MotoGP for Dummies

[zooom]

Yeah. But not nearly enough to be the only way to ride the bike, and as you can see it's only on certain corners (heavy braking after a straight, mostly). It's equal parts mental and physical.

It's a byproduct of an unweighted inner peg. The actual dangle is a conscious decision on style/technique. If that makes sense....

sorta....at the very least, color me moreso intrigued

[1.21GW]

Ok, new season coming, new dummy questions:

I hear a lot of talk about whether certain teams will choose to be 'open' this season.  I think it has to do with restrictions on specs or number of engines or something, but can't quite figure it out.  Anyone care to share some details on what it means?

[ducpainter]

Open bikes get more fuel, more engines, softer tires, and use the spec ecu.

[1.21GW]

Open bikes get more fuel, more engines, softer tires, and use the spec ecu.

Advantages/disadvantages?  My interpretation:

More fuel: obviously, without pit changes, that must mean more fuel for testing.  Not sure this seems like a big plus for going open.
More engines: effectively allows for more crashes. 
Softer tires: more grip = race advantage, however I imagine some riders are willing to take less grip for a tire that isn't shredded by the end of the race, allowing them to push harder in the final few laps.
Spec ecu: seems like a disadvantage, since I've read that HRC has threatened to leave if a set ECU for all teams is implemented.  I'm guessing that the factory (i.e. rich) teams have an advantage with ECU mapping.

How'd I do?

[duccarlos]

More fuel means they can run the engines richer, better throttle response and more power!
More engines allows them (specially Ducati) to continue development throughout the season making all sorts of changes to make the bike better
Softer tire allows for better grip on colder tracks. You'll still see the harder option when they go to tracks like Sepang.
Spec ECU allows for less tuning. So you can't program for every corner for instance, but most people think that the series will be forcing everyone onto the spec ECU within the next few years, so those early adopters should have some advantage.

[Triple J]

More Fuel (20 L factory vs. 24 L open) = more power.

More Engines (5 Factory vs. 12 open) = Ability to tune them for power, not as much for durability (so, more power). The development issue is also there, but that's mainy a Ducati thing.

Softer Tire (available for open bikes) = I'm not sure this is a grip issue, as the current GP tires have unreal grip. I think a softer tire might just mean that the open teams have more tire choices with regards to stiffness...which may translate into getting the bike set-up quicker/easier/better.

Spec Ecu: EVERYONE runs the spec. Magnetti Marelli ecu this season. However, Factory teams get to use their own software with it, while the Open teams must also use the spec. software. Advantage/disadvantage has yet to be seen.

[ducpainter]

Advantages/disadvantages?  My interpretation:

More fuel: obviously, without pit changes, that must mean more fuel for testing.  Not sure this seems like a big plus for going open.
More engines: effectively allows for more crashes. 
Softer tires: more grip = race advantage, however I imagine some riders are willing to take less grip for a tire that isn't shredded by the end of the race, allowing them to push harder in the final few laps.
Spec ecu: seems like a disadvantage, since I've read that HRC has threatened to leave if a set ECU for all teams is implemented.  I'm guessing that the factory (i.e. rich) teams have an advantage with ECU mapping.

How'd I do?

The fuel limit is 'on bike' and only affects fuel usage during a race. The testing time is limited, and there is unlimited fuel available during those tests.

The guys covered the rest.

[1.21GW]

Got it.  Thanks all.

[Spidey]

I hear a lot of talk about whether certain teams will choose to be 'open' this season.  I think it has to do with restrictions on specs or number of engines or something, but can't quite figure it out.  Anyone care to share some details on what it means?

Factory = faster
Open = slower

With the Ducati exception:

Factory = slower than dirt
Open = faster, but still slow.

[Spidey]

Advantages/disadvantages?  My interpretation:

More fuel: obviously, without pit changes, that must mean more fuel for testing.  Not sure this seems like a big plus for going open.
More engines: effectively allows for more crashes. 
Softer tires: more grip = race advantage, however I imagine some riders are willing to take less grip for a tire that isn't shredded by the end of the race, allowing them to push harder in the final few laps.
Spec ecu: seems like a disadvantage, since I've read that HRC has threatened to leave if a set ECU for all teams is implemented.  I'm guessing that the factory (i.e. rich) teams have an advantage with ECU mapping.

How'd I do?

One of the interesting things you'll hear about the "more fuel" debate is not just that it allows for more power.  There's a lot of talk about how less fuel fewer options for how to deal with power delivery.  For example, the Ducati is known for really sharp/abrupt power delivery when getting on the gas out of the corner.  With more fuel, they could design a fuel map to ease to the power delivery.  With less fuel, they have to worry about fuel conservation and they're having trouble dealing with the power delivery through mapping.  So the fuel thing is not just straight-up OOMPH.  It significantly affects how the power is delivered, which similarly affects feel, handling and drive.

More engines isn't just that they can tune the engines for more power (cuz who cares if one blows up).  It also allows them to do significant engine development throughout the season. With only five engines, the Factory teams aren't going to be able to change engine location in the chasis.  That's fine for Honda and Yamaha, who have pretty well sorted bikes.  The Ducati still needs a lot of work, and that could involve moving the engine around.  They're not going to be able to do that if they only have five engines to play with.  The mounting points for the engine can't change, which limits the ability to mess around with the chasis and weight distribution.  In short, having 12 engines is important to development of the bike.

There was a lot of concern about how the electronics would play out.  So far, it doesn't seem like it makes that huge of a difference.  It might play out differently as the season goes on.  What seems to make a big difference is the hardware differences.  The Honda Open is way down on power b/c it doesn't have pneumatic valves, and significantly slower because it doesn't have the seemless gearbox.  That said, Stoner was only .3 a lap slower on it in the fall.  But he's Stoner.  He's a freak.  He was even fast on the Duc, which NO ONE has managed to do. 

[Speeddog]

Additionally, the 'factory' option is not only just 5 engines for the season, those 5 get sealed at Quatar, so the engine configuration is frozen for the entire year.

[Triple J]

Additionally, the 'factory' option is not only just 5 engines for the season, those 5 get sealed at Quatar, so the engine configuration is frozen for the entire year.

Is that new? I thought they could seal them whenever.

[Speeddog]

Is that new? I thought they could seal them whenever.

New for this season, yes.

[ducpainter]

Additionally, the 'factory' option is not only just 5 engines for the season, those 5 get sealed at Quatar, so the engine configuration is frozen for the entire year.

How do they deal with the open bike engines WRT sealing?

[Speeddog]

How do they deal with the open bike engines WRT sealing?

I've not heard or seen anything specific on the sealing of the Open engines.
I'm assuming that it's the same as last year's protocol, a new engine can be presented and sealed at any time.

Standard definition of 'assume', of course.

I've not heard anything regarding how they control the configuration of a 6th (or subsequent) Factory engine.
Perhaps it's not controlled, so an updated engine could be supplied with the requisite one race pit-lane start penalty.