And very promising st the same time. If they get a chassis that makes that bike more potent, then Marquez stays and we get someone to battle with Ducati. Yamaha needs to do the same thing with their engine. High time they go V4
As I recall, that wasn't Yamaha who asked for that, but Team Roberts. Yamaha didn't think they needed too. "It's winning. What improvements does it need?", was the quote. I believe it was also Team Roberts that talked them into selling motors to independent teams who wanted to run a ROC, or Harris, chassis to insure there WAS a grid beyond the factory teams. I agree, large piece of humble pie for HRC. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
From a cultural perspective, this is pretty fascinating to me. Well everything about Japanese culture is fascinating to me. What Im trying to get at here is yeah I dont think they are known to be people who are nimble and quick to change course when things go awry but rather stay the course due to cultural pressures more than other groups.
The seppuku watch position requires you to complete the task if the individual in question lacks efficiency.
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If you want a real deep perspective on Japanese culture and the pressures of tradition/staying the course/refusal to lose; Listen to Dan Carlins podcast series on Japan during WW2. Its called Super Nova in the East. I believe its 6 or so parts, but prolly 20 hours+ in total. (keep in mind that this could technically be a dated opinion because it solely focuses on Japan from 1890'ish to the end of the war) Dan is not a historian, he's a story teller.. Telling stories from the history books, journals, official documents, speeches, etc.. "Japanese society is just like every other society, just more so" ---was the big quote that resonated with me.
It is fascinating... Dan is a great historian. They have huge pressure to keep the established supply/design/manufacturing process going. All the people in that chain depend on their jobs, so its not easy for HRC to upset that status quo.
Nothing new there. Back in 1967 Mike Hailwood paid for a new frame to be designed and made for the works 500cc Honda he was racing, as the handling of the factory one was so bad. Honda weren't too happy and he was only allowed to race it in non-world championship events.
One of my favorite Hailwood stories had him asking his Japanese mechanics if he might examine the rear shocks from his Honda. When they handed them to him, he pitched them in a lake.
Apparently Hailwood was notorious for being unable to convey the problems he had with a bike to his team. He was a fantastic rider but did not have an ability to describe anything in engineering terms.
Ducati doesn't need Marc Marquez. If the best rider in the word is stuck riding a brick, they can continue to save money on rider salaries while embarrassing every other manufacturer in the paddock..
Haven't seen Ogura's name in the M2 Jerez test time sheets. Nor read anything on his absence. Did I miss anything?.....