Nicky's last chance....for a championship.

With the 800cc bikes running next year......do you think riders like Nicky with a superbike background have a big disadvantage??

IMO seems like after this year, riders like Nicky will have to change their riding style to a more 250 style. If you take Edwards as a guideline of changing riding styles, seems to be about a year to adapt. I remember when Nicky was a rookie, Doohan and at that time Rossi said, Hayden did too much backing it in...loosing too much corner speed. Seems with the lower displacement and some of the tests (quotes) from other riders that have tested the 800cc....Nicky will have a very steep learning curve over the winter.

 

Did anyone notice the way oversize rear brake rotor on the 800cc bike photos with #69 on the bodywork?

 

from a quick list of past and present MotoGP winners over the last couple of years...

RIDER WEIGHT (LBS)
Melandri 141
Rossi 147
Hayden 152
Capirossi 130
Gibnernau 154
Pedrosa 112
Tamada 134

height is another factor that I did not easily find any info on, but, it is generally accepted that the taller riders have an aerodynamic advantage over the shorter riders.

Anyway, I think size is not quite as relevant as some want it to be in determining race winners...

IMHO, style and talent will alwyas be the determing factor in motorcycle racing.

 

For instance, Pedrosa light wt. was a huge advantage in the 250's....but not as big as a deal with the 990cc.........in turn, tracks like Motegi it was a huge disadvantage in big breaking areas. Just doesn't have enough assssss.

 

Did you get this in the reverse order just general speaking if the racers can all tuck in the most aerodynamic position?

 

BTW, to those who haven't noticed, Nicky already changed his SBK style to more of a 250 style. That's why he's able to podium so many times this year.

 

Wow, we have definitely been watching different races. Only 250 racer I've seen back it into corners in recent years was Toni Elias. And that didn't seem to win him too many 250 races.

 

I learned the less hp=more of an issue thing when I rented 9 hp go karts at beaver run, and my boy who is about 50 lbs lighter than me was visibly running away from me anywhere the karts were at full throttle.

 

Righto. When the times are separated by less than a second over the top several riders, the guy who weighs 40 lbs less ain't riding as well as the others.

 

def. makes a difference on the smaller bikes like my SV. Although weight can help in the corners as you can get more weight farther off/lower and therefore not lean the bike as far. and yes, the height thing hurts too. if you see a picture of myself in a full tuck on the SV, my arms/head/back stick out all over the place making a much larger frontal area to push through.

 

call bullshit all you want, but, it is obviously not the determing factor in race wins.

is it an advantage at times? absolutely.
is it a disadvantage at times? absolutely.
is it as relevant in determing race winners as talent, style, bike set-up, race smarts, or even luck? absolutely not.

 

i have noticed Nicky trying to make more of an effort to carry more corner entry speed. but he sets his bike up with stiff springs, and harder compound tires because he likes the rear to slide. he is compfortable with this, so i therefore see him having issues going to the 800cc's. this may be why HRC could care less if he wins the championship or not?

also, i found it funny that all year nicky complained of clutch issues. the second that pedrosa is out of the running. guess what? nicky has a new clutch. although not the greatest.

note: this is not a conspiracy theory. a majority of the issues nicky is having is his own doing. he picked the 2006 bike, he picks his tire compound / suspension settings. so...

 

no, the taller riders have a little better aerodynamics at the back end.

now, obviously a big huge guy that hangs out all over the fairing is not an ideal situation, but, that is not the case for any of the riders icurrently in MotoGP.

 

That's where you went wrong. If you had rented the 990cc go karts, weight would not have mattered as much

 

As far as corner speed goes, I have no comment, but I distinctly remember Dajiro Kato backing in his 250 and it didn't seem to be a problem. Then again, what did he weigh...

 

the quickest and easiest way for you, me, or the tree to determine if rider size is really as big a factor in race wins as some claim would be to acknowledge that the lightest guy in MotoGP (by a quite a margin as far as rider weight differentials is concerned) has not won every race this year...

the reverse could be used as well, that one of the heaviest (if you can call 147 lbs heavy) riders has won the majority of races over the last several years.

the rest of the items are probably a little more diffulcult and somewhat subjective, but, the main one you chose earlier is the easiest and most quantifiable to judge.

i know, i know, it all seems so simple once it is laid out...

 

Damn, they're still going to have over 200hp and weigh more or less the same as now. So not sure about the corner speed/250/125 riding thing? It's just not going to fire out of corners like they are used to. I think they are just going to have to be right on when it comes to getting on the throttle is all