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Bayliss, The Free Agent
by staff
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
For the first time since the mid-1990s, Troy Bayliss is not under contract to a manufacturer.
image by fabby
Three-time World Superbike champion and former Grand Prix winner Troy Bayliss recently let it slip on his Twitter feed that he's currently out of contract for the first time since the mid-1990s. Bayliss has had a personal services/development contract with Ducati since he retired.
Bayliss retired after the 2009 WSBK season, it is said, under pressure from his family, who wanted him to exit the racing game with no major health issues. Bayliss (43) lost a finger in a race crash and survived a few big moments that would leave a mortal swearing off racing forever.
Publicly and privately, Bayliss has, since his first day of retirement, in part regretted the decision to stop racing. He's talked about a comeback several times, and tested the Ducati MotoGP bike and assisted with the development of the new Ducati 1199 Paginale.
A near constant stone in Bayliss' retirement boot has to be the amazing success that Carlos Checa has enjoyed on the Ducati in WSBK. Checa has been thrown down the road harder in his career than Bayliss (Checa was struck blind from a race crash once) but at age 39 the Spaniard won the 2011 WSBK title on a Ducati.
For whatever reason, whether it be force of nature, pressure from his family or a refusal by Ducati to let him make a comeback, Bayliss has inevitably always backed away from a real comeback effort.
Most riders don't want to leave the racing game with gas still in the tank, and what frustrated Bayliss—from the day he retired, driving to the Lisbon airport—was that he was so close to toppling Carl Fogarty from the all time WSBK win list.
At Imola 2009, Bayliss, ensconced in the Xerox transporter, drank a beer and looked out at the paddock from a window, saying it was very difficult for him to sit at the track and hear Superbikes in the background, knowing he could not join them. "I'm never coming back here," Bayliss said bitterly, although he's come to the track on PR duty several times since.
It's doubtful Bayliss would come back now, but that his personal services contract with Ducati seems to have expired does make one wonder how Bayliss feels about it.
by staff
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
For the first time since the mid-1990s, Troy Bayliss is not under contract to a manufacturer.
image by fabby
Three-time World Superbike champion and former Grand Prix winner Troy Bayliss recently let it slip on his Twitter feed that he's currently out of contract for the first time since the mid-1990s. Bayliss has had a personal services/development contract with Ducati since he retired.
Bayliss retired after the 2009 WSBK season, it is said, under pressure from his family, who wanted him to exit the racing game with no major health issues. Bayliss (43) lost a finger in a race crash and survived a few big moments that would leave a mortal swearing off racing forever.
Publicly and privately, Bayliss has, since his first day of retirement, in part regretted the decision to stop racing. He's talked about a comeback several times, and tested the Ducati MotoGP bike and assisted with the development of the new Ducati 1199 Paginale.
A near constant stone in Bayliss' retirement boot has to be the amazing success that Carlos Checa has enjoyed on the Ducati in WSBK. Checa has been thrown down the road harder in his career than Bayliss (Checa was struck blind from a race crash once) but at age 39 the Spaniard won the 2011 WSBK title on a Ducati.
For whatever reason, whether it be force of nature, pressure from his family or a refusal by Ducati to let him make a comeback, Bayliss has inevitably always backed away from a real comeback effort.
Most riders don't want to leave the racing game with gas still in the tank, and what frustrated Bayliss—from the day he retired, driving to the Lisbon airport—was that he was so close to toppling Carl Fogarty from the all time WSBK win list.
At Imola 2009, Bayliss, ensconced in the Xerox transporter, drank a beer and looked out at the paddock from a window, saying it was very difficult for him to sit at the track and hear Superbikes in the background, knowing he could not join them. "I'm never coming back here," Bayliss said bitterly, although he's come to the track on PR duty several times since.
It's doubtful Bayliss would come back now, but that his personal services contract with Ducati seems to have expired does make one wonder how Bayliss feels about it.
