Two Wheels

[wino]

MotoGP 2011: The story so far





Friday, 5 August 2011
motogp.com reviews the season so far at the summer break, with ten of the 18 rounds completed.


At just over halfway through the 2011 season and with the short summer interval almost finished, motogp.com takes a look back over the ten rounds of the campaign which have provided plenty of action for review. Click on each round to watch race highlights.
Casey Stoner started the season in fine form with victory from pole position in Qatar as he won his first race on the factory Repsol Honda in the 2011 curtain raiser at Losail. Following the Australian onto the podium were defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, with Valentino Rossi seventh on his Ducati debut and British MotoGP rookie Cal Crutchlow 11th on his GP debut.
Just two rounds into the season and a huge talking point came at Jerez where pole man Stoner and Rossi collided during a wet race, the Australian unable to finish. Lorenzo took victory, Pedrosa second and Nicky Hayden third after Marco Simoncelli and Ben Spies both crashed when in podium positions in an eventful Spanish round. Rookie Karel Abraham impressed by placing seventh in just his second premier class race – a result he would repeat at Silverstone – whilst Héctor Barberá’s best result of the year so far saw the Spaniard place sixth.
Round 3 at Estoril saw Pedrosa take his first win of the season ahead of Lorenzo and Stoner as the defending title holder maintained a slender lead at the top of the standings, and at Le Mans there was plenty of drama. Stoner took victory, the first of a run of three consecutive wins, with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso joining him on the rostrum and Valentino Rossi taking a first podium in Ducati colours, whilst an incident involving Simoncelli and Pedrosa resulted in the Spaniard crashing and subsequently missing the next three rounds with a broken collarbone.
In Catalunya Stoner took his third win of the season, Lorenzo held onto the Championship lead with second place in the race and his factory Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies took his first podium of the year in third. Crutchlow took his best finish of his debut campaign so far with seventh, but his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team-mate Colin Edwards missed his first MotoGP race since his premier class career started in 2003 after a fall in FP2 resulted in a fractured collarbone. However, the American bounced back in admirable style in a wet race in the following round at Silverstone where he took a courageous third place, following Stoner and Dovizioso onto the podium. Lorenzo crashed out in the wet conditions, his first DNF in 25 straight races, and after the sixth round Stoner assumed the Championship lead as the chase for the 2011 crown took another twist one-third of the way through the season. The round was also notable for an impressive ride to fifth by Álvaro Bautista on the Rizla Suzuki, in only the Spaniard’s fourth race back after breaking a femur in Qatar.
In Assen Hiroshi Aoyama stepped into the factory Repsol Honda team as a substitute for the still-absent Pedrosa, and in the race the drama played out from lap one as Simoncelli – starting from pole for the second time this season – and Lorenzo went down together, the Yamaha man remounting to finish sixth as he tried to keep tabs on Championship leader Stoner. Lorenzo’s team-mate Spies took a deserved first MotoGP victory as Stoner and Dovizioso completed the podium, Rossi finishing fourth as he continued to look for the best set-up on the Desmosedici.
Pedrosa made his much-anticipated return to action at Mugello, placing eighth, with Lorenzo returning to winning ways ahead of home hero Dovizioso and Stoner on the podium. Pedrosa’s comeback was completed in spectacular style at Sachsenring where he won in just his second race back, Lorenzo trimming Stoner’s lead at the top of the standings to 15 points by finishing ahead of his rival on the podium.
Round 10 at Laguna Seca heralded another win for Stoner as the Australian turned around what had appeared to be a difficult weekend with a stylish victory, Lorenzo admirably recovering from a painful FP3 fall to place second with Pedrosa third and Spies the highest placed home rider in fourth.
The action resumes in one week’s time at Brno with the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky!

 

[wino]

looks slow dont it ?

 

[wino]

this could have ended differntly

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[wino]

2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden tests refurbished IMS circuit





Monday, 8 August 2011
American MotoGP rider and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden was the first to check out the newly paved Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in preparation for the 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP, August 26-28 at IMS.


