about those 800s...

Reading rider comments on the Valencia test and trying to get my arms
around some of the comments. It seems Rossi and Hopkins were ion bikes
that mated the new motor with the existing 990 chassis, Rossi doing his
best laps on that and Hopper barely trying a new chassis. Hayden and
Pedrosa are on all-new bikes, of course.

Hayden makes the comments about how he'll have to change his riding
style to get the best out of the new bike, more corner speed, getting on
the throttle earlier out of the corners, the tire can take the lower
power still leaned over. But he also says you can't steer the bike with
the rear, which surprises me - an prototype 800 which probably makes 200
hp can't be spun up sufficiently? Maybe it's just the way the motor was
configured for this test, maybe it was just Hayden's motor problems (he
apparently had some sort of problem getting on the power they couldn't
figure out), who knows.

Hopkins' comments are more perplexing to me. He was notably faster on
race tires than he was during the race, was talking about how good the
package is right out of the box, and said corner entry speed and
midcorner speed are where the ground is made up, because acceleration
and top speed are down. But why is that, if he's on the same chassis,
the same tires? A smaller, less powerful motor shouldn't make the bike
faster in the corners if it has the same chassis and weighs the same,
should it? Perhaps it doesn't weight the same, as the motor probably
weighs less and they probably aren't ballasting the bike to make up the
difference. If that's not it, it seems like they just could have dialed

Weight isn't the only issue. Rotating mass is a big factor and
the 800 almost certainly has less rotational inertia in the motor.
Turning a smaller gyroscope is easier.

Yeah, didn't think of that, that would have a real impact at the level
they're at, I would imagine. But it seems unlikely to have that much
impact, even at a tight track that's really too slow to make use of the
990's advantages, right? And I'd think the impact would be felt at
turn-in, but not so much midcorner speed, but that could be wrong.

But did they not rev higher? I will not believe this gyroscope effect has
an impact.

Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

power out of the 990 and gotten faster for it. Of course, the primary
complaint of the Suzuki riders over the years has been insufficient
power, the same thing Hopkins says now with the 800.

Rossi made similar comments, complaining about the loss of speed on day
two because of the way the bike reacted to the change in temperature.
But he makes it sound like a continuation of the problem with the new
bike, yet it's the same old chassis, so wouldn't that be the
expectation? Strikes me as a bit odd.

Btw, the article says of his day two time, "That left him trailing
quickest rider Dani Pedrosa by 1.1 seconds on the final afternoon and
only Jeremy McWilliams, Andrew Pitt and Garry McCoy - on the new
British-built Ilmor - were slower than Rossi." Just another indication
that the reported 1:33.20 time by McCoy was inaccurate, for those who
still are buying into that.

Anyway, it would seem Yamaha and Suzuki are behind Honda and Ducati on
new chassis development, and Rossi isn't sounding terribly happy, maybe

Indeed!
2 engine failures, a 1st and 3rd position lost, tyre failure in
China.Thanks Yamaha and Michlin, you cost Rossi the Championship and
handed it to Hayden

Rossi should have walked it in this year, and will make up for it in
07'

The funny thing is HRC must really consider themselves lucky to have
won this year, and have no faith in Nicky as per your comments below

the first crack in his Yamaha affection after being let down this year.

Also reported from the Honda side is the apparent lack of real
commitment from HRC to treat Hayden as a #1 next year. "I asked but

Nicky is THE luckiest guy in sport this year, mind u he beat his team
mate fairly, Ped would have to be the most over rated rider in MotoGP,
he finished 5th first year, Max finished 2nd on a private bike 1st
year, but that was to doohan so thats no recommendation

Really hard luck story of the year would have to be Loris, he had his
chance taken away by his team mate, lucky Sete was fired before he
retired, its justice

I agree. I've been meaning to do the numbers, but I feel that had
Loris even got average finishes for the races he missed, he could have
had a chance for the championship.

haven't got a reply yet", Hayden said. "I'd love to have the number one
bike and I definitely asked for it. I saw Mr. Ishii in the bar Sunday
night after winning the championship and I thought I'd ask him when he'd
had a few drinks, but he didn't budge. We'll see, but I'd love to have
it." Perhaps his troublesome engine at the test is an indication?

And as for that tiny tail on the 212, my guess is that it's just a
midget seat and little more, Nicky's already complained about it. I
mean, seriously, look at that thing: