[deez]

http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...256/256862.jpg

[deez]

Damn, he has won at every single circuit on the calendar and he has just tied one of Agostini's records

'


If Valentino Rossi finishes in the top three it will be his 22nd consecutive podium equalling the all time record in the premier-class which is currently held by Giacomo Agostini, who grabbed 22 rostrums during the 1967/68/69 seasons.

This is Rossi’s first ever pole at the Ricardo Tormo circuit. His pole position time is the fastest ever lap of the Valencia circuit by a motorcycle. Valencia is the only Grand Prix circuit currently in use where Rossi has not taken a win in the premier-class of Grand Prix racing. If Rossi should take the chequered flag he will set a new record points total for the premier-class with a total of 357, two more points than his own current record set last year.'

[deez]

Final stats.

http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...256/256914.jpg

[deez]

http://images.motograndprix.com/mult...256/256923.jpg

[BDA116]

I almost felt like Nicky's crash was my fault. Just before the race started, my wife was asking about it and I told her that Nicky was doing so well lately that I was afraid something was gonna happen today - either a crash or a mechanical.
At least he wasn't hurt, and was able to learn a thing or two to help him do better next year.

I find it interesting that Rossi still hasn't signed with anyone. There must be a bit of a fight between Ducati and Yamaha going on.
I think he'll end up on the Yamaha for next year before moving on to something else. I really don't see him winning the title on that thing. He may win a race or two, but for the first time he will have a serious handicap to overcome. He's always been on the best bike in each series, and he will have to ride at 100% (+) every lap of every race to win a title on the M1. Not gonna happen.
But, it's what he wants. Motorcycle racing has really become too easy for him.

[TCD]

BDA116 : I almost felt like Nicky's crash was my fault. Just before the race started, my wife was asking about it and I told her that Nicky was doing so well lately that I was afraid something was gonna happen today - either a crash or a mechanical.
At least he wasn't hurt, and was able to learn a thing or two to help him do better next year.

strange. i had the same feeling too. i missed the first half of the race and when i turned it on it was like 'what happened to nicky?!' i figured he'd be top five at least! oh well, he'll come back strong next year!

[asiliat]

booth: Thanks for the avatar pic.

Sad to see Rossi leave though, just when he got a new paint scheme too...

So who's gonna be the first one to deck out their new 1000RR like the Austin Powers scheme?

[Baketech]

Honda Quotes:
[quote]
HONDA TEAM QUATES:

MotoGP:

Valentino Rossi
Repsol Honda Team: 1st
'It is a great feeling to win here as I have never done it in my career at Valencia before. I have always had some trouble here. This weekend was perfect. We made the pole position and won the race. It was very hard and a real race because Sete was in real good shape and he rode very well. I was able to make a good rhythm at the beginning and Sete came with me. I tried again and Sete came with me. In the last few laps I tried another time and it was possible to make a gap. I look round to see how far behinde Loris was and Sete said 'ciao' so I went.

This year has been fantastic and a very good year for the MotoGP. Last year was a little bit different with some two strokes. This year the show has been better. Good races, good battles, all factory bikes with the best riders in the world. I stay concentrated to the end and it is possible to make more points than last year. I'm very happy!'

Sete Gibernau
Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 2nd
'I think that the race more or less summed up the entire year. It was a long GP, in which I thought I could push for the victory right up until near the end. It was also a very nice race with Valentino and we had some fun out there. We set a very fast and strong pace from the start to the finish. I was riding comfortably, but in the last few laps the bike started to move around a lot more. I started to lose some tenths to Rossi and the chance to fight for the win was gone. Of course to win would have been wonderful, but I have to be satisfied with the fact that I could push him all the way, and have been competitive with the World Champion at almost every race. This has been a great season, that started in a very sad way, and I think we have to congratulate everybody and ourselves for picking up and doing so well, especially thanks to Daijiro's family and the best team in the world: Team Telefónica MoviStar Honda. I want to share this number two plate with everyone, with the dream to return, work and fight together during the next two seasons.'

Max Biaggi
Camel Pramac Pons: 4th
'Fourth is not the best result but my front tire was destroyed. There was nothing wrong with the tire but problems with my engine braking meant I had to brake deep into the turns and after five laps the tire went off. It got worse as the race went on. But I have been happy with Honda and knew this year would be hard. I am ready for next season.'