The fourth annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP will showcase the world's finest motorcycle racers including superstars Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, along with American stars Colin Edwards and Ben Spies, who will soar through the IMS 16-turn road course at speeds up to 200 mph.
A three-time Moto GP race winner, Hayden won the 2006 MotoGP World Championship and has a career that includes six runner-up finishes, five pole positions and six fastest laps. Known as the "Kentucky Kid", Hayden was born and lives in Owensboro, Ky., and considers the Indianapolis Motor Speedway his home track. In the three previous Red Bull Indianapolis GPs, Hayden finished as the runner-up in 2008, third in 2009 and sixth in 2010.
Hayden took a Ducati 1198 street bike for a ride the morning of August 5 to test the recently refurbished IMS road course. Beginning on June 9, 2011, crews repaved 1.5 miles of the circuit from Turn 5 through Turn 16. The existing asphalt was ground and then repaved with fresh asphalt to create a surface consistent with the other sections of the course. The FIM, the worldwide sanctioning body of motorcycling, inspected and approved the repaved section of the circuit July 7. The following is a Q&A with Nicky Hayden.
Now that you've experienced the new IMS MotoGP road course surface, what do you think?
The new surface is just what I expected, it's pretty much perfect. There are a couple corners that the riders requested to be redone and IMS went above and beyond, and actually the whole infield from Turn 5 to the finish is repaved, so I'm looking forward to getting back here on the race bike and laying some rubber down and cleaning up the racing line and trying it out.
Will this increase competition or make it better for the riders, or both?
I think it's safer, for one. There was a lot of crashing in the Turn 6 area over those bumps and I think it'll also make the racing better. It's going to open up a few areas where before it was one line because you had to miss the bumps, and now I think it'll make for better racing because there will be more places to pass. Just a more enjoyable, more fun track, so I know all the riders love Indy anyway and it's only going to make it better.
Is there anything unique about this track compared to others?
A lot. I mean look at the place, look at the size of it. It's pretty much the only track inside an oval like this. We race Motegi, which is part in an oval, but part outside. But definitely there's a heritage and a little bit of hype about Indy, a bit of swag, and this place has been around a long time and did a lot of racing. For me, being from Kentucky, it's the highlight of the year for me. I know a lot of guys really look forward to this one and it's a special race.
Being from Kentucky, how important is this event to you?
They're all important. The races in Italy are the team's home races, and Laguna Seca, also being in California, is cool, but to race three hours from home is something I never expected when I came to MotoGP. At that time there wasn't a race in America. The closest I got to home was Brazil, so I really cherish it. Every year I enjoy it more and more, and get more and more fans from home that have never really seen me race, or certainly never seen me race MotoGP. I get a lot of support. Owensboro is a great town that really gets behind their guys no matter what you're doing, and there are going to be a lot of people here from Owensboro for the race.
Ducati is kind of like the Ferrari of motorcycles. What's it like racing for a team like Ducati?
Like you say, Ferrari and Ducati kind of have that Italian swag, and it's a very unique bike, it's a very special bike with a lot of history. They just don't produce thousands and thousands of bikes. It's a small, small company that puts everything into their bikes and produce only road bikes, and I've learned a lot. The team is awesome. I mean, they love their bikes and love their team, and when you're in Italy you feel it. Everybody, from the people at the grocery store to the guys at the gas station, they're all behind you. This year hasn't been an easy year for us, but we know our bike is good and sometimes it's a little bit sharp, you get it outside that area that's the sweet spot and it makes for a long day, but when you get it on the sweet spot you know it's an absolute weapon. Hopefully when we come back here in three weeks we'll have it dialed in. We race the Czech Republic next and then we have a big test after the race, which is going to be really important for us to hopefully find something and get us teed up for a big weekend at Indy.
You've got a great teammate (multiple time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi). How important is a good teammate in this series?
I think we've got a good team. We're the only team with two world champions in it at the moment, so that's pretty unique in its own way and we still get along good. Me and him, obviously we want to beat each other, he's 16 points in front of me, I think, and it would be a big honor for me if I could beat him. He's won 9 World titles over there and has pretty much set the standard for the last decade. It's been a different challenge for us because having an Italian world champion on the team has brought a lot of expectations and a lot of pressure, but the people there are still behind us, and of course they want results and want us winning, which we're not doing at the moment, which makes it hard. I've learned a lot from him, and also that goes both ways. This bike has been new to him and he's not above asking questions and wanting to know why, and I think right now the results haven't shown, but I think next year it's going to pay off when we come with the new rules and they go back to the thousand-ccs. I think having two strong teammates who are pushing in the same direction is going to be better instead of two guys wanting to go in different ways.
Could you talk a little bit about how you as a rider can affect how your bike handles?
The rider makes the biggest difference on a motorcycle, where in a car when you're strapped in with a seat belt on there's only so much you can do. On a motorcycle you have a lot more freedom to move around, use your body and different things to help make up for what the bike's maybe not doing. You can't ride a sled around here and think you're going to get on the podium on it, but a good bike, good team, good rider is all pretty even. It's not like you gotta have all three, but a rider can make that difference.
More information about the 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP including ticket sales can be found at http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/redbullindianapolisgp/.

