2013 Silly Season?...maybe spoilers

[thought]

"The signing of Marquez and Pedrosa provides another major part of the puzzle in MotoGP’s Silly Season for 2013, but some key question marks remain. Mugello was expected to be the place where Cal Crutchlow put pen to paper on a contract with Ducati, but the Englishman is still waiting. The ball, Crutchlow said, is in Ducati’s court, and he is waiting for the Bologna factory to give him a contract to sign. “Everything is discussed,” Crutchlow told reporters. “We have some paperwork to go through, but we don’t have any paperwork at the moment.” While most paddock insiders expected the deal to be done here in Italy, Crutchlow said that he had known since Germany that nothing would be signed at Mugello.

The delay at Ducati opens some intriguing possibilities. Where previously, most paddock insiders had expected Nicky Hayden to lose his ride to make way for Crutchlow – something which apparently Hayden also expected, given his remarks in Germany – the delay could open more opportunities for the American. Hayden was marginally more upbeat about his prospects at Mugello than he had been at both the Sachsenring and Assen, which may have something to do with the talks he had with Audi bosses in Germany.

They did not discuss details, Hayden said, but it had been a positive meeting, and Hayden had come away impressed with Audi’s enthusiasm for the project. Audi, in turn, may be impressed with Hayden’s sales potential in the US, and with Ducati’s sales already up 26% in the second quarter in one of Ducati’s most important markets, having an American rider may become more important for the Italian factory."

www.asphaltandrubber.com/racing/motogp-summary-thursday-italian-gp-2012/

last minute reprieve for hayden?

[DRKWNG]

They passed over Rossi for HIM??

Repsol wills it.

[OT]

....... Audi will throw resources at the problems that Ducati couldn't afford to alone.

Let's all (Ducati MotoGP fans) hope that Audi brings more to the R&D department than silver paint....the probability of success for this kind of technical merger -- between one company that hasn't done racing-on-two-wheels and another that, with mildly justifiable arrogance, is a pioneer and perennial champion in racing-on-two-wheels -- probably has a 50% chance of producing success on the track.

I don't see money as the solution to this problem, if that were the case then Honda would have solved their chatter problem long ago.

And, it'll probably take a year for Audi's engineers to get up to speed on motorcycle technology, assuming Ducati's engineers are in a sharing mood - after all, national pride is at stake.

[thought]

I expect the same kind of teething problems from Audi as BMW had trying to get their engineers to understand that car TC is different than bike TC.

But having the extra money and production capabilities cant hurt.

[OT]

Yes - I hope they held the first redesign meetings yesterday....

[zooom]

Let's all (Ducati MotoGP fans) hope that Audi brings more to the R&D department than silver paint....the probability of success for this kind of technical merger -- between one company that hasn't done racing-on-two-wheels and another that, with mildly justifiable arrogance, is a pioneer and perennial champion in racing-on-two-wheels -- probably has a 50% chance of producing success on the track.

I don't see money as the solution to this problem, if that were the case then Honda would have solved their chatter problem long ago.

And, it'll probably take a year for Audi's engineers to get up to speed on motorcycle technology, assuming Ducati's engineers are in a sharing mood - after all, national pride is at stake.

as I have said before and I will restate...the thing I see being brought to the table from Audi in the whole regard to GP aside from $$$ is the resources for fabrication that currently Ducati does not have inhouse that Yamaha and Honda do...Ducati is in a grey area having things fabricated by a 3rd party which is holding them at bay in stalling some development because ( iirc ) Suter is the maker of some of those pieces and they are also dealing with other customer demands in CRT and Moto2 which limits their resources and turn around time....Audi can potentially bring some of that back in house as it were and churn that stuff out in a faster timeframe than what is currently being done using what they have already to do so....since so much of this is now engineered on a computer in a CAD oriented setting...simply sending it over to Germany to have it fabricated should be pretty simple right?...at least alot simpler than having Suter do it...

[duccarlos]

That's only if you have experience fabricating motorcycle frames, specifically in AL. Ducati can build a trellis frame, no problem. Audit can build an AL frame for a car. I do agree that now they should be able fab other items quickly. To tell you the truth I would not be surprised if they decide on building a frame around the motor, but that will take at least a year.

[Raux]

what Audi brings in most likely very quickly is the computer modelling for AL frames.

[gm2]

ben back to wsbk?

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jul/120717b.htm


and nicky says no, so far

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Jul/120717d.htm

[OT]

....Crutchlow....is waiting for the Bologna factory to give him a contract to sign...

Just noticed this!

OK, I haven't slept much over the past few days....

what Audi brings in most likely very quickly is the computer modelling for AL frames.

Garbage in, garbage out.

[Raux]

Garbage in, garbage out.

that's the point of Audi, they have the good data to plug in to the computer models.

[Triple J]

that's the point of Audi, they have the good data to plug in to the computer models.

I fail to see how Audi brings anything except money. They have no motorcycle experience. Look how long it has taken BMW to become competitive in WSBK, and they HAD motorcycle experience.

[Raux]

ducati is stepping into a material it has no structural experience with, AL.
so with Audi's knowledge of AL as a frame and it's modeling program it will help immediately with frame modeling and AL frame dynamics.
IMO 

[Triple J]

Possibly.

Ducati currently has help with their Aluminum frame though, so I'm not sure how much Audi can help. We'll see...I hadn't thought of it that way.

I think dropping the 90* V configuration may solve their problems though. We'll know shortly.

[Raux]

I honestly think if Dorna wants Ducati back in it, they have to drop the bore limit.
A supershort stroke V2 or V4 (not L) would allow the motor to be more compact allowing it to be pushed forward in the chassis.
A superquadroquadro