2013 Silly Season?...maybe spoilers

[ducpainter]

Pretty good of him to get the guaranteed support from Audi, that would def be a deal breaker if that wasnt included.  But... I still say 2 years before it's competitive.... Dovi is just going to be their development rider imo.

You'd think they could get some pretty decent feedback from a former world champion as well.

I'm talking Nicky

[duccarlos]

You'd think they could get some pretty decent feedback from a former world champion as well.

I'm talking Nicky

Nicky and Stoner were ignored for years, both world champions. Nicky is not as vocal as Stoner or Rossi.

[thought]

+1 Right now they just need a guy that will give them decent feedback. Even with Audi's help, they will depend on the clowns that are running the place for any real work until the Audi engineers get up and running. Are there any german engineers outside of BMW that have any experience with motorcycle racing at a significant level?

Closest thing I can think of is KTM for their offroad stuff but they're austrian... and if you count austrians then rotax maybe?

The other interesting thing about the JV teams is that if the moto2 guys can get used to riding the duc quickly we might be able to see the satellite teams podium on a regular basis.

[duccarlos]

The other interesting thing about the JV teams is that if the moto2 guys can get used to riding the duc quickly we might be able to see the satellite teams podium on a regular basis.

Kinda like Tech 3? That's who Ducati is using as an example.

[gm2]

Nicky and Stoner were ignored for years, both world champions. Nicky is not as vocal as Stoner or Rossi.

'blank sheet' effect of first year of the 800s + michelin crash & burn + bridgestone slow and steady improvement + thursday tire rule + "rocket barely under control via electronics" + stoner magical ability that no one recognized as such for about 4 years = monumental ducati hubris that they are just beginning to shed, having left several careers in the dust along the way

[thought]

Kinda like Tech 3? That's who Ducati is using as an example.

Well, isnt tech3 just doing a lot better this year because it's the 1st year as the 1000cc's so the hardware is a lot closer to the factory teams?  By next year I can see them dropping back quite a bit because they'll be on Lorenzo's bike from this year.

What Duc's JV teams sounds more like is more of a 4 bike factory team... does Yam run tech3 the same way?  I just thought it was just the normal satellite hand me downs for them.

[duccarlos]

That's what I thought until I read a few different articles that alluded that the tech 3's are using similar bikes as the factory team, except maybe for the brakes that Dovi had to buy.

[gm2]

correct.  the tech 3 bikes are always ~close, but they aren't factory spec.  kinda like barbera's bike now.

ducati is proposing they change that model and basically hand out 4 factory bikes so they have twice the amount of feedback

edit:

@carlos, right, this year especially they are maybe even closer.  but there's a few ponies missing for sure.

[thought]

Has there been any word yet on who will be on the satellite ducs yet though?  It's posited as Iannone and Redding right now right?

I wonder, if this strategy turns out to work really well and the GP13/14 development accelerates to the point that it becomes a viable podium finisher, would Yam/Honda wind up doing the same thing to keep the arms race in parity.  Would be great to have a grid of 12 factory spec bikes duking it out vs just the 6 usual factory riders.  Especially when you factor in that some of those riders will be hungry rookies really wanting to push that extra bit for the win.

[Speeddog]

3 out of the 4 Yamaha/Honda satellites aren't much troubled by the *factory* Ducs now, let alone a hypothetical junior squad.

With Rossi gone from Ducati, I think Y/H aren't worried in the slightest.

[Speeddog]

And the more I think about it, the more this "junior team" on Factory hardware seems like a fiasco.

The major issue that Ducati seems to have is producing new/different hardware at anything beyond a glacial pace.

So doubling the production quantity necessary (to actually gain feedback from 4 riders instead of 2) appears to be compounding an already serious problem. 

[gm2]

glacial pace.

they just literally lost Rossi because of this.  it has to change or they may as well stop right now.

[thought]

I think Audi really might be able to help that out however... again, not as much during the first year but probably by the second.  With the backing of the factory and their production lines I could see updates coming faster and faster... and as evinced by that Audi/Ducati pikes peak commercial, Audi seems pretty bent on commercializing the race winning aspects of Ducati.  And Audi does have a pretty solid race background so they probably know how to fab up new parts pretty quickly.

I mean, if you think about it... until BMW steps into the MotoGP ring, Ducati should now have close to the same buying power as Honda since they are both backed by a large car company.  Not as tightly integrated, but it's still a huge step up from what they were.

[gm2]

until BMW steps into the MotoGP ring

2014 or 2015?

[gm2]

cal to the jv team?

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2012/Aug/120814e.htm