sometime, it's a heap of fun. Not sure if there's any motorbike equivalents out there but I imagine there must be.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 19:53
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Lorenzo is nowhere near as good a rider as marquez or stoner, not currently. Maybe he can mature and change, but he's just not at the same level. epalm posted:I just started watching MogoGP last year, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. The people in charge agree with you because in 2016 everyone is going to be on a spec ECU with spec software, and more importantly they will be racing with 4 more liters of gas. Honda is trying to spend everyone into submission with $100,000 gearboxes that need to be rebuilt every race and $70,000 torque sensors to go with them so they can save literally a gram of fuel on corner entry and end up with more gas then everyone else to accelerate. That advantage is going to go away once people with normal gearboxes have fuel to spare to rev the engine to smooth out corner entry. GPS individual corner engine mapping will also be going out and I'm sure a bunch of other super technical things that I don't understand with the software programing. Silly season talk already, but I would love to see Lorenzo and Pedrosa swap teams. Danny's stature seems more suited to a bike that's built for being smooth instead of the more physical Honda, and I would love to see Marquez and Lorenzo on the same bike.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 21:36
|
|
|
The fact of the matter is trying to create parity by going 'spec' everything just means that Honda/Yamaha will figure out new ways to spend their budgets. Look at F1 when the engines/tires were frozen and they just proceeded to spend everything on aerodynamics. The easiest/cheapest way to tighten up the fields is to nerf the tires. The bridgestones (when they don't fall apart) perform at such a high level it's very hard for anyone that isn't the best of the best to compete. Look at a race circa 2006 and circa 2014 - a hell a lot of the performance is down to just how amazing the tires are now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 22:06
|
|
|
BitcoinRockefeller posted:The man with more wins then Marquez last year on a slightly inferior machine, no where close to the same level. He has sabotaged his championship hopes this year by being a big gay spanish baby about his tires not working the way he likes but these two first races have been the biggest mistakes he has made since 2009 when he cracked trying to keep up with Rossi quote:Season Class Motorcycle Team Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd Lorenzo posted:2013 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 Yamaha-YMR 17 8 14 4 2 330 2nd Marquez posted:2013 MotoGP Honda Repsol Honda 18 6 16 9 11 334 1st Lorenzo might have better racecraft, but Marquez is unquestionably faster - 8 poles to Lorenzo's 4, and 11 fastest laps to Lorenzo's 2. Lorenzo has been riding the M1 since 2011 - he's got experience, one of the better bikes on the grid, a known history with the bike, the team, his crew chief, etc. Marquez won in his rookie year on a bike he'd never ridden before, in a class he'd never ridden before, on a chassis he'd never ridden before, from a manufacturer he'd never ridden before, to be both the first rookie in 35 years to win a GP championship and the youngest GP champion ever. Over the last 4 years, he's won 3 championships (125, 250, MotoGP - all on different bikes), and taken second in one (Moto2). Since 08, Lorenzo's been 4th, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, all in MotoGP, Lorenzo has never won a 125 championship, has 2 250 championships from 06, and has stuck with one manufacturer since the beginning of his time in GP. Frankly, if you let Marquez run 4 years on the same team and chassis, I don't think anyone would be able to touch him until he decided he was done. Same with Stoner, if he hadn't sunk his own ship by thinking GP was all about riding motorcycles. Basically, it shouldn't be possible for any rookie to win a GP, ever, much less set the majority of pole positions and fastest laps. Lorzeno doesn't compare to Marquez. Stoner does, maybe, MAYBE, Bayliss could have (only wildcard to ever win a MotoGP), but there is no one out there like Marquez right now - he's insanely fast and only looks to be getting better.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 23:03
|
|
|
The other side of the traction control nanny stuff is that you don't see the massive highsides and consequent awful injuries nearly as often any more. I'm not a fan of watching riders get medevac'ed off or the late-season competition being all about who's less broken.n8r posted:The fact of the matter is trying to create parity by going 'spec' everything just means that Honda/Yamaha will figure out new ways to spend their budgets. Look at F1 when the engines/tires were frozen and they just proceeded to spend everything on aerodynamics. The easiest/cheapest way to tighten up the fields is to nerf the tires. The bridgestones (when they don't fall apart) perform at such a high level it's very hard for anyone that isn't the best of the best to compete. Look at a race circa 2006 and circa 2014 - a hell a lot of the performance is down to just how amazing the tires are now. The tire thing actually does sound like a good idea, certainly better than Dorna's current rev-limiter one. Especially if it lets the tires last a full loving race. I'm not a fan of spec tires in the first place but if you're going to have them, and you need a lever to slow down the pack, it seems a reasonable one. Again the TC etc should keep it from being an outright safety issue.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 23:25
|
|
|
Bayliss was beaten by his teammate all three years he was in motogp so I don't even know how you can say he had some blazing speed that Lorenzo will never possess. There's a reason teams are so reticent to take superbike riders over 250/moto2 prospects, they've underperformed big time. And  Bayliss did not win as a wild card, he was a replacement for Sete Gibernau. We'll see how things go in the future because there is every possibility that Honda puts out a stinker of a bike like they had for the first few years of the 800 formula, or like Yamaha's from 2011 when they stopped development and Jorge rode it to 2nd in the championship despite being outclassed by Honda. Staying with the same manufacturer is no guarantee of anything and Lorenzo maybe needs to pull a Lewis Hamilton and switch when the right opportunity presents itself. And obviously Marquez is an incredible talent. I have doubts about how long he's going to be able to maintain his riding style because eventually he's not going to bounce, and he's probably going to win this year unless he hurts himself, but I look forward to the next few years when there is less technical wizardry for fuel use and the Honda's advantage is blunted a little bit. BitcoinRockefeller fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Apr 17, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 23:45