Edwards speaks ahead of Sepang
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Colin Edwards is busy preparing for the 2012 MotoGP™ season which will see him aboard the new NGM Mobile Forward Racing team CRT bike. The Texan spoke with motogp.com ahead of the first test of the season at Sepang (January 31 through February 2) regarding his new ride.
How is the shoulder recuperation going?
"It’s good, it’s not 100 percent, but I woke up the other morning and my right shoulder hurt more than my left and that’s the one I didn’t have surgery on! Obviously I tweaked both of them, the right one needed surgery and the left one is a little bit loose, but it’s good, I am out riding here at Boot Camp and training and getting everything in order."
Based on feedback you gave your team at the first test in Jerez, what changes do you expect to see on the Suter-BMW bike at the Sepang test next week?
"The main thing is the electronics. The bike has a lot of potential, but we are so held back right now we can only ride the bike at 65 percent because the electronics are not anything like what I am accustomed to and they aren’t consistent enough. With things like picking up the throttle smoothly and the traction control, it’s almost like having to reinvent the wheel. I’ve never worked with the Bosch system or Magneti Marelli before, but there were a couple of their guys at the test in Jerez taking notes, and from what I know they fulfilled all of my request as far as what we need at this next test."
Did you have any other requests for changes to the bike?
"Anytime we made even a little change to the electronics, it made the bike better as an overall package, even though we never changed any geometry settings. Anytime you make the electronics better you make the bike better. I wasn’t even at a point where I could say, OK the chassis needs this, the swingarm needs that, because we couldn’t get there. Until you can ride the bike at 100 percent, you are going to go in circles if you start changing things. You first need to fix the electronics, that is the main thing."
Sepang is a long and demanding circuit. What would an acceptable gap between a previous good lap time of yours there and the best time on the Forward Racing bike at this test?
"Well first, going back to Sepang is going to be emotional enough. I think it’s important to go there and get back on the track after what happened a few months ago. And I am looking forward to getting back on the track and getting rolling like we normally do. I’m not worried about what kind of gap there will be; I’m more worried about being able to ride the hell out of a motorcycle. If I’m held back by electronics or something, then that is where we need to work. I’m going out there and ride the bike as fast as I possibly can and see what happens. If I had to give a number, I’d be really happy with a time of 2’03 or 2’02. Can we do that? I’ll just have to wait and see."
You are the only rider aboard a Suter and the only rider with a BMW engine in the paddock, does that help or hinder you?
"I don’t mind being the only rider, as long as the work gets done. I don’t think it’s difficult to develop a bike, you focus on what needs to be fixed and you fix it. The key thing is the turnaround time - can we fix it in two weeks or is it going to take three months to go through the pipeline to get something fixed? With BMW and Suter I’m anticipating our turnaround time is going to be a little quicker rather than having to go through the process a factory bike requires. I’m looking forward to being able to rapidly improve this bike."
You said at the announcement of your move to NGM mobile Forward Racing that you believe there will be tracks where the CRT is going to surprise some people. Do you still think that holds true?
"In a perfect world, if I had a motorcycle with 250HP that did everything I wanted it to, yes, I believe CRT bikes would surprise people at some particular tracks. The only question now is: will this 250HP be deliverable? Until we get that sorted and can ride the bike to the limit, then we are going to struggle. When we get to that point, then yes, I do believe the CRT bikes will surprise some people at some of the tracks."
There has been talk that if the gap between the CRT and factory bikes is too large, that penalizations or at least further restrictions could be put to the factories. What do you think about that move if it were to happen?
"This is a tricky situation. At nearly every country around the world you go to racetracks and you have Mazdas racing Ferraris. How does that happen? You restrict the faster guy or lighten up the slower guy. I believe Moto2 has opened a few eyes. You’ve got a group of guys at the front bumping bars and five guys who could win a race which makes it really exciting…as for MotoGP, do I think it’s unfair to restrict the factories? I don’t know the answer to that. We need better and closer racing in MotoGP. How to make that happen is the question."
