Ducati Monster Forum

I was going to post something on the Valencia thread, but decided to move it unto its own post.

Ducati will be providing 2 GP17 for test on Tuesday, unlike previous years when the bike was not developed yet. I presume that they will not roll out any GP16s since winglets are not allowed in 2017. It makes no sense to even consider letting Jorghey and Dovi start with the 16 since since Dovi is well accustomed to it and Jorghey has a very limited amount of seat time thanks to Yamaha. I expect the Ducati cluster make the beast with two backs to last up to Austria.

Reportedly Ducatis will have winglets such that they can compare data and feeling between the GP17 and 16.
https://motomatters.com/analysis/2016/11/14/valencia_test_notes_honda_suzuki_and.html

Very interesting. Now to wait and see, and hear because I'm looking forward to audio of the Honda big bang engine.

Watching the live timing, Iannone, JL, Kopfs boy all making progress chasing MM as they get familiar with their new bikes.

Crazy Joe and Mav up to speed quickly.
Lorenzo .6 slower than leader Rossi at this stage. Better than I thought.....

I'd say that was a productive outing.  [clap]

http://m.crash.net/motogp/results/235220/1/valencia-motogp-test-times-tuesday.html

Some test results. Spoiler Alert.

































1. Kopf's love child (likes the Yammy)
2. VR (the pit wall will return)
3. Lorenzo on a Ducati
4. MM
5. Dovi
All within 2 tenths of a second of Mav [thumbsup]

Seems they have the concession/no concession bikes messed up.

Only watched the first hour so far, JLo seems to be getting on with the Duc pretty well.

Iannone, normal service resumed, has the Zook out of shape in the first few laps.

...and crashed heavily in turn 10 with about three hours to go in the day.

He did get back out, so apparently no further injury to his broken back.

In what way? I missed that.

Honda back to the big bang motor, should sound great. Anyone hear it? I guess it helps with the control ECU, as the Factory HRC ECU could better manage the screamer motor.

https://youtu.be/CiKzTa0Mu4E

First lap on the Duc.

https://youtu.be/2Ng2ogQC3ag

Scroll down and look at the results. The riders listed in black are said to have concessions, and the riders in blue not having concessions.

The only bikes with concessions next year should be the Apes and the Katooms.

Check it out.

Thanks Kopf.

Ah, I see, thanks.

http://m.crash.net/motogp/news/235223/1/ducati-we-have-a-fantastic-professional.html

We all know Jorge is fast, but basically right out of the gate he was faster than all the Ducati riders who've been on the bike/bikes all year and than some. I'm telling you right now, he's gonna do good things with that team. From what I'm reading, they were impressed with his work ethic right away. Like him or not, that mothermake the beast with two backser can ride!

Yep that link had great articles and tidbits of info. Lorenzo isnt sitting comfortably on the bike yet and that they have an ergos package for him to try. They like his work ethic,  very proffessional. It oughta be,  12m euros, wow. There was a lot riding on this.
Casey is spotting Lorenzo and Dovi in the corners and giving feedback and watching how the other bikes/riders fare. Ducati have him assisting the riders in a more official role according to Gigi.
Rossi is not impressed with the new motor, but everyone is impressed with Mavjaeger. Kopf, I hope you were paying child support all those years you sly dog!. ;D
MM said the big bang motor gives better throttle control its just that electronic maps were not adjusted to it yet making things unpredictable. Sheesh, the kid can ride.

Well, we know he's fast under the right circumstances. He does prefer the new tires and the weather has been perfect in Valencia. Today will be a better indicator since he's riding the GP17 today, but, especially after this year, I will withhold my opinion until Qatar.

http://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/rins-suffers-back-injury-after-valencia-testing-crash-850950/

