Valentino Rossi cautious on aluminium chassis switch

Valentino Rossi has once again played down the prospect of Ducati switching to an aluminium frame, despite Loris Capirossi’s admission that the Bologna factory is working on a radical new concept.

When asked by MCN last weekend in Laguna Seca if the solution to Ducati’s chronic front-end problems is a switch to a more conventional frame, the 32-year-old said: “Sincerely I don’t know because I’m a rider and I don’t have the answer. I hope in Ducati somebody has one answer.

“One is enough and we hope it is the right one.” But Rossi’s hesitation to admit that he’s piled the pressure on Ducati technical director Filippo Preziosi to ditch the existing carbon fibre frame is not shared by fellow Italian Capirossi.

The Pramac Ducati rider told MCN: “In my opinion Ducati is already working on making a different bike. We have asked Filippo to make a real chassis on that bike. The problem with the Ducati is the rigidity. You don’t make the rigidity with the swingarm and the front-end.

“The most important part is the middle and the engine you can’t change rigidity. You can work a little bit with the front and rear but you can do nothing with the engine. There is no flex in the middle part of the bike.”

When asked if Ducati was specifically pondering reverting to an aluminium frame, Capirossi replied: “Sure Ducati is thinking about that and Valentino gives to Ducati really hard pressure and this is why we’ve already seen the 2012 bike.”

Ducati has used a carbon fibre monocoque frame since 2009 having abandoned its traditional tubular steel trellis frame it ran since it entered MotoGP in ‘03.

But Capirossi said the current concept wasn’t working because of the lack of front-end feel, and he explained to MCN what the issue was.

“You don’t feel nothing. You don’t feel the tyres and you don’t feel the ground. I don’t know what is happening, I don’t have any feeling and I don’t know where the limit is. You try and think the feeling is not too bad but then you try a little bit more you lose the front. This is the biggest problem.

“When you have a problem with the rear then you can control and slide but with the front you can’t do anything. And when you try harder the bike turns even less, “added Capirossi, who is expected to announce his retirement during the next round in Brno when the campaign resumes after a short summer break.