Daytona 200 pole times

this year was a 1:49.7 on 600 yamha.

Troy corsers pole time from the 1996 Daytona 200 was a 1:49.3 on a factory Promoter Ducati

 

Don't forget which years they switched configurations for SBK and sport bikes or whatever before those times are no longer comparable.

 

1996 was the normal configuration, but it was pretty damn windy during qualifying that year.

 

Repaved also.

 

and better tires...

 

Kinda amazing that 20 year of progress hasn't moved the times much.

 

20 years ago it was 750's and 1000cc twins. I'm sure the times would be much lower if you had a proper 1000sbk running the current 200 configuration.

 

It makes me wonder how the MotoGP teams and sponsors feel when they look at the countless millions that are spent every year building and developing new bikes, then look at the stats for the track and see the lap record from 2013 still stands.

 

$Millions and $Millions for thousands. That's racing. Crazy.

 

It looks like 2004 was the last year that they ran the old configuration where the 1000's ran all the way around the west banking similar to what the 600's still do now. 2005 is when the 1000's started cutting through the infield and avoiding it, and the 200 was also switched to the 600 FX class.

But in 2003 and 2004 the pole times were Ben Bostrom on an RC51 w/ a 1:48.376 and Eric Bostrom on Duc 999 w/ a 1:46.84 respectively.


And just for comparison sake, the last year the Superbikes ran at Daytona (2014), Boobeeyay was on pole with a 1:38.079

 

so,really not much progress....

 

Well, depends on how you look at it. 3 seconds per lap is a decent chunk of time. You can't ignore the HP discrepancy between a 1000 and a 600 at a place like Daytona, even if its a nearly 15 year old 1000. Also as was said, Daytona has gone through a repave since then, and tires have gotten better.

So if you were to take Elias or Hayes super bike and run it around the course tomorrow, I'd have to think they would set times of sub 46's

 

Why are we even comparing to liter bikes?

OP was most fair. 20 year old 750s vs. current 600s.

So 20 years of tire, suspension and chassis development can't overcome a 25% displacement advantage.

 

Mesa had fast lap this weekend with a :47.5 I believe on his ZX10.

 

But that was on the new layout which I believe is shorter.

 

Yes. The Superbikes couldn't run the big course because the tires couldn't handle it.

 

FTFY

 

Yes I know

I figured that would be self-evidence because I mentioned they changed the layout back in 2005

 

Over many laps of course...... is this due to the higher speeds, or the load on bankings, or combo of both?

 

I don't think there was evidence that any company made a tire that could last that long at Daytona running the long course at Pro 1000 superbike speeds over an endurance race distances.