New Duc for Nicky

[Cider]

I thought the data showed that Hayden opens it up as soon or sooner than Stoner.  How does Stoner have more blind faith, then?

Also, just to point it out: I consider both of them "good," but that doesn't mean that Stoner isn't better.  Based on the evidence, I think he does have a synergistic relationship with the Ducati, though.

[ducpainter]

As I understand it, it means that the rear end of the bike compresses & uncompresses, i.e. bounces. Anyone have a better explanation?

It turns into an evil writhing serpent...

[Jester]

I thought the data showed that Hayden opens it up as soon or sooner than Stoner.  How does Stoner have more blind faith, then?

Also, just to point it out: I consider both of them "good," but that doesn't mean that Stoner isn't better.  Based on the evidence, I think he does have a synergistic relationship with the Ducati, though.

Very likely that if Hayden is using more traction control, then he can open the throttle earlier.  Just because he's being more aggressive than Casey doesn't mean his bike is setup anywhere near the same way.

[gm2]

casey's bike pumps all the time too.  watch him exit almost any corner.  the magic relationship he has with that bike is that somehow he ignores it.

[Speeddog]

Part A of Stoner's Brain:
"This thing is trying to kill me!"

Part B:
Everything will be fine.
Just hang on.



I don't know, so, for those who remember, when was the last time Casey fell off on corner exit?

[gm2]

i can't really recall an exit crash.  unless you count laguna last year  

most of the time he's thrown the duc down has been entry and mid.  i think.

[Spidey]

Watching Casey's bike is insane.  After he's well past the apex of a turn and almost halfway to the rumble strips on the exit, the bike looks like it lowsides.  It looks like it looses grip with both rear and front at the same time and just slides away from him.  Every time I'm positive he's gonna lose it.  Then he just picks it up, gets to the rumble strips and take off.  WTF?  Then the bike does the same thing the next turn.  And the next one.  And the next one.

It's not like one of those two wheel drifts that are hard to see on TV.  It's a really dynamic action.  And it happens constantly.  I have no idea how he rides that f'n thing. 

[Jester]

Yeah I feel yah there.  Last year, um, turn 9 at Laguna, the next left past the corkscrew.  I swear the Duc was gonna crash coming out of that turn almost every time around.  It would start to pump and always looks like Stoner is gonna either lowside or the rear is gonna step out fling him down the track.  It really does just seem that he ignores it tbh.

[kopfjäger]

Watching Casey's bike is insane.  After he's well past the apex of a turn and almost halfway to the rumble strips on the exit, the bike looks like it lowsides.  It looks like it looses grip with both rear and front at the same time and just slides away from him.  Every time I'm positive he's gonna lose it.  Then he just picks it up, gets to the rumble strips and take off.  WTF?  Then the bike does the same thing the next turn.  And the next one.  And the next one.

It's not like one of those two wheel drifts that are hard to see on TV.  It's a really dynamic action.  And it happens constantly.  I have no idea how he rides that f'n thing. 

That's why he does what he does for a living, and we do what we do. 

[gm2]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/76463

[Rob Hilding]

Watching Casey's bike is insane. 

snip. 


I have no idea how he rides that f'n thing. 

Neither does Nicky or for that matter - anybody else

[Jester]

Neither does Nicky or for that matter - anybody else

And Simoncelli doesn't even want to get involved with that boogie man, er, motorcycle.  No sense in ending your GP career after one season.   

[The Architect]

As I understand it, it means that the rear end of the bike compresses & uncompresses, i.e. bounces. Anyone have a better explanation?

I recently read an article about this.  In the 70's and 80's frames were tubular.  The improvement in tires and the increased in power were too much for these frames.  In the 90's they switched to the aluminum spar frames.  And recently they've strengthen the frames even more.  The increased strength has made the frames too rigid.  This is the problem with GP9, the frame is to rigid, when the riders come out of the turns and get on the gas the frame doesn't react well.  They compared the frame rigidity with a bell.  Hit a bell and it resonates at a certain frequency.  When the riders crank up the power to the rear wheel the rigid frame starts to resonate at 2-3 cycles per second.  This causes the bounce in the rear.

The article went on to say that Ducati has replaced parts of the frame with carbon fiber.  And that they may have added some dampening layers to the carbon fiber.

Supposedly with a very rigid frame and enough power the resonating can become so bad it will throw a rider off the bike. 

[Speeddog]

I think the problem is that the TC gets into the act as well, tending to amplify the bounce/pump.
I would think, from my rudimentary knowledge of TC, they could electronically tune that out.

Frame strength isn't an issue, AFAIK.
When was the last time there was a frame that *broke* in normal service in Moto GP?

Frame stiffness is an issue, horizontally, vertically and in torsion, so that's a puzzle.
But you can get those to be whatever you want in a steel trellis frame, same as with an aluminum frame or a CF frame.
Manufacturing precision I think is better on CF parts, and it's pretty easy to tune all the stiffnesses.

Maybe it's something else causing it. 

[DarkMonster620]

THIS IS   the reason why many hate Casey ... And the reason for him being 'not fit?'
Remember his days with Aprilia 250GP? The races between him and Pedrosa? How he'd fall down on the last strecht of the race and Pedrosa win? He was riding the belts out of the Dunlops, IMHO he's better rider than many, OK, Rossi fans, don't hit me, he still has a long road to travel, who knows, maybe he'll break some of his records, or Lorenzo or Dovi; but Pedrosa? Simoncelli?
Nicky's fine, he just needs to get a pair of replacement cojones and get the TC setting on 1, forget about 'what if?' and just go, this is MHO.
Many good riders, the only italian that has been able to handle the Duc, is Cappirosi and when it came the 800cc era, he was at the back of the pack.
And sorry for the question, where df is Kalio? Been working 16hrs for the last 3 days and no tv time or too much internet either. Hopefully ESPN 2 is going to transmit the race at 1600h CET.