 

[wino]

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[wino]

What can you do get when you mate 24 Dolmar chainsaws to a 5-speed Harley Davidson transmission with 12 toothed belts? You get a 1.9 liter, 24 cylinder beast capable producing 125 kW of power.

Introducing the Dolmette, referred to as ‘madness on two wheels’, which has one of the most complicated drive belt designs around, as seen below:

“The individual motors are coupled together in sets of three by means of a double-sided drive belt, making up eight modules in all. The individual engines are not rigidly connected; instead they deliver their torque through the centrifugal clutch that is a standard feature of every chainsaw. Through a sequence of three more toothed belts the power of the eight modules is transferred to a single output shaft, which in turn drives the clutch for the 5-speed transmission via a twelfth belt. The toothed belt drive also serves to gear down the speed of the high-revving chainsaw engines in the ratio 3.45 : 1, producing a manageable maximum of 4,500 rpm at the transmission unit. The friction loss that is inevitable with belt drives is less than 10%, which means that the maximum torque available at the transmission input shaft to power the bike is a massive 400 Nm. – Dolmar

As a consequence of the non-rigid coupling of the individual engines via their centrifugal clutches, the combined power plant has a self-determining – i.e. totally random – firing sequence. In this case, because of the way a 2-stroke engine works, there are 24 ignition points during each engine revolution, or roughly one every 15º. In other words, this power plant fires four times more often per revolution that a 12-cylinder 4-stroke engine!” – Dolmar

 

[wino]

Racing numbers for the Cardion ab Grand Prix Ceské republiky





Thursday, 11 August 2011
A selection of relevant data and statistics ahead of Round eleven of the Championship this weekend at Brno circuit.


