2012 Sepang 2 MotoGP Test

[gm2]

jeez ya bunch a negative nancys.. at least wait until qatar.  =)

[duccarlos]

Yeah... bunch of negative people! Just wait for Qatar to watch Casey win by like 20 seconds before you start complaining.

[zooom]

Yeah... bunch of negative people! Just wait for Qatar to watch Casey win by like 20 seconds before you start complaining.

I'll make the 1st wager of the year and say that IF Casey wins, his margin will be less than 10 seconds!

[duccarlos]

Casey in Qatar? I would take that bet if there was an easy way for you to pay me that $$$$.

[Jester]

I expect some fantastic battles for the podium, and three or four battles for the win.  The rest, I expect Casey to clear off into the distance.  I think Ben, Dovi, Jorge, and the Turd will have some epic scraps, and Rossi will get more than one podium just because people do crash, and rain happens.  He's not far off those guys, but at the same time I think he's struggling with himself as much as the bike.  Supposedly they have chassis updates after Catalunya, so we'll see how the year progresses.

I also think DePuniet is going to beat the factory backmarkers at least once on the Ape.  I'm not sure if thats a stretch, but I think that bike will surprise some people by years end.

[zooom]

I also think DePuniet is going to beat the factory backmarkers at least once on the Ape.  I'm not sure if thats a stretch, but I think that bike will surprise some people by years end.

+1 on this....I think the ART project is going to reveal some of the more GP than not aspects of itself and it is going to frustrate RDP in how they engineer it to try and not reveal it's real capability when all is said and done....

[Raux]

who knows, maybe this is Aprilia's test bike for entering the GP next year

[derby]

who knows, maybe this is Aprilia's test bike for entering the GP next year

huh?

rumor is the rsv4 was originally a gp project that was "street-ified" for superbikes...

if you listen to what carmelo has been saying the future of the gp class is likely the crt formula.

[gm2]

and it is going to frustrate RDP in how they engineer it to try and not reveal it's real capability when all is said and done....

doood, were you stoned that early in the day?  

but seriously.. why in the world would they need to de-engineer that bike in order to hide something?  it's not like they're hiding its potential in WSBK.  and it's already been classified as a CRT bike -- if it's discovered that RDP's team is really an Aprilia factory team/that they are getting ongoing factory support, only 2 things happen:

 - they have to live with 21 liters of fuel
 - they have to live with only 6 engines

it's not like they have to quit racing or something.

AND then no one can take the bike away from them.  the Aprilia engineers can go crazy, if in fact that's what they have in mind.

I also think DePuniet is going to beat the factory backmarkers at least once on the Ape.  I'm not sure if thats a stretch, but I think that bike will surprise some people by years end.

it's not a stretch at all.  he's within 2 seconds of barbera.  2 seconds is a lot, but it's also not.  if just a few things fall into place on Any Given Sunday (or Saturday), he'll beat some satellite bikes.

[zooom]

do you REALLY think that Aprilia wants to short itself any advantage it can stretch out if it comes out of the gate barking down the back doors of the factory bikes while all of the other CRT bikes are 10 seconds behind them?...don't you think DORNA is going to march their legal asses right down the pit road and snatch that bike up and scrutinize them unmercilessly the minute they look like anything more than a Satelite bike in terms of performance??....I mean really...the Ape is going to have to show some level of parity with the other CRT bikes if they are going to keep the curtain maintained to keep DORNA off their ass....

[ducpainter]

do you REALLY think that Aprilia wants to short itself any advantage it can stretch out if it comes out of the gate barking down the back doors of the factory bikes while all of the other CRT bikes are 10 seconds behind them?...don't you think DORNA is going to march their legal asses right down the pit road and snatch that bike up and scrutinize them unmercilessly the minute they look like anything more than a Satelite bike in terms of performance??....I mean really...the Ape is going to have to show some level of parity with the other CRT bikes if they are going to keep the curtain maintained to keep DORNA off their ass....

I think Carmello wants Aprilia to kick ass as a CRT team and it would have to be a blatant violation of some rule...like discovering factory 'support' for DORNA to do anything.

It fits his misguided, IMO, vision for GP

[gm2]

do you REALLY think that Aprilia wants to short itself any advantage it can stretch out if it comes out of the gate barking down the back doors of the factory bikes while all of the other CRT bikes are 10 seconds behind them?...don't you think DORNA is going to march their legal asses right down the pit road and snatch that bike up and scrutinize them unmercilessly the minute they look like anything more than a Satelite bike in terms of performance??....I mean really...the Ape is going to have to show some level of parity with the other CRT bikes if they are going to keep the curtain maintained to keep DORNA off their ass....

the classification, or not, of being CRT is a very short list of rules.  so far, they have the stamp.  while they have the stamp, they know that any team who feels like it can show up and buy the bike.  bang.  gone.  so:

 - don't cheat
 - use your own engineers
 - work your ass off to win

so, no, i don't think if he gets within 1 second, or zero seconds, of satellite machines that suddenly carmelo is going to run down pit lane with his hair on fire.  he WANTS them to be competitive.  he's hanging the success of the series on CRTs being the new satellite machines.  that way, there are enough bikes on the grid to actually give to deserving Moto2 riders each year.  3, 2, and GP all succeed as a result.

of course, if he discovers direct aprilia support he'll yank the CRT status.  duh.

but consider the RSV4 engine: just like in WSBK, it's the only V4 among the CRTs.  evidently that engine configuration is the juice.

[zooom]

I think Carmello wants Aprilia to kick ass" as a CRT team "and it would have to be a blatant violation of some rule...like discovering factory 'support' for DORNA to do anything.

It fits his misguided, IMO, vision for GP

I pointed out the key to things in your statement above...

and yes, I do in fact think the direction that GP is going is a little misguided with the CRT project...but Carmello is playing with his train set and will set forth the wants he deems fit...and if Aprilia shits on his idea as a way to play games with the rules and bend around them and try to cheat the system....I think Carmello will drop the hammer kind of harshly

[gm2]

I pointed out the key to things in your statement above...

and yes, I do in fact think the direction that GP is going is a little misguided with the CRT project...but Carmello is playing with his train set and will set forth the wants he deems fit...and if Aprilia shits on his idea as a way to play games with the rules and bend around them and try to cheat the system....I think Carmello will drop the hammer kind of harshly

nah, he'll just yank their CRT status.  like i've said before, there's at least some chance that Aprilia has that in mind.

but it's much more likely that they just want to own the CRT category.  it gives them prominence, they can feed their WSBK team, and they can play in both series without needing Japanese money.

and as factory bikes become a little more CRT-like in the future, why be running a skunkworks get-back-into-full-prototypes project?  they can clearly kick ass with production cases.

[gm2]

and, this: http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Mar/120313b.htm