|
|
|
Snowdens Secret posted:The other side of the traction control nanny stuff is that you don't see the massive highsides and consequent awful injuries nearly as often any more. I'm not a fan of watching riders get medevac'ed off or the late-season competition being all about who's less broken. There's an article on Motomatters about the tire rules for Australian Superbike (and I'm sure other places as well) that make it sound really good. It's a tire war with I think three manufacturers but there is a price cap per tire so you can develop for your bike but unless Bridgestone or Michelin want to take a huge bath they have to keep tire prices to a few hundered per. MotoGP could really use a tire war again, it's been an issue the past few years first with Honda's chattering and now Yamaha's edge grip problems and the spec tire certainly hasn't helped Ducati one bit. They need to be able to develop in different ways per team.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2014 23:51
|
|
|
BitcoinRockefeller posted:Bayliss was beaten by his teammate all three years he was in motogp so I don't even know how you can say he had some blazing speed that Lorenzo will never possess. There's a reason teams are so reticent to take superbike riders over 250/moto2 prospects, they've underperformed big time. And Yes, that's what a wildcard is - a stand in for an injured/absent rider?  The Ducati was a totally poo poo GP bike. Still is. Stoner and Bayliss are the only people to put that bike on the top step, ever, which is the only reason I'd put them in the same class, potentially. The question is if Marquez is going to mature as a rider fast enough to crash less before he gets seriously injured. Also, I don't think Honda or Yamaha has a significant advantage - They pretty much fill the top 5 equally every year. Honda wins under Marquez and Stoner, and Yamaha wins under Lorenzo. When it comes to the aliens, they are the determiners of if the bike works, not the bike itself. Stoner somehow made the Ducati work, which no one else was ever able to do (except, of course, Bayliss). Also something that made me lol on Bayliss's wiki page: quote:His right hand was momentarily caught under the motorcycle during the crash, and the injury required the eventual surgical removal of a testicle [3] and of the intermediate and distal phalanges of his little finger. Bayliss' injury prevented him from competing in the second Donington race. He finished the season fourth overall. Basically, when Bayliss wasn't injured, he was a crazy good rider.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 00:01
|
|
|
Wildcards are just a guy who is riding who's not usually there, replacements are filling in for someone, the FIM classifies them differently for certain things but there is no real difference hence the . And spare a thought for poor old Loris Capirossi who took 7 victories on both 990 and 800 Ducatis and came 3rd in the 2006 championship by less points than a race win. Also LOL Troy Bayliss cheater Ducatis 2 of three championship years. I have no real opinion of Bayliss other than he didn't do poo poo in MotoGP
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 00:25
|
|
|
BitcoinRockefeller posted:And obviously Marquez is an incredible talent. I have doubts about how long he's going to be able to maintain his riding style because eventually he's not going to bounce, and he's probably going to win this year unless he hurts himself, but I look forward to the next few years when there is less technical wizardry for fuel use and the Honda's advantage is blunted a little bit. He's going to be bouncing less and less as he gains experience. He's going to get better at finding the limit without crashing as he matures, and if that happens, nobody is going to beat him for a long time, so long as he maintains his focus. I remember watching him in Moto 2 and MotoGP and it was a thing to behold. I don't think I ever saw any cracks due to championship pressure, and he's very very patient during the races when he has to be. Way more than you'd expect for a lad in his teens/early twenties. As for the debate about traction control and electronic aids; At the MotoGP level, I'm in favor of it. The bikes are so absurdly fast that I think its sensible to have it. There is still plenty of rider skill involved, and you can still bin it if you make a mistake. But working electronics make it far less likely to have the kind of accident that cripples or kills (less highsides). It's odd, because I also follow F1 and I wouldn't tolerate ABS or traction control in that sport. I guess it comes down to the fact that an F1 driver is reasonably protected by the design of their car, whereas a bike rider only has his leathers and his helmet if it all goes wrong. Carth Dookie fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Apr 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 01:23
|
|
|
I'm not a fan of the GPS stuff or other tricks for the bikes to automagically change their TC and who knows what else based on track position / turn-by-turn, but Dorna's not talking about getting rid of that anyway.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 01:40
|
|
|
Yeah the gps stuff is pretty lame. I'm all for keeping riders right side up but programming in the ability to get perfect power and braking for each turn isn't really related to that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 01:45
|
|
|
BitcoinRockefeller posted:GPS individual corner engine mapping will also be going out and I'm sure a bunch of other super technical things that I don't understand with the software programing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 01:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 20, 2024 00:57 |
|
|
Nitramster posted:I really hope this is true, if anyone has any official stuff about this I'd love to read it. We've been seeing a lot of problems with it especially the opener this year. Is this what happened to Rossi at CotA? No, Rossi's front tire just took a poo poo because they had a setup that worked it too hard, same as Bradel and Iannone. That is what happened to Crutchlow at Qatar though. I wouldn't bet my life on the GPS mapping being out in 2016 but I am pretty sure I heard it on BT Sport or Neil Spalding's Twitter or something. It does make sense that it wouldn't be in the spec software though unless they are going to standardize what GPS units they can use.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 02:11
|
|