Moto GP thoughts as of just after the Sepang 2014
Miller: I raced a factory Superbike for a second time even after I learned at the first race how bad the team/bike were, so I understand that Miller has to take the chance when he gets it. If he does well next season it will be because he learns to calm down, not just after he gets what he wants but mostly when things are not going his way. The key thing he has to understand is the first thing every new parent learns overnight, it’s not only about you.
Rossi: Many of you and my friend MG over at http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ said Rossi was washed up. What do you have to say now?
MM: One of the commentators for MotoGP.com told how MM delayed the start of a press confess on Saturday so he could see the end of a support race. Then when he saw the winner of the race in the press room he went over to shake his hand and congratulate him. The guy is fast and nice. He is so fast that when you take second to him you feel like you won. Truly, Yamaha is not being hurt this year taking 2nd and 3rd overall.
Fans: Ayrton Senna deliberately crashed into another driver at the start of a race taking them both out thereby guarantying that Senna would be world F1 champ that year. The fans loved him, no penalty was given. Until the paying fans stop hoping a hockey game will break out at the track, we will have riders who think it’s ok to win at any cost.
Hysteresis
When you compress your suspension oil is displaced from one place to another. When your suspension extends it moves back to where it was. We control the oil movement and thereby the handling.
The piston and shim stack are on the end of the shaft that is displacing the oil. They are surrounded by oil. The piston moves at nearly the same moment as the shaft so there is no measurable delay between movement and damping here.
But the reservoir is not right next to the piston. Because fluids, mostly, can’t be compressed, does the reservoir do it’s thing at the same moment as the piston? Because the oil has mass it can’t move as fast as light so the speed has to be slower than light. What speed does this signal travel at? Hint, fast enough that you can’t feel any delay.
There is also the flex in the body of the shock, hose, seals and everything else in the system.
Hysteresis is the totality of all this and the left over effects of whatever the system was doing just before whatever it’s doing now.
This is true for forks too.
Slow, Look, Lean, Roll
There are a lot of correct ways to go around any corner. You can start braking at any number of points, you can let off the brake at any number of points. You can start your turn here, here or there. You can apex over there or round about here or even somewhere near that spot. The variations are as wide as the number of corners, times the number of different bikes, times the number of different riders multiplied by their skill level squared.
You can break this all down to the simple MSF catch phrase, Slow, Look, Lean, Roll. This applies to all corners, all bikes and all skill levels.
When done correctly there is one throttle cycle. Closed on the way in. Open on the way out.
If your plan is to slow down, get on the gas, slow down again, then get back on the gas you are doing it wrong. This is more work. It’s harder to do. It’s slower. It asks more of the tires and suspension.
Funny reasons for doing it wrong are just arguments for your own limitations.
It’s time for Ducati to have some pride
No Japanese motorcycle manufacture has ever asked for special Moto GP rules. They win or lose on their merits and take pride in doing so. Ducati on the other hand asks for and gets special rules. We can argue forever about the merits of different rules to make the racing better, to get more bikes on the grid and so on. But in the premier world class? In a prototype class? This is not stick ball.
There are lots of good reasons for handicapped events of all kinds. When you play catch with your kid you don’t throw the ball as hard as you can. Fine. But what value does a front row start, a pole position, a podium finish or a win have if you can only get it because of special rules?
I feel best when I do my best. If that earns me a win, so much better. But I don’t race a 600 in the 250 Ninja class even though I’ll win for sure.
Suzuki did not ask for special rules, they regrouped and they will be back. They will get spanked but they will not ask for more fuel, softer tires or anything else. When they stand on the top step you will see in their faces, pride for a job well done, pride earned.
Better to take your lumps, then to take special treatment. It’s a good thing Ducati has a special customer base.
My friend MG over at http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ agrees with me on this. Here is what he has to say:
LE, Suspension for Monsters
Prime Meridian
Photo from NPR, thank you.
A little over a hundred years ago Great Britain won a war with China and more or less stole the island of Hong Kong for 100 years. Britain wanted a naval base and trading center in that part of the world. All part of their successful scheme for world power.
Over the course of the 100 year deal Hong Kong changed from a Colony ruled by a far away power into a representative government and an economic power house.
Now the people of Hong Kong are helping to speed political change in China. It won’t be fast and it will be messy but it will happen. The result will not be what we except, it will be what they want.
The list of problems caused by the British is long but the list of good work is longer. There is a reason that the Prime Meridian is in England.
Aragon 2014
I’m surprised by how little I’m seeing on FB about the Aragon race. I’m sure there is more social media going on than I’m seeing but when that much stuff happens I except to see more ranting from haters.
I think I know why there is so little BS about this race. It was a well organized event. It was run using the rules and the rules make sense. The track is challenging and low risk.
How low risk is the track? So low risk that first and second in the world championship were willing to keep going on slicks till they crashed. So low risk that of 3 crazy high speed crashes 2 resulted in no injuries to the riders and little damage to the bikes. One crash dazed the rider when his head whacked the ground. It must be said that one rider had to run so far to get back to his bike that he may have been a little out of breath. How is that for good run off room?
The Flag to Flag rule won’t work for most and it sounds a little odd but it sure is better than stopping the race. This rule has passed the only test that matters, it works.
How good are these guys? One guy was so much faster than everyone else that you wondered what the point of showing up was. But racers all know that it’s called racing for a reason and they are all racers.
Even the haters sometimes know when to keep their mouths shut.
What a Moto GP Race!
Yes, I think I will watch that race again. Right now.
I really like being able to watch races on my computer whenever I want as many times as I want. I like it so much that I happily pay extra for the privileged. Right now there are no ads but as long as you don’t cut away from the racing, I do want to see the ads from companies that support racing.
Hint. Hint! HINT!
All Four Bill Bikes
This note just in from Bill, the owner of the FZ-09 that I posted about his forks:
“Ed
Thanks and it’s always a pleasure doing business with you. I’ve already been out on a few fast sweepers and am completely happy with the work.
Bill”
Bill has four bikes, I now have his BMW1000S, it’s the last of the 4 to get the LE touch.
Thank you Bill!
“Decisions, Decisions …”
Over at http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ my friend MG is bitching about how the MotoGP officials messed up when they made Folger give up a position then gave him a ride through plenty on the last lap because he did not give up the position in time.
It use to be that we raced on dangerous tracks, on unreliable bikes with useless gear. It use to be that when you cut the course you lost a lot of time off road riding. Now we race at nice tracks with paved run off room on fast bikes with great gear. Now when you cut the course you don’t crash and many times don’t even lose any ground but that’s not fair to the riders who stayed on the track.
So Folger cut the course somewhere. He knew he cut the course and he knew he did not give up the position. When he later got the give up one position board after pulling away from those guys he should have slowed way down so that they caught him at the slowest part of the track giving him the best chance of letting only the one guy past and the best shot at getting back ahead and the most remaining laps to go after the next guy. Instead he kept going like a track day rider waiting for his slow friend who is on the other side of the track.
Folger caused and compounded this problem. He should be penalized for messing up the battle behind him and for not following the rules, not fussed over because the officials looked like poor parents trying to deal with a bratty six year old.
As to what MG says about DMG’s last AMA Pro weekend, he is spot on.
Up-dated with MG response: By the way, he is right.