MotoGP Sachsenring...Spoilers

[kopfjäger]

Pretty 'Slick' move by MM's Team. 

Cal made some 'buffalo girls' moves.

Glad to see the 'golden boy' follow pit board instructions. 

[Mhanis]

I don't understand the Yammaha pit strategy at all. Sure enough VR stayed out too long, that is on him. But HE doesn't know what is going on around the track. All the riders can do is what they think is the best and the should take the advice of the pit crew. But after VR chose to stay out how in the hell could the team not have changed his bike to full slicks!? Surely they would have seen the lap times MM was laying down. By VR staying out they must have know when MM was doing. At that point they are no longer fighting for the win, but give your guy the best opportunity for the best possible finish, and wearing intermediate rain tires was not the best choice.

Is it maybe that to go to full slicks requires more bike adjustments than they had time for?

What a great race from start to finish, they should all be so fun!

Mark

[koko64]

Nice to see Jackass take 7th.

[ducpainter]

Easy making all these decisions from the couch.

[kopfjäger]

Easy making all these decisions from the couch.

Maybe they should have written 'BOX' in Italian. 

[koko64]

I had enough trouble seeing anything at 200-250kmh, so these guys do well to read a pit board at all. Add mist, the red mist, a bike in front, etc. They do well I reckon.

[kopfjäger]

MM read his just fine. Goldie starred at his pitboard hard when they first put it up. I ain't buying that shit. Jack said he ignored his, saying to himself 'what do they know' 

[ducpainter]

Maybe they should have written 'BOX' in Italian. 

Dood...when you're chasing the other two guys in a race where you have no make the beast with two backsing clue what's going on behind you wrt to who's doing what...

it's really easy to say woulda coulda shoulda...the guys he was chasing made different tire choices, finished higher, and also all stayed out too long.

Marquez and his team obviously spent some time considering the options for the flag to flag. They chose slicks.

The simple fact that Rossi's bike was fitted with intermediates speaks volumes.

When are they...besides Honda....gonna figure out that the inter's aren't much help?

I think you just have an issue with the old guy.

[kopfjäger]

Easy for you to say from the couch. 

[Mhanis]

All of this leads back to my question; after seeing the tims MM was laying down using the slicks why would VR's crew not change his second bike to slicks?

I'm not asking "Why didn't those dumb asses change the bike" because I don't think they are stupid, I am asking WHY it didn't happen. Is there more to it than changing the wheels, tires brakes and tweaking the suspension a bit?

I know a "wet" bike has steel, not carbon discs, what about the pads, are they different too?

Mark

[Speeddog]

Pads are different for the carbon discs.
AFAIK, they keep the pads and rotors as a 'mated' set once they've been used.
So, to swap from a wet setup to a dry setup is swapping a front wheel, it's calipers with pads, rear wheel, and suspension settings.
I'm sure there's ECU settings as well, dunno whether that's through rider buttons or a quick load from a lappy.
Plus, they've got to start the bike and have it all ready to go every lap in case the rider decides to come in.

In an ideal world, I suspect also some geometry, IE shock linkage, fork height, possibly even swingarm pivot position, as well as springs and clickers.

MM's crew is pretty f'n sharp, they made what turned out to be the right calls.
They've screwed up too, like at PI with the mandatory pit stop.
I remember when MM first did the direct vault from one bike to the other, everyone else crapped their pants.

All that said, Rossi stayed out too long, and the pack around him was following his lead.
So they all got more or less hosed the same.

Not knowing how Rossi and his team define the words on his pit board, it's a bit hard to figure out where it went wrong.
The 'BOX' on the board may just mean 'We're ready for you to come in'.
If that's the case, then they need something else to communicate to him 'We're ready, and you need to come in NOW or you're make the beast with two backsed'.
The rider has the absolute best assessment of conditions throughout the track.
But the crew has all the laptime info and a good read on who's doing what with pitstops and tire selection.
The rider has to delegate some of the strategy decisions to the crew, or they're going to get hammered on the average versus teams that do.

[Mhanis]

I guess maybe VR's crew reached a critical point of no return once he didn't come in. Maybe there is enough time  to get the bike set up for slicks if you can convey to the rider "Don't come in for 3 more laps (or whatever) while we change the bike". As bad as it was sending him out in intermediate tires it would have been far worse having him stand in the pit box while the changes were being made.

Mark

[kopfjäger]

http://m.crash.net/motogp/news/232205/1/valentino-rossi-i-lost-a-good-opportunity.html

[kopfjäger]

After the Flag #9

[kopfjäger]

"Yeah, I'm not a girl" 

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2016/07/17/crutchlow-i-don-t-think-many-others-had-the-balls/205880