Makoto Tamada
Pramac Honda Team: 10th
'It was slightly hotter during the race today and things went a bit better. I was able to achieve a good pace only a couple of laps after the start, and then I really started racing. I made a few good passes and, though I started out from the back of the pack, I moved up to tenth place at the end. The championship has come to an end, so it's only right to express an initial opinion right away. As a rider, as someone who has and must have a burning desire to win, I must say I'm a bit critical of my performance. I wanted to do better. But if I think reasonably about all the factors that have made up this challenge of ours, about my debut in the premier class of the MotoGP, the enormous strides made by Bridgestone in this new motorcycling project, about the workgroup and the team that have been behind this first world championship adventure, then I must say I am extremely satisfied, even though I can see there's still plenty of room for improvement. Thanks to all of you.'

Ryuichi Kiyonari
Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 14th
'Here my MotoGP experience finished. I will remember this season as the time I fulfilled my
dream. With regards to the future I want to use the knowledge which I gained from racing with the Honda RC 211V. It must help me in other Championships. I am really happy for the results of my team. Thanks to Fausto and all the mechanics who have helped me this year.'

Nicky Hayden
Repsol Honda Team: 16th
'I got a pretty good start and was right there. Felt good and everything was fine. Sete kept showin' me his wheel. I just got a little bit excited when I got into turn two. Went in a little bit hot and got kind of crowded in there. I had the bike leant over real hard in first and accidentally hit the shifter 2nd gear, and completely span out. Stupid mistake. Overall I've got to try and not to beat myself up. I'm just more disappointed as the weekend was really going so well. I picked the bike up again and managed to get it going. It was in pretty good shape considering. I managed to get past a few guys but that was it. Overall I guess we've got a lot to build on this season. A year full of high and lows. It all makes me work harder and I can't wait till Tuesday to start testing for next year. We gotta lot of work to do. I'll take everything I've learned this year and build on it. I feed on tryin' to improve. It all just makes me want to try harder and to do better.'

[tigerblade]

Looked like Nicky was trying to hold onto the bike as he was sliding. Wonder if he was trying to keep it running or just trying to keep it from catching and flipping?

[figment]

tigerblade : Looked like Nicky was trying to hold onto the bike as he was sliding. *Wonder if he was trying to keep it running or just trying to keep it from catching and flipping?

trying to keep it from catching and flipping

[SuperDave]

First of all, that was one of the best racing footage I've ever seen. *I mean they had cameras on quite a few bikes (including Nicky's) and it was awesome. *Did anyone else notice the camera view of Nicky after bringing the bike back up and freakin flying to try and scavenge points. *That was awesome, you could see the determination on his face through the lightly smoked visor. *The views were incredible, they gave me some insight on what it most feel like. *(Nicky) Flinging the bike back and forth, chin glued to the tank during straights, etc. *Wow, glad I taped it.

Question: *From the Rossi (hand position camera view) camera showed his throttle hand. *It appeared to me that he was not blipping the throttle for upshifts or even downshifts.

Is there some sort of air shifter/ignition retarder or some sort of transmission shifting technology theses bikes have? *(Sorry, probably dumb question) *It's like WOT, tap,tap,tap like an automatic. *Same with Rossi's corner entrance, no blipping, just small realease and back on it. *Yet, Nicky's camera view showed him really working hard blipping downshifting for corners. *Also, throttle travel seemed very compressed (?), meaning short travel from off to WOT? *Anyone have any insight, especially if you saw that camera footage. *The brake work was fun to watch as well. *Awesome last race footage!

PS - So Honda bought out the rest of Colin's contract with Aprillia? *(Rumors floating around about Aprillia getting out of GP all togethor? )

[Heavy-Dee]

SuperDave : Question: *From the Rossi (hand position camera view) camera showed his throttle hand. *It appeared to me that he was not blipping the throttle for upshifts or even downshifts.
? )

Slipper clutch?

[SuperDave]

Heavy-Dee : Quote (SuperDave @ Nov. 03 2003, 1:12pm)Question: *From the Rossi (hand position camera view) camera showed his throttle hand. *It appeared to me that he was not blipping the throttle for upshifts or even downshifts.
? )

Slipper clutch?
I sort of understand the slipper clutch for downshifting scenarios, but the camera view would have full throttle position (not moving) and tapping through the gears. That's the way it appeared anyways. There must be some sort of timing technology for the upshifts.

[BDA116]

The slipper clutch allows one to downshift without blipping. Some riders still do it, some don't.
There have been powershifters around for quite a long time now that allow you to upshift without clutch or blip. Dale Walker's is the most common in the club scene, and you can bet the high dollar teams have much better units.
These bikes have quick-turn throttles, but Valencia is also a tight, slow circuit where the riders hardly hit WOT. The small throttle movements were more due to the fact that they just barely got on the gas before having to shut down for the next corner.