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Colin Edwards is busy preparing for the 2012 MotoGP™ season which will see him aboard the new NGM Mobile Forward Racing team CRT bike. The Texan spoke with motogp.com ahead of the first test of the season at Sepang (January 31 through February 2) regarding his new ride.
How is the shoulder recuperation going?
"It’s good, it’s not 100 percent, but I woke up the other morning and my right shoulder hurt more than my left and that’s the one I didn’t have surgery on! Obviously I tweaked both of them, the right one needed surgery and the left one is a little bit loose, but it’s good, I am out riding here at Boot Camp and training and getting everything in order."
Based on feedback you gave your team at the first test in Jerez, what changes do you expect to see on the Suter-BMW bike at the Sepang test next week?
"The main thing is the electronics. The bike has a lot of potential, but we are so held back right now we can only ride the bike at 65 percent because the electronics are not anything like what I am accustomed to and they aren’t consistent enough. With things like picking up the throttle smoothly and the traction control, it’s almost like having to reinvent the wheel. I’ve never worked with the Bosch system or Magneti Marelli before, but there were a couple of their guys at the test in Jerez taking notes, and from what I know they fulfilled all of my request as far as what we need at this next test."
Did you have any other requests for changes to the bike?
"Anytime we made even a little change to the electronics, it made the bike better as an overall package, even though we never changed any geometry settings. Anytime you make the electronics better you make the bike better. I wasn’t even at a point where I could say, OK the chassis needs this, the swingarm needs that, because we couldn’t get there. Until you can ride the bike at 100 percent, you are going to go in circles if you start changing things. You first need to fix the electronics, that is the main thing."
Sepang is a long and demanding circuit. What would an acceptable gap between a previous good lap time of yours there and the best time on the Forward Racing bike at this test?
"Well first, going back to Sepang is going to be emotional enough. I think it’s important to go there and get back on the track after what happened a few months ago. And I am looking forward to getting back on the track and getting rolling like we normally do. I’m not worried about what kind of gap there will be; I’m more worried about being able to ride the hell out of a motorcycle. If I’m held back by electronics or something, then that is where we need to work. I’m going out there and ride the bike as fast as I possibly can and see what happens. If I had to give a number, I’d be really happy with a time of 2’03 or 2’02. Can we do that? I’ll just have to wait and see."
You are the only rider aboard a Suter and the only rider with a BMW engine in the paddock, does that help or hinder you?
"I don’t mind being the only rider, as long as the work gets done. I don’t think it’s difficult to develop a bike, you focus on what needs to be fixed and you fix it. The key thing is the turnaround time - can we fix it in two weeks or is it going to take three months to go through the pipeline to get something fixed? With BMW and Suter I’m anticipating our turnaround time is going to be a little quicker rather than having to go through the process a factory bike requires. I’m looking forward to being able to rapidly improve this bike."
You said at the announcement of your move to NGM mobile Forward Racing that you believe there will be tracks where the CRT is going to surprise some people. Do you still think that holds true?
"In a perfect world, if I had a motorcycle with 250HP that did everything I wanted it to, yes, I believe CRT bikes would surprise people at some particular tracks. The only question now is: will this 250HP be deliverable? Until we get that sorted and can ride the bike to the limit, then we are going to struggle. When we get to that point, then yes, I do believe the CRT bikes will surprise some people at some of the tracks."
There has been talk that if the gap between the CRT and factory bikes is too large, that penalizations or at least further restrictions could be put to the factories. What do you think about that move if it were to happen?
"This is a tricky situation. At nearly every country around the world you go to racetracks and you have Mazdas racing Ferraris. How does that happen? You restrict the faster guy or lighten up the slower guy. I believe Moto2 has opened a few eyes. You’ve got a group of guys at the front bumping bars and five guys who could win a race which makes it really exciting…as for MotoGP, do I think it’s unfair to restrict the factories? I don’t know the answer to that. We need better and closer racing in MotoGP. How to make that happen is the question."
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