100 - Yuki Takahashi will be making his 100th GP start at the Czech Grand Prix. Takahashi made his GP debut at the age of seventeen as a wildcard rider in the 125cc class at Motegi in 2001. After several more wildcard appearances, he became a full time GP rider in the 250cc class in 2005. His entire subsequent GP career has been spent in the intermediate class with the exception of 2009 when he competed for a half a season in the MotoGP class.
66 - Casey Stoner’s victory at Laguna Seca was the 66th win for Honda since the introduction of the four stroke Moto¬GP formula at the start of 2002. This is only one more win in MotoGP than rival Yamaha has taken over the same period.
42 - This will be the 42nd occasion that a Grand Prix event will have been staged at Brno. The first Grand Prix to be held at Brno was back in 1965 on the old road circuit which measured 13.94 km. The circuit remained essentially the same until 1975, when it was shortened to the 10.92 km circuit that was used up until 1982, at which time it was deemed no longer up to the safety standards required for Grand Prix racing. The current circuit was first used for a Grand Prix in 1987 and has been visited every year since with the exception of 1992. Originally, the event held at Brno was the Grand Prix of Czechoslovakia, until 1991 when the country was divided and the Czech Republic was formed.
37 - The three Spanish riders Jorge Martinez, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa have all stood on the top step of the podium in Grand Prix racing on 37 occasions. The only Spanish rider with more GP wins than these three is Angel Nieto with 90 GP victories to his name.
32 - On the first day of practice at the Czech Grand Prix it will be exactly 32 years ago to the day that Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene had a great battle at the 1979 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Just 0.03 seconds covered the two riders at the end of the race - one of the closest finishes of all time in the premier class.
26 - Mattia Pasini will celebrate his 26th birthday on the day of qualifying at the Czech Grand Prix. p>
24 - This will be the 24th time that the current circuit has hosted a Grand Prix event.
18 - Jonas Folger will celebrate his 18th birthday on the day of qualifying at the Czech Grand Prix.
8 years - Lucio Cecchinello’s 125cc lap record that he set in 2003 at Brno still stands. This is the longest standing lap record across all three classes on the current Grand Prix calendar.
5 - Since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP class in 2002, Yamaha have been the most successful manufactu¬rer at the Brno circuit with five wins, followed by Honda and Ducati each with two victories.
5 - Casey Stoner’s win at Laguna Seca was his 5th win of this year. This is the greatest number of MotoGP victories in a single season by a Honda rider since Valentino Rossi won nine MotoGP races in 2003 when riding for Honda.
5 - Czech rider Jakub Kornfeil finished fifth last year at his home Grand Prix - his best ever result in Grand Prix racing and the best result by a Czech rider at Brno in any class since 2007.
1 - There has only been one podium finish by a Czech rider on the current Brno circuit layout: Lukas Pesek’s third place in the 125cc race in 2007 riding a Derbi.
1 - Of the current circuits, the only one that has hosted more Grand Prix events than Brno is Assen, which has been on the Grand Prix calendar every year since 1949.
0 - The number of victories for Honda at Brno during the 800cc era of MotoGP. Sete Gibernau’s victory in 2004 was the last time that a Honda rider won the MotoGP race at Brno.

 

[wino]

 

[wino]

 

[wino]

wtf ? watch the end

 

[wino]

 

[wino]

 

[wino]

Superb win for Stoner with Dovizioso in second for an all Honda podium





Sunday, 14 August 2011
Casey Stoner scored his sixth win of the season, and Andrea Dovizioso his fifth podium in a Honda 1-2-3, the first all-Honda podium since the Laguna Seca GP in 2006.

