MotoGP | 2024 | Silly Season

Ducati only have the advantage that they deserve though, they spent the money to field those bikes and hired the right guys to design them. Almost every recent technical advantage has come from Ducatis engineers first.

 

That actually doesn’t bother me. Would much rather have Ducati helping rescue the class versus the CRT’s, or even worse F1 where only 1 guy can pull off a win, 90% of the time. At least with MotoGP you really don’t know who will win.

Also a zillion years ago there were a bunch of Yamahas on the grid or at least Yamaha engines in different chassis. I remember multiple Hondas too, even V2 and V4 500’s.

 

+1 billllllion %

 

You may not care if it were a spec series, but you would be in the minority. Most people want a variety of riders and manufacturers winning races regularly.

 

....like in F1?

 

I bet the Ducati's are cheaper for the teams to lease than the Yamahas were. Pretty sure Tech3 has never all that happy with their arrangement when they were a Yamaha satellite. There's probably a bunch of little things Ducati is willling to do for their satellite teams that the other mfgs were not. Very much seems like a 'you made your bed, sleep in it' situation as to why there are so many ducatis that have nothing to do with 'best bike'.

 

I believe the lease fees were cheaper at the start, and Eyebrowz oversees and supports ALL the Ducatis, even the ones in WSBK. So even the lease teams are getting direct assistance from the factory. Yamaha more or less was like sink or swim on last year's stuff.

 

Honestly, I love the racing this season purely because we never know who exactly is going to win a GP. Anyone on a Ducati has a chance, on certain weekends the Aprilias are in the mix. MM93 on the Honda is nearly there. And weekends where you could honestly say before the on track action started that you would rule out Quartararo have been less than half. The same brand winning 85% means nothing to me. I'm a brand agnostic fan to be entertained by the riders. And I am.

-T

 

Read an interview about why they can’t support more than 4 current factory bikes at a time and they said it’s because of the personnel… Pramac has seven direct Ducati people… they’re even in Ducati colors still working on the Pramac bikes I noticed last weekend

 

Hevre said that the biggest motivation for switching to KTM was the direct factory current bikes… way back when they announced it… I haven’t kept up with updates…

 

and it was way better monetarily. it was more a team agreement than supplier/vendor and he's all about that life

 

I got to know Hevre a little and even talked to Guy a bit back in the Indy GP days… those tech 3 guys are real racers for sure… none of the bullshit pet project money men that plagues racing in all forms

speaking of… I was totally infatuated with their PR lady… she did other things but her English wasn’t very good and although I’m a fairly fluent Spanish speaker she only spoke German and French

hey @Phl218 do you know the chick I’m talking about? Black haired blue eyed beautiful Tech 3 chick that was always running around handling things in the Yamaha days? She said she was German… you all know each other in racing right… you, Bradl, this chick….

 

I think you are talking about Milena Koerner who now runs the Forward Moto2 team. Mathilde Poncharal (Herve's daughter) and Milena were the communications team back then when we leased bikes from them. She's easy on the eyes for sure.

 

back when Ripsoli rode it right or was it Jake? I can’t remember which was the Mistral… I painted all of them… and yeah I’m immune to infatuation from just pretty girls usually but she had an allure to her for sure…

edit…. Damn man… good memory… that’s her… she’s even aging well… miss the IndyGP days for sure

 

Did she braid your hair or did you play golf?

 

fuckin neither… I wish… I mean hot chicks are everywhere but hot smart racing chicks are rare…



I just stood there mouth agape until I could ask her what her genetics were… I was sad that I couldn’t communicate… almost always in my travels if they don’t speak English they speak Spanish as their second language… not this time… I almost learned German

 

I can't find my keys, had to ask you who you were on here, but I can remember that stuff, tire pressures, clickers, etc. from decades ago

 

She was PR and didn't speak english????.....

 

She probably spoke all, was just ducking him

 

I’m not sure what her title was… PR isn’t right I’m sure… she was running around and handling things and in charge… had confidence and purpose…she could be seen taking riders to interviews and such… her English was what I’d call Podium English for Italians or Spaniards… way better than my German or French so…

she’s running the Forward Moto2 team now… they’re German too I think…

but the first question out of my mouth after intro was “what are your genetics?” As she has a unique look about her, to me at least… I’m a mixed up NDN mutt that likes to learn about people and cultures