Page 1 of 1
No more Dukes in WSB !!!
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:47 pm
by HowardQ
So now they are paying for the Rossi budget, (with a little help from Fiat and a few others), they are dropping out of WSB.
Saves making a decision on Haga I suppose!
It will be a sad day as they have been there forever, and always added to the excitement, even if they sometimes seemed to get the rules written for them.
It will be sad to not have the bark of a real V/Twin in amongst the fours.
Good job we still have Max and the RSV4 to add a bit of italian excitement to the JAP IL4s.
Wonder where this leaves Carlos, Shane and the other non factory Ducati teams?
Hope some stay for a wile at least.
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:14 pm
by Kwackerz
Ducati are meant to be supporting the non factory teams with tech and the like, so they should still be ok..
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:45 pm
by D-Rider
No great surprise - I guess there would always be a limit to how far the organisers could stack the rules in Ducati's favour and we've now got to the point where those advantages have run out - so they've picked up their ball and stomped off in a huff.
The stupid thing is that they have a V4 road bike and with a bit of work could have made that a affordable high-end road bike (a cheaper version of their play-thing for the super-rich) and a SBK contender.
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 7:46 pm
by HisNibbs
Ah but they'd need to be sure it would win!
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:34 pm
by mangocrazy
To be honest, I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way. The 1198 Dukes have had their inlet restrictor (i.e. throttle body) size set to 50mm for the last year or so. No wonder they can't run at the front. That's smaller than a roadgoing Falco! Apparently the latest 848 EVO road bikes have 60mm (!) throttle bodies.
It does seem as if Flammini are now doing all they can to placate the four cylinder manufacturers. Aprilia get away with some questionable gear driven cam upgrade, while Ducati can't get enough air into their motors to be competitive. I shall certainly miss the V-twin bellow if they fade away, as looks to be likely.
I think the 1200cc twin/1000cc four rule is just about spot on. Equalise the weight and relax the inlet restrictor rule and let battle commence...
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:17 pm
by D-Rider
Should never have messed with the 750 fours / 1000 twins rule .... there again scrap all capacity rules and just set a fixed fuel load .... you've got this much energy now show us what you can do with it.
Reduce the fuel load each season and get them working much harder on bikes that perform but are increasingly fuel efficient.
Same for MotoGP classes but there it's an anything goes approach (except for fuel) whereas superbikes must be production based
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 9:36 pm
by HisNibbs
I agree that the restriction should primarily be that of fuel. Reduce the tank capacity year on year and match the number of laps etc. I think there is also a case for a minimum engine mileage of some sort.
We don't want them blowing up nor do we want them changed or rebuilt for every race.
The minimum weight regulation is a bit questionanable and though I think there is a saftey element to it, I'm not sure I understand it.
Apart from that, what ever.. turbo, supercharge, single, six, two stroke, diesel, two stroke diesel, KURS, if it works use it.
The existing delineation between Super Bike as production derived and GP as prototype makes sense but I think GP's should allow production if they can achieve the qualifying lap times.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:45 am
by HowardQ
An 848 Evo running in a non factory team in Supersports with a little "help" from Ducati, might be an ingteresting way forward, (in a typically biased towards Ducati way).
Why have they introduced the 848 Evo anyway?
Nice bike, but looks a bit more for the track than the road.
I reckon this might be a goer in the near future, should upset a few R6s, 600RRs and the odd 675 Triumph.
Supersports are more boring than Superbikes engine wise.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:53 am
by Kwackerz
Sod WSB.
Elsie, TZR and MZ racing is far more interesting, action packed and 'on the edge' than anything coming out of Japan or Italy at the moment. There's too much technology used to get the edge and not enough rider bravado in WSB.
Give 'em all a middle of the range control tyre, a 176bhp limit and a fuel limit, fit the brake levers where they should be and not allow thumb brakes, etc, fit non fly by wire cables on the throttle and remove the rev limiters.
If they start whining tell them unless it says Suzuki TL1000 on the sidepanels, they can sod off with a steering damper too.
That should separate the men from the boys