The all Honda podium was also the first of the 800cc era. Unfortunately, only the crash of Dani Pedrosa, on the third lap has marred what has been one of the best Sunday's for the Japanese manufacturer.
Under similar circumstances to Laguna Seca three weeks ago, Casey Stoner has managed to turn a difficult weekend into a win without opposition in a race that he led from the third lap, when Dani Pedrosa, after taking the lead, lost the front and crashed. With the absence of Pedrosa who has been the fastest man throughout the weekend, Stoner had no rival and set a steady pace to increase the gap step by step and cross the finish line 6.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
In another consistent race, Andrea had a fantastic start climbing from seventh position on the grid and resisting attacks from Lorenzo and Simoncelli to take his fifth podium of the year. Casey Stoner's victory at Brno, combined with the fourth position of his closest rival in the Championship, Jorge Lorenzo, gives the Australian a 32 point lead in the MotoGP World Championship. Dovizioso continues to hold third position and Pedrosa is now fifth, behind Valentino Rossi.
Tomorrow the Repsol Honda Team will be back at the Brno circuit testing their 1000cc 2012 machine. Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner will ride the bike in the one day test.
Casey Stoner:
"We knew we could make a strong podium challenge today, but we didn't really expect the race win. As soon as the race got underway I was having a good battle with Andrea, but this cost me a little time and I was afraid that Jorge and Dani would stretch away from me. But when I got past I found I had plenty of speed to catch up and the bike felt great. I passed Jorge and then Dani sadly crashed out, so I pushed to see if I could pull a gap and I was able to do so quite quickly. I'm very sorry for Dani, he would have been hard to beat today. After such a hard weekend it's fantastic to come out with a comfortable win, a big thanks to my team who never give up. Tomorrow we'll be back on the 1000 for another day of testing, so I hope the weather stays dry for us!"
Andrea Dovizioso:
“I’m really happy to be back on the podium, it’s a good result after a difficult weekend and second position is so important for the Championship. I made a very good start from seventh position and in the first laps I was riding cautiously to save the tyres. When Dani crashed I tried to stay with Casey, but I made a mistake at turn 13 and I almost went off the track. I’m happy of how I managed the race first with Lorenzo and then with Simoncelli to maintain second position. In the final five laps I pushed harder to maintain the margin from Marco. I didn’t want to fight with him in the last corners. I want to thank Honda and the team for the good work, we have demonstrated again that in the race we are there and I'm really looking forward to Indy in two weeks time.”
Dani Pedrosa:
"It was a shame. I lost the front and I crashed, that was it! I was not even pushing so hard, I just took the lead and, well I may have tilted the bike too much, maybe the tyre was not warm enough, still I don't know. The problem is that I've wasted an important race that we had prepared for very well. I have to thank the team for the bike they gave me this weekend, it worked really well, and I will tell them I'm sorry for the mistake. It hurts because we were well prepared and finally the race was quite slow compared to the pace we did in practice sessions, but we can not do anything, just try to get back on top. Let's hope tomorrow we can have at least some hours in the dry to test the 1000cc. I've been looking forward to see how the new machine is after missing the Jerez test."

 

[wino]

Positive weekend for Rossi and Hayden at Czech GP





Sunday, 14 August 2011
The Ducati Team took important steps forward at the Czech Republic Grand Prix, where Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden finished sixth and seventh, respectively.


The riders’ finishing positions were the same as in the previous round at Laguna Seca, but both reduced their gaps to the front considerably, the Italian by well over half. After he and his team made steady progress with the setup of his GP11.1 for the entire weekend.
Rossi had a competitive pace for most of the race, chasing the front group all the way to the finish. Working exclusively on the GP11, Hayden’s team experienced challenges throughout the weekend but persevered with a respectable performance. Tomorrow both riders will take part in a day of testing that the Ducati Team will use to continue the work on the 800.
Valentino Rossi:
“I’d say we are pleased, as we took a step forward. I must say that Filippo and Ducati has been intelligent, because just with some small changes, we were able to get a good result, improving in both wet and dry conditions and in both qualifying and the race. Now I’m able to ride the bike better under braking and on corner entry, and I can use the front tyre better. We started with the goal of fighting with the group ahead of us, but unfortunately we made a small mistake with the start procedure for heating the tyres and the first two laps were difficult, without enough grip. It’s a lesson that we’ll remember next time. I didn’t have a great start like I did at Laguna, for example. That would have helped a lot, because from the third lap to the finish, I had the same pace as the two Yamahas, and even ‘Sic’ wasn’t so far ahead. It’s sixth place, but it’s a sixth place that’s much more important than our other results. The gap is much smaller, although I backed off in the final laps since there was nothing else I could do. Otherwise, I would’ve been just ten seconds from Stoner and much less than that from the podium. Now we must focus and take another step. We’ll try the 800 tomorrow, and it will be a very important test for confirming other new details and for continuing work on the setup. We’ll probably take a couple of final runs with the GP11, but we’ll definitely be continuing with the GP11.1. Finally, I’d like to compliment ‘Sic’ for a podium that he really deserved, for today’s race but also for what he has shown this season.”
Nicky Hayden:
“It’s been a really tough weekend right from when we got the bikes out of the crates from Laguna, but we chipped away at it. The guys have worked extremely hard, and we got better and better. We even made a change after the morning warm up that actually helped a bit, although I didn’t really understand it the first few laps, and the group was already gone. I held on and got seventh, which isn’t fantastic. Still, the gap to the front is the closest it’s been this season, which is positive. The bike was really good in a few places, but I was slow in change of direction and couldn’t get the bike to finish the corner and was spinning the tyre a lot. We also need to understand why I had the slowest top speed. It would’ve been nice to hang onto that front group a bit longer, but Colin pushed me all the way to the end. The work’s far from over for this weekend, because we’ve got a big day tomorrow. Valentino tried some new parts on the front that they seem real happy about, so hopefully I can try those tomorrow. Test days are so important, and we really need a dry day tomorrow to try to make a big step.” Vittoriano Guareschi (Team Manager) “It was a positive weekend for our team. We made progress with Valentino session by session, and with Nicky we solved enough of the difficulties from Friday that he was nearly four seconds faster than last year. Compared to Laguna Seca, Valentino reduced his pace and his final gap to the front, and he was closer to the lead group. His feeling with the front of the GP11.1 was also better thanks to some details that we changed. We can say that, overall, it was the most productive race weekend of the season. Tomorrow we’ll have an important test day because we’ll try some more small details for the GP11.1 with Valentino, and Nicky will be able to try it without pressure and also to make a useful comparison with the GP11.”

