Ducati grid strategy

Now it all makes sense...

http://www.twowheelsblog.com/post/3308/ducati-grid-strategy-explained

 

Repost.

http://forums.13x.com/showpost.php?p=2775749&postcount=54

 

Fuggin double repost, geniouses...

http://forums.13x.com/showpost.php?p=2775517&postcount=234

 

Oops.... MODS please feel free to expunge this bogus thread

 

any video footage available of the actual "ducati grid strategy"?

 

Does anyone else find this explanation confusing?
I keep thinking that i understand it & then something else comes up. There is really no reason that both bikes should not at least have on tires that have been on warmers. I'm guessing that the tires that were bolted on the A bike were not intended for the race(spec wise). I get that. I get that the race tires would be coming from the B bike, which he should have been using to warm them, but didn't. So, when they saw him leave pit lane on the A bike with the wrong tires, they grabbed the primary race tires off the B bike & headed to the grid to meet him & do the swap. I get that. My question is, shouldn't the primary race tires that they grabbed off the B bike have been on warmers, in preparation for the sighting lap? He was supposed to go out on the sighting lap on them. So? Wouldn't they have at least had 180-220 degrees in them in order to do the sighting? Therefore that heat would have been maintained during the period between the sighting & warmup lap, allowing him to make a warmup lap without crashing?

My problem with all of this is that, if his tires were on warmers, then he should have been able to start a freaking warmup lap & not crash. It's a warmup lap. Not a race. He was crawling, let everyone past & still piled.
They are talking like they were dead cold tires & I just don't see why there would be a dead cold tire in the vicinity of that garage that would not be able to have it's temp maintained after the sighting lap thus allowing him to at least make a single, slow warmup lap.

Someone explain what i'm missing...

 

In Stoner's video on MotoGP.com, he says the the telemetry says that he was only at 1 or 2 percent throttle when it happened. It sounded like something malfunctioned (maybe his brain) but that the data didn't show what it was and that no one was taking the blame for it. I find it hard to believe, even on a completely cold tire that only 2% throttle would cause the tire to slide and highside him.

 

I do.

 

I think that whatever it was, they are trying to confuse people with regards to the cold tire theory.

He leaves the pits on the A bike, by mistake.
He goes out on the sighting lap & does not crash. Those tires, on that A bike, would have been up to temp, as the tires from that bike would be going back on the B bike in case anything happened during any part of the event. They would have been warmed anyway.
He pulls to the grid.
He is on his A bike already.
Does he have the wrong tires?

If yes:
The crew goes & pulls the correct tires off the B bike. These tires would have been FULLY warmed, as they were essentially going to do the sighting lap, warmup lap & race on them. They would not have been dead cold as they would not send him out for a sighting lap with dead cold tires. They install them on the bike & keep them on the tire warmers on the grid as they continue to warm. 10 plus minutes later, he sets off on the warmup lap on fully warmed (on warmers) tires, where he crawls along & crashes anyway.
Tires that were on warmers all that time surely should have been able to handle the unusually slow pace he was going.

If No:
He just completed the sighting lap & did not crash, so whatever tires he was on had to have SOME heat in them. Then, he gets the warmers on for 10 plus minutes to increase whatever heat the tires that just allowed him to not crash on the slow sighting lap.
Then he went out on tires that he just did the sighting lap on, crawled through the first few turns of the warmup lap & crashed.

I'm just saying that blaming this on the "Ducati grid strategy" is a load.
Something happened, sure. But, unless i am missing something, there really is only 2 possible scenarios for tires & neither make a case for him piling.

 

The only thing I keep thinking is wouldn't it just be easier to check the fuel when you come back in rather than changing bikes and tires?

 

Perhaps they aren't allowed to refuel on the grid.

 

I inferred that the tires were stone cold on the A bike because they were used as rollers only. The B bike had the race tires on warmers, used on the warm up lap to get to the correct temp, then these tires were swapped to the A bike (on warmers) once on the grid. Not really that had to understand.

As to the % of throttle, shit happens. On cold tires especially.

 

One other thing that sticks in my mind is that it was very windy and he was off the racing line. In the pre-race footage you could see dust clouds blowing in the background. I suppose there could have been a "perfect storm" of cold/cool tires, dust, off the line, etc...

 

You are assuming probably incorrectly in this case, that the A bike tires were up to temp via warmers.

YOu are also thinking that you can jump on a B bike in case something happens during the race. As I understand you can only swap to your B bike during a race if it is declared wet. In that case, the tires are wets anyway. I could be wrong on that point.

 

That's how I understand it too...but in this case the race could have not been counted as started yet.

 

Right. What i meant was that they would have to have that bike ready to change in case something happened before the race, as in, on the sighting or warmup lap.

 

i think their grid strategy is stupid. It is mostly to save one lap worth of fuel. In this case it bit them in the ass.

 

You need to go back & read what i said.

Tires that were just rollers would only be installed on a bike that was going out for a race, purely by mistake. That could happen. That has nothing to do with grid strategy.

Again, these tires that were installed on his bike were to be the tires that he was to race on? If so, they would have been on warmers & had significant heat in them.

If in fact the tires that were installed on the bike were dead cold, then that's just a plain fuck up, having nothing to do with grid strategy coming into play.

I'm not necessarily saying he didn't crash on cold tires. I'm saying that grid strategy had nothing to do with it.
Whether they were the tires he just did the sighting with, or they were the tires that they had intended for the race that they swapped on, both should have had significant temp in them.

 

fuel

they are not allowed to refuel on the grid, the ducati fuel is kept as cold as the rules allow to get more in the tank. just before each race every team has the fuel temp taken to check its within limits, most teams don't push the limits apart from ducati, the chill it to max, if the camera would get close enough you would see how the condensation build up on the outside

l think its was an electronics issue or he hit the launch button

 

That is correct.