[SuperDave]

BDA116 : The slipper clutch allows one to downshift without blipping. Some riders still do it, some don't.
There have been powershifters around for quite a long time now that allow you to upshift without clutch or blip. Dale Walker's is the most common in the club scene, and you can bet the high dollar teams have much better units.
These bikes have quick-turn throttles, but Valencia is also a tight, slow circuit where the riders hardly hit WOT. The small throttle movements were more due to the fact that they just barely got on the gas before having to shut down for the next corner.

Cool, thanks BDA. That's the first race they've had those kind of camera angles. Heck, even I could win a race out there with that technology!

[tigerblade]

Those were great camera views. I like when they add the tach graphic too, but it wasn't sequenced right when they showed it one time. Whoever it was had shut off for the corner (audibly) and the tach was still rising. Oops.

You don't have to blip, even without a slipper clutch.

[2OHOH2]

It'd be sooo sweet to get the telemetry from these races, feed it into a simulator (a-la NTSB), and be able to step through every millisecond of the race. You could take each corner apart, looking at the various forces, inputs, lines, etc for every rider

[oldgoat]

SuperDave : First of all, that was one of the best racing footage I've ever seen. *I mean they had cameras on quite a few bikes (including Nicky's) and it was awesome. *Did anyone else notice the camera view of Nicky after bringing the bike back up and freakin flying to try and scavenge points. *That was awesome, you could see the determination on his face through the lightly smoked visor. *The views were incredible, they gave me some insight on what it most feel like. *(Nicky) Flinging the bike back and forth, chin glued to the tank during straights, etc. *Wow, glad I taped it.

Question: *From the Rossi (hand position camera view) camera showed his throttle hand. *It appeared to me that he was not blipping the throttle for upshifts or even downshifts.

Is there some sort of air shifter/ignition retarder or some sort of transmission shifting technology theses bikes have? *(Sorry, probably dumb question) *It's like WOT, tap,tap,tap like an automatic. *Same with Rossi's corner entrance, no blipping, just small realease and back on it. *Yet, Nicky's camera view showed him really working hard blipping downshifting for corners. *Also, throttle travel seemed very compressed (?), meaning short travel from off to WOT? *Anyone have any insight, especially if you saw that camera footage. *The brake work was fun to watch as well. *Awesome last race footage!

PS - So Honda bought out the rest of Colin's contract with Aprillia? *(Rumors floating around about Aprillia getting out of GP all togethor? )

One of the commentators said that the straights were so short that the riders were only using quarter to half throttle and no more. That thats some serious control.

[TCD]

SuperDave : The brake work was fun to watch as well. *Awesome last race footage!

i agree. i am amazed at how deep into the corners they have that front brake on. when ever i try to lean into a corner with just a little front brake, i can feel the front end protesting. i don't know what to feel for and i'm not sure how much it can take before letting go.

[tigerblade]

Also noticed that Rossi uses three fingers to brake. All the way to the apex, of course.

[ccwilli3]

tigerblade : Also noticed that Rossi uses three fingers to brake. *All the way to the apex, of course. *

seperates the men from the boys...

[Dre]

Have to say i too really enjoyed the footage. It is awesome to get that perspective of the riders body and hand movements. Especially how late into the corners they brake and how gentle they are with the throttle.

I also liked how you could hear the tyre breaking loose mid corner.

[CBRGuy]

tigerblade : Also noticed that Rossi uses three fingers to brake. All the way to the apex, of course.

IMO, I think with more fingers you can get a mcuh better feel for what the front end is doing. I can do an endo with 1 finger on the brake (if I wanted) but when using 3 fingers I feel like I have much more finite control over the brakes.

[nedro]

CBRGuy : Quote (tigerblade @ Nov. 04 2003, 8:32am)Also noticed that Rossi uses three fingers to brake. *All the way to the apex, of course. *

IMO, I think with more fingers you can get a mcuh better feel for what the front end is doing. *I can do an endo with 1 finger on the brake (if I wanted) but when using 3 fingers I feel like I have much more finite control over the brakes.
I agree. I've tried using one or two fingers to brake but never felt like I could sense what's going on with the brakes.

I think if Rossi had bigger hands, all four fingers would be on the lever. As it was, his pinky was dangling at the end and just off of the lever.

The other thing I noticed was that there was not much movement between on and off throttle. I have a 6th turn throttle on my bike but I think his is even quicker than that.

[fl-929]

Thank god i will be able to see all this on Nascar TV today... NOT