 

[wino]

this guy has got some skill

http://photobysergio.fr/video-toni-bou-piera.html



http://www.gaskrank.tv/tv/supermoto/driften-auf-dem-knie-und-es-ge-13580.htm

 

[wino]

idiot !

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[wino]

MotoGP stars complete Brno Test





Monday, 15 August 2011
Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies completed their first rides on board Yamaha’s 2012 machine, whilst Dani Pedrosa also rode the 1000cc Honda for the first time on Monday in the official MotoGP Test.


Yamaha debuted their developing 2012 prototype on track at Brno on Monday and Honda continued the evolution of their 1000cc machine, as the premier class remained for an extra day at the Czech Republic track for an official MotoGP Test.
With the weather allowing a full day of riding Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies had their first shakedown of the 2012 prototype, with Lorenzo second on the timesheet with a best time of 1’56.253 from 28 laps on the evolving bike. His team-mate Ben Spies also enjoyed riding the new machine, setting a best effort of 1’56.306 from 24 laps which placed him third fastest, and the American ended his day early at the midway break. Both riders also rode their 800cc M1 machines, in which they tested new engine parts, a new fairing and chassis components.
In the Repsol Honda garage Dani Pedrosa was another rider who had a first taste of what the 1000cc capacity machines will offer next year, as the Spaniard rode the 2012 bike for the first time. He ran two 2012 machines with differing set-ups, registering a best time of 1’57.264 from 37 laps as part of a methodical workload. His team-mate and current Championship leader Casey Stoner also rode Honda’s 2012 spec bike – his second outing after riding at Jerez back in May – and was quickest around the Brno circuit with a time of 1’56.168 as he enjoyed the benefits of an updated chassis.
Valentino Rossi worked through a heavy schedule with his Ducati Team on the Desmosedici GP11.1, the bike he is riding this season, putting in 74 laps and posting a best effort of 1’58.266. The Italian tried a range of set-ups, focusing primarily on riding positions and bike height. Team-mate Nicky Hayden rode an initial early-morning run on the GP11 before focusing on the GP11.1 for the rest of the day, and the American was pleased with his progress as he lapped at 1’57.533.
The Marc VDS team were also present as they continued testing the Suter 2012 prototype. Mika Kallio got his lap time down to a 2’00.144 in a highly productive day, as he made big steps in the development of the bike – his fourth Test on it.
Elsewhere, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow were both present, the American testing Bridgestone tyres and a Yamaha electronics package and the Brit a revised setting similar to the one he rode earlier in the season on their respective 2011 M1 bikes. Toni Elías (LCR Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) were also both at the Test, as each rider looked to improve on what they had found during the GP weekend.

 

[magoo]

 

[wino]

good footage Magoo, but we know this is not truley an AUSTRALIAN championship, fuckers

 

[wino]

some good racing here



Jods Brooks last year, same track



on bike same track