1.   Viñales, Maverick   SPA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)   1m   29.975s   
2.   Marquez, Marc   SPA   Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)   1m   30.171s   +0.196s   
3.   Dovizioso, Andrea   ITA   Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP16/17)   1m   30.443s   +0.468s   
4.   Iannone, Andrea   ITA   Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)   1m   30.599s   +0.624s   
5.   Pedrosa, Dani   SPA   Repsol Honda Team (RC213V)   1m   30.686s   +0.711s   
6.   Crutchlow, Cal   GBR   LCR Honda (RC213V)   1m   30.709s   +0.734s   
7.   Rossi, Valentino   ITA   Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1)   1m   30.709s   +0.734s   
8.   Lorenzo, Jorge   SPA   Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP16/17)   1m   30.744s   +0.769s   
9.   Espargaro, Aleix   SPA   Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)   1m   30.885s   +0.910s   
10.   Folger, Jonas   GER   Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)   1m   30.948s   +0.973s   
11.   Zarco, Johann   FRA   Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1)   1m   31.015s   +1.040s   
12.   Miller, Jack   AUS   Estrella Galica 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)   1m   31.069s   +1.094s   
13.   Redding, Scott   GBR   Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15/16)   1m   31.118s   +1.143s   
14.   Bautista, Alvaro   SPA   Aspar Ducati (Desmosedici GP16)   1m   31.186s   +1.211s   
15.   Barbera, Hector   SPA   Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2/16)   1m   31.244s   +1.269s   
16.   Pirro, Michele   ITA   Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP16/17)   1m   31.816s   +1.841s   
17.   Espargaro, Pol   SPA   KTM MotoGP Factory Racing (RC16)   1m   31.853s   +1.878s   
18.   Rabat, Tito   GBR   Estrella Galica 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)   1m   31.918s   +1.943s   
19.   Baz, Loris   FRA   Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP15)   1m   32.161s   +2.186s   
20.   Smith, Bradley   GBR   KTM MotoGP Factory Racing (RC16)   1m   32.538s   +2.563s   
21.   Laverty, Eugene   IRL   Aprilia Test Rider (RS-GP)   1m   32.568s   +2.593s   
22.   Abraham, Karel   CZE   Aspar Ducati (Desmosedici GP14.2/15)   1m   32.699s   +2.724s   
23.   Tsuda, Takuya   JPN   Suzuki Test Rider (GSX-RR)   1m   33.305s   +3.330s   
24.   Rins, Alex   SPA   Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)   1m   33.761s   +3.786s   

VR and JL's times reflect the load of their testing regimes. It was fascinating watching the live timing and looking to see if new parts were being tested verses settings to chase the stop watch.

I was watching the timing and saw the red flag and the clock stop. Whoa, who was that?
Hope the kid heals quickly.

Just goes to show that the Suk has very similar handling to the Yamaha. Maverick took to it like if he was born on it.

+1.
 It was not a big jump, similar but better, more developed package. A great career move for the young man.

His bike and leathers were awesome.  [evil] 8)

(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/chiflado/C9E436AF-BA2A-4782-8DEE-0379CFC29A0D.jpeg) (http://s201.photobucket.com/user/chiflado/media/C9E436AF-BA2A-4782-8DEE-0379CFC29A0D.jpeg.html)

What are the "Danger" and "Caution" stickers about?

He was named after 'Maverick' in Top Gun, so those are stickers similar to a fighter jet.

Did he have them on the Suzuki too?

Not to my knowledge, and this was for the test session.

(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/chiflado/BF734463-A379-400B-8F59-DA7864CD113E.jpeg) (http://s201.photobucket.com/user/chiflado/media/BF734463-A379-400B-8F59-DA7864CD113E.jpeg.html)

Pity he cant keep that scheme for the season. Yamaha should do the R1 like that, they would sell like hot cakes.

They wouldn't be able to keep them on the shelves.  ;)

One day, instead of VR46 models there will be the Top Gun models and associated accessories. Time marches on for all of us.

http://m.crash.net/motogp/news/235284/1/maybe-ducati-kept-the-wings-for-another-reason.html

As soon as they announced the ban, you could tell that the factories were already working on a substitute. I remember the feedback from the Michelin tests, front end feel was a big concern. I think for Ducati they probably had wheelie issues as well.

I think the front tire feel/grip is the elephant in the room that no one is really addressing. The wings appeared in order to help the Michelin front tire work. If the absence of wings start to cause more crashes due to front tire issues then is that not counterproductive to the Dorna safety argument against the wings?

There's a few "stated" concerns with the wings. Some riders complained that it might cause injuries and Dorna said that they did not want the factories to invest in aerodynamic changes, aka have an advantage over the smaller teams. The tires have improved immensely from the beginning of the year, but we don't know if that is due to the winglets. I presume there would be an increase of lowsides.

Keep an eye on this kid.

http://m.crash.net/motogp/news/235286/1/rookie-folger-hails-amazing-motogp-power.html

He was definitely impressive.

I thought Zarco did a decent job too. He will analyze every lap, and corner that he rode and will be stronger next time out.

Looking forward to watching the rookies develop over the season. Nice to see some new blood.  Obviously going from a career on Dunlop to Michelin is a challenge and then there is the power and all the electronics. Helps being young and adaptable. Both mentioned the need to ride smoothly in this class compared to Moto 2.

The Yamaha certainly seems much more rookie friendly. Able to get confident quickly.

I think the suzuki will be too.

Going to be a great season. Looking forward to some fun battles.
I have a feeling MM v Mav will be pretty intense by mid season.
Wall will be up in Yamaha by 1/4 season.
Crashy Joe and Jlo will be having some good battles by 1/3 season.

I am interested to see how all the honda riders compare at the start of the seasin when they are all on similar equipment.  Was interestinv news about the diff maps and chassis MarcVds were stuck with.

Did I miss a link?

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/235235/1/new-chassis-boost-for-marc-vds-pair.html

Because of Gabarrini leaving they were no longer getting updates.

Ahh...

Thanks.