Motorcycle Forums

COTA..

..looks a fantastic venue and for me, it's pure Yamaha territory. 

It will require a nimble bike with a front end that sticks like glue and can run the higher corner speed..especially the Silverstone replica "Maggotts" section in the first half.

The back straight is short and downhill. The front has most of it's elevation in the braking zone. I can't see there being any "Honda Lanes" like Aragon, Qatar & Sepang.

Now that Rossi and crew have re-aquainted themselves with the M1, I expect them to start dialling the bike in quickly allowing the rider to concentrate on applying pressure to his rivals by closing the gap.

What better way to start sowing the seeds of doubt than to end up fastest at a level playing field, where nobody has been before?

Expect a big effort here and at Jerez..one of his favourite tracks.

Funny how Pedrosa couln't get within 4 tenths of his fast lap time at Sepang1 once Nakamoto insited he concentrate on some proper testing at Sepang2..where in Malaysia, the track is coolest in the morning, not last gasp.

I'm sure Honda & Yamaha don't share your view Bulto, that they won't learn anything by going to Austin..and I doubt Lorenzo will be happy pootling around doing race simulations if the Honda lads are a second faster on a balls-out qualifying set-up either.

Believe me..if Rossi starts going faster than Lorenzo or beating him on Sundays due to genuine pace & guile, Jorge's face will resmble a bulldog's licking it's own piss off a thistle. He's been known to get just as prammy as Stoner where it comes to Rossi.

The Yamaha ain't the best bike out there..and if Jorge & Val were at Repsol and Dani & Marc were on a Yamaha, the season would already be a done deal.

..and, Marquez is a talent, he reminds me of how fast Rossi was when he first jumped on a 500 - without any space age electronics to help him out - let's see how he goes at a track he's never ridden, without reams of data to aid both him and his crew with the set-up. 

Why do I get the impression..

..that sensible, well structured comments praising Rossi and talking about his strengths get under your skin and lead you to have silly little fanboy hating digs all the time?

With the information we get nowadays..of course we'll be able to learn some more about the relative strengths and weaknesses of our main protaganist. Especially if we're keen students and are able to use our intelligence to read between the lines, and not get caught up in the type of bullshit I've outlined above !!

You tell us with such conviction that the M1 & RCV are equal..based on what? What Nostro says?

No..it's just an opinion that suits your agenda. We can all see how fast the Honda is and how it now goes around corners too. If it didn't Pedrosa wouldn't have done so well on it as he's probably the least adaptable/talented of the big four..in my opinion of course.

Comparing the electronics on a 12 year old two-stroke 500 to the bikes of today, to once again try and detract from Rossi, just illustrates what a saddo you are.

Closed loop intelligent corner by corner mapping, T/C, launch control, triple axis gyro wheelie control, fly-by-wire fkin rectum control?

..versus sprark plugs, coils and a stop switch?

Perhaps you can dig us out this Burgess link that seems to be more a figment of your imagination than anything to do with reality that you keep referring to?..then explain how it's all the same as todays bikes?

You may THINK they'd all be capable, while spouting that the likes of Biaggi & Gibernau were shit competition for Rossi, but they did it..and so did he.

Dumbing down bikes means dumbing up riders..and who fked off at the thought of that then sharp shit?  

Ah the prattofprezels witty comments as usual

ok Wosi

Maybe I misinterpreted your last comment as a dig at current riders and the suggestion that they wouldn't be able to ride a 500. You have got previous form on that... My response wasn't intended as a dig at Rossi, just at what I saw as an inference to current riders being pussies - you've form there as well... I've no problem acknowledging Rossi is no mug on a bike.

My opinion of the Yamaha and Honda is based on what I've seen during a season. The Honda had chatter all of last year and Pedrosa had to deal with it, so I'd say he's more adaptable than you give him credit for. The Yamaha was unaffected by it, therefore Lorenzo had nothing to interrupt his usual smooth riding style, no problems to ride around. No issues with tyre wear at any race that I can remember, whereas the Hondas did. The Honda was like a bucking animal in the bends at times and slo-mo's have shown the affects of chatter. Maybe the bucking was down to the riders' style, maybe that's how they had to ride it. The Yam is ultra smooth. The Honda may accelerate faster to the watching eye, but how much of that is down to the way the riders slinshot it out of corners. The two satellite riders last year weren't as good as the two factory rider, which may explain why you saw Dovi taking a Honda down a straight on more than one occassion and on others, not being dropped when following.

Because of the above, my opinion is that they are evenly matched over the course of a lap, the strengths and weaknesses of each cancelling each other out. But it's just an opinion.

The Jap f\actories were developing the electronics in the mid 90s - consider the electronic expertise Honda (Yamaha too) had from F1 and what they were doing with F1 electronics in the 80s, never mind 90s. I never said (just for you again) that electronics from now can be compared to the mid 90s, they were in their infancy then, but they did exist, anti-wheelie, launch, even a form of active suspension - whether they made it onto the bikes seems unclear, dependiing on who is recalling the period. Doohan refutes claims he refused all the 'gizmos', saying he tested them all (although seems to contradict himself at times saying they didn't have them, followed by if he felt they didn't offer any improvement he didn't use them. It was actually Burgess who said he refused them all. And this is circa '97. You can imagine that in the next few years they made advances with the electronics, so it's not hard to believe that the NSR that Rossi rode had some decent aids on it - There is an article somewhere confirming it had active suspension and that for the latter half of '01 Honda threw tanker loads of development at it because Biaggi was too close for comfort in the first half of the season. With the new bike Rossi pulled away in the title race and Biaggi started crashing trying to keep up.

I no longer have the JB link talking about Doohan rejecting the electronics but he was glad Rossi wanted them because it meant he 'got to play with all the toys' and I'm not trolling the net looking for it. I have got a link I kept from an article with Doohan talking about the NSR years and it's a good read which I think you'll enjoy if you haven't seen it before.

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