MotoGP | 2016 | Czech Republic| Brno | Aug 19-21

The hybrid design was a collaborative effort with a few select MotoGP teams and Greg Melka

 

Don't think there is a Michelin medium compound rain, at least there wasn't today....

 

Thoughts and observations:

JLo: Are his latest issues a "F U Yamaha" disgruntled employee lasing out?? His give a shit factor has to be going waaaaay down.

PedBot: WTF?? Was his name even mentioned in the last two races?? Hello?? Helloooooo?

VR46: The Old Man had things figured out this time, Sweetness!

Cal: Good to see him on top of the podium, *6* different winners this year!

Chezk Womens: Hottest on the planet. The Umbrella girls, and *HER* dammm, dammm, DAMMMM! those legs....

 

Nice shot!!!

 

When you overheat the carcass of the tire by running a soft wet tire when an intermediate is called for, delamination IS the "wear" you're going to see.

Notice it was Ducatis which had the failure start first? Traditionally Ducs are the hardest on front tires, hence why they had failures first.....

Good for Cal, i honestly thought he'd be spitting out gravel at some point with how hard he was pushing....also surprised no-one else crashed.

As far as Lorenzo...the desperation that his crew member was begging him to stay on his A-bike was sad...and to then mix it up with podium contenders when a lap down....highly unprofessional.

 

Dry races are boring. This shit is exciting!

Although I will say... Within reason. I was HOPING that no ones front tire exploded and put them on their ass... Crazy racing is fun as long as it's safe

 

I prefer elbow down action even if there's no battle for the front positions than trying to stay on the bike in the rain. And mixed conditions are far worse.

 

I think he read all the stupid you guys post about him and had to pull in to recover.

 

Hate to interject facts here, but if you want a full explanation on the tires, read this.

To make a long story short, the tires for the job on Sunday were the hard front and rear wet tires. The majority of the track gambled on using the softs thinking that the race would be flag to flag, so they only needed a tire to last for half of the race. The hards were meant to last on a drying track that. Some guys understood that, some guys didn't.

 

Not facts but opinion.
A tire delamination is still a structural failure, not normal wear. Michelin can spin it however they want but that tread layer should not separate from the carcass, ever.

 

Unless the design parameters are exceeded...

 

Stop being delusional. This is a fact.

"Michelin Motorsports boss Nicolas Goubert pointed out to me, and then reiterated in the press release, that the soft tires were made for full wet conditions. The reason for bringing two different compounds of wet tires was to cope with a wide range of conditions. The soft tire was meant to deal with a track that was absolutely soaking, with patches of water. The rubber is almost as soft as chewing gum, and incredibly sticky. The hard tire is meant to help clear water from a drying track, and withstand the heat generated by a dry line."

 

Remember all the Bridgestone wets delaminating? Me neither.

How many riders went out on slicks or intermediates? (Two, Dovi, because his tire chunked and that was what was on the bike and Lorenzo because that was what was on his bike). It wasn't dry and we've seen them ride on a drying track with rains and they didn't delaminated like this. Ianonne's tire is unacceptable and no one should be accepting that as a normal consequence of a tire allotment.

If it is too dry for the wet the tread layer should wear quickly, not separate from the carcass. Michelin is going to say what it wants to to protect its image. Don't take that as proof that this is normal wear.

 

Don't think intermediates were called for in this case. Still too wet. Dovi tried a set and was way slow. Delamination is unusual. You can run a wet front tire in drying conditions and toast it but usually it won't delaminate. It just won't have any grip, and it looks like hell at the end of the race.

 

You mean like circling a wet track on wet tires?
Or fording a river as Michelin wants you to believe they were designed for?

 

Or exceeding the heat rating of the adhesive that glues the tread compound to the carcass.

Fuck me, am I defending the French?

 

A MotoGP race is 20 some odd laps which can include a wet track which during the course of a race may dry requiring riders to ride on a drying line on wet tires. If your tires are experiencing STRUCTURAL failures in these conditions it is not because the design parameters were exceeded, it is because your design parameters are WRONG.
I would have no issues if these guys burned through the tread layer in four laps, I have a problem with the tires delaminating.

 

Well you know who to talk to about the spec.

 

Don't take it personally. Michelin gave them their money back and a coupon for a free set next week. It's all good.

 

It's funny that you only notice these issues when they affect Lorenzo. Bridgestone has had their own fair share of tire failures. Like when their slicks were delaminating at Assen in 2012 and when their slicks were chunking so badly at Philip Island that Race Direction made a dry race a mandatory flag to flag.

All of these events had one thing in common; the demands being placed on the tires were well outside of the operating window. The difference is that last weekend, the riders had the option to use a harder tire that was suited to the conditions. Some (i.e. Lorenzo) executed a poor strategy and paid the price for doing so.