I'd say he will have less of a rookie disadvantage. Perhaps a subtle nuance, but I don't believe that any earthling who comes into that class can have any kind of advantage over guys who have been doing it for a while. Not in MotoGP. And the last time a spaceship stopped by to drop off someone at the gate was 2013.
Shaun Muir from that BMW team has repeatedly said they would pay "whatever it takes" to keep Toprak. But if Honda wants Toprak, Honda will get Toprak.
If I was BMW I'd let Honda buy out his contract. The next day the entire team would be decked out in Adidas track suits, clam toes, Kangol hats and giant, funkt fresh gold BMW medallions on rope chains. Big bucks, no whammies!
Pretty sure whatever it takes means greasing the right palms at Dorna and starting up a GP team, whether BMW realizes that or not.
I get what you're saying, but this is a different scenario with changes in both the bikes and the tires the same year he would hypothetically arrive. Having spent many years racing on the same brand tires and, also hypothetically, spent the last year testing the exact new bike he'd be racing in 2027 since he wouldn't be hindered by the rules like the other 2027 racers who are currently restricted in testing. I'd also say that while rookie championship winning machines aren't regularly dropped off at the gate annually, riders can semi-regularly show up as a rookie and outperform experienced riders on the same machinery. Agoura over Fernandez this year so far. 2019 rookie Quartararo over Rossi. Just some examples, but a rookie sensation doesn't have to mean a rookie champion. Just a good performance in general.
I'm curious if BMW have made any effort to develop a 2027 rules bike so far. If they have not, then they're already pretty far behind the competition. "Arriving" at MotoGP really isn't a challenge for BMW. All they'd have to do is buy out a satellite team to secure the starts and they can even continue to employ a majority of the team to keep their first year there a bit smoother. If you have BMW money, buying a satellite team is absolutely not a hurdle at all. All that said, if they haven't begun developing a bike, then there's no reason for them to discuss buying a team to gain starts anyway.
I was about to say that everyone seems to forget about BMW buying the Suzuki MotoGP program. I am pretty sure they are working on a bike for MotoGP in 2027. Hence why they say they will pay anything to keep him. The question is what team are they they planing on taking sense the gp brass say they won’t allow more grid positions.
I'm pretty sure that BMW AG controls the purse strings for the entire BMW Group. Which means that a Moto GP project getting green lit would have to gain board approval. At least I'm assuming so as it's adding a $100M+ op ex line item to either the motorsports or marketing P&L (maybe they're one in the same). Either way, being a publicly traded company, I assume we'd see some proclamation of this in the quarterly reports which I don't think we have? Maybe the journalists aren't scouring these yet. I know I haven't. All that to say, if this were gonna happen, BMW would have had to at least move the money around to begin operationalizing the effort. Since this is absent (AFAIK) I think the BMW to MotoGP idea is all hat and no cattle and the BMW WSBK team manager going on record saying something while saying nothing at all.
They bought the data; they passed on buying any parts of the team (i.e., busses, infrastructure, etc.). Buying data is not buying the team or even indicative of intent to do anything with the data other than study it. They could have bought the data for the IP for development programs that have nothing to do with Moto GP.
Aside from the bikes, that's about all a team is in MotoGP. The data and the actual people are a majority of the value. Most teams don't own their semis, trailers, hospitality, etc. They're leased from companies like Schuler. In fact, they still have one of Suzuki's rigs for sale still. You might be able to get a good deal! https://www.schuler-trucks.com/en/m...schuler-cubes-available-second-hand-for-sale/
Data is all you need if they are building a completely new machine, the old machines are useless because of the changes in rules. The data Suzuki gathered from the 800cc era to when they won the championship cannot be replicated and therefore is priceless.
Agree. Wasn't implying at all that BMW would actually land on a GP grid inside the next couple years. More just pointing out that it sounds like a big paycheck isn't the only thing Toprak wants and Muir seems to be ignoring that.
If the machines are useless how can the data that they generated be priceless? That's a logic knot. That aside, the data is a piece; not the whole piece. More pragmatically, if BMW were going racing in '27, they'd need a working prototype, a test team, test riders, etc. to be in place by the end of this year. Given the apparent statis surrounding this situation, I don't think that's an achievable goal.
i have no use for a typewriter, but knowing which letter-whacker-things got tangled up most often would tell me a lot about typing patterns and which key combinations are common, without having to build my own keyboard and have a ton of usage tests on it (if building a keyboard were expensive)
you'd have to convince him to go along with that plan. he's king of the world in superbikes. why would he go to basically the farm league?
I thought it was that they wouldn't allow any more satellite teams...and that a factory team could be added. Am I off base?
