[Postseason Test] Valencia, Spain | MotoGP 2013

I wish they'd keep the plain carbon look.

 

The Repsol Honda of Pedrosa had the fastest trap speed of 203 mph.
Haydens production racer was the slowest bike at the test at 191 mph.

 

Yep. Its a great look. It'd be hard to tell them apart on the track though.

 

Damn, those pneumatic valves give it some punch. Well that and Pedrobot probably weights about >25 lbs less than Hayden

 

At the rpms they are at now [16-16500] does pneumatic valves make that much difference. When they were at 18500-19000, they were a must,but it seems pneumatics are being used more now for fuel efficiency, than making outright power at huge rpm's. I am totally surprised at the straight line speed difference between the two Hondas. With the extra fuel available, power was not supposed to be one of the problems with the production bike. I bet its Dorna's software that has it all bound up. Give them time to crack the code, but 12 mph is CRT type slow compared to the factory bikes.

 

More like 40 lbs less.
My lunch weighs more than Pedrosa.

 

They're shifting 4-5 times on that straight, so I could see the seamless possibly adding 1-2 mph by the end of the straight.

 

Aoyama - 312kph
Hayden - 307kph

Something seems off there on the same bike?

And btw, it's not only CRT slow... It is slower than the CRTs!

 

That's only 3 mph difference, so that could be due to Aoyama getting a better tuck, or maybe he got a good draft on that lap.

 

Could the Aspar boys also not be full gas? For the potential of putting it in the gravel trap.

 

I would expect this to a degree. They only had one bike to test. They probably had the TC set a bit conservatively, which would slow the exit from the last corner and hence a lower top speed. Add in no seamless gearbox, maybe a bit less power due to the valves, riders not familiar with the bike means possibly slower mid-corner speed, etc.

 

He has also worked with Corser, Melandri (at Yamaha, and BMW). Not saying he is a step up on Burgess, but the guy has a very good reputation...

 

Moto2 Day 1

 

Sam Lowes, good show.

 

'Faster is nearly impossible', says Ducati's Crutchlow

 

Going to be a long season for Crutch.

 

For sure. It doesn't sound Ducati has anything new in the works.

 

Ducati had a new fairing for testing at Valencia... the other guys had 2014 bikes that they've been working on and testing for 5+ months...

 

They should've had Nicky on it for the last few races, maybe he could have helped, buy probably not.

 

At least Cal and Gigi "will be able to make a lot of changes"