Well, the money is from the sponsors that follow... :P But yeah, the CRT thing hasn't really panned out. We've got France coming up this weekend with a substitute rider on the BMW-Suter bike and maybe it'll pick up the pace a bit. TBH, I had some hope for the Aprilia entries, but even they weren't really front pack even back when they had factory bikes out there.

 

Agreed. In my opinion "premier" classes don't have all the riffraff, nothing but top of the line riders with the finest machines known to man. Its not quite "unubtanium" if everyone else has the same machines lol.

 

I think they need to yank all the electronic B.S. and let the riders ride the bikes. That will bring back the fans.

 

A part of me agrees, but another part of me doesn't. The new machines output 250 horsepower and are capable of speeds of nearly 250 mph. They also have spline-ripping carbon brakes and whatever other one-off insanity they concoct especially for the prototypes. Pulling the electronics would make the current crop of bikes unrideable and the resulting decreases in bike performance required to make them rideable again would be steps backward in development. Then again, the 2 stroke 500s were technically unrideable so who knows?

 

[quote=raylee;1160678]A part of me agrees, but another part of me doesn't. The new machines output 250 horsepower and are capable of speeds of nearly 250 mph. They also have spline-ripping carbon brakes and whatever other one-off insanity they concoct especially for the prototypes. Pulling the electronics would make the current crop of bikes unrideable and the resulting decreases in bike performance required to make them rideable again would be steps backward in development. Then again, the 2 stroke 500s were technically unrideable so who knows?[/quote]


Bingo. You may have to step back a little with the performance, but maybe not. I say let's find out.

Give a competitive rider a new toy and tell him it's unrideable, and there will be one crazy SOB who will figure out how to ride the **** out of it.

 

i know its crazy to say because its endangering their lives slighty but the electronics has caused the racing to be so stale that it seems like its almost impossible to crash a top of the line motogp bike unless another rider is involved... it does make me wonder.. even though i now these guys are good.. how hard is it really to ride these bikes anymore?

 

i know money comes from sponsors, but by the same token, the fewer the sponsors, the higher the premium they are willing and going to pay. more sponsors, less money by each, so how much more do you gain with more "lesser" sponsors?

and i think colin edwards was really on the right track for that thing. but look how faster the moto2 boys are. their first year, they were only a few tenths faster than world supersport, and now they're much faster than world superbikes - i'm sure there will be the same kind of curve for the crt bikes

motogp bikes certainly aren't crash proof, but i think the amount of electronic rider aids is getting quite rediculous on them. just because their bikes have 250hp, it certainly doesn't mean they're using all 250 ponies all the time. if you took the electronics away, i don't necessarily think we'd see the bikes get less technical, because other mechanical systems could be developed to help cope with the power. not to mention, riders could just use a little less wrist twist. the slides would come back, and tires wouldn't be able to be quite as soft, but i think there'd be more than a few riders that would relish the chance to get on even ground with a few less electronics.

 

Taking out the R&D time/money involved in the electronics aids would surely balance the playing field. Any of you watch BSB? It's hard for me to find any footage of it, but I heard they banned traction control this season and it'd be interesting to see the results from it.

 

ya they did. and it's been exciting so far from what i hear. i haven't found much footage either.

but a lot of diehards have brought up that while it certainly levels the playing field to get ON to the grid, it's still heavily skewed when it comes to money, because while your bike may not cost as much per bike, you'll have to buy more bikes because of how much more you're going to wreck trying to be competitive (i mean, it is superbike after all). teams with more money can field more bikes, meaning they can push harder. and it's not even limited to just racing , you couldn't push as hard at testing, at practice, and at qualifying.


i know i'd be pissed if the team manager came up to me before a big race and said "whoa there buddy, we can't afford another bike, so make sure you bring it home if you want a ride for next weekend"

http://www.britishsuperbike.com/medi...tronics-02.pdf


a great part of racing is the rider, but if the rider is relegated to riding cavalier just to save money/costs, you might as well not race. so i don't think it's really fixed all that much

 

that explains a lot, thanks