Recent comments

The Yamaha motor should be competitive enough, but whilst the likes of Suter, FTR and Kalex no doubt do an excellent job, can their R&D compete with the Japanese factories to make the bike work with the Yamaha engine? Kenny Roberts' people managed it back when he ran the 500cc V3 mind you (and I think that was an FTR). With 24 litres of fuel you could really turn the power up, although I doubt Yamaha would allow that if the sophisticated electronics package came with it, as that would allow for a very fast bike.

However, I wonder if rather than the V4, Aprilia has any RS3 motors at the back of the factory, and would be prepared to sell them. That motor had enormous power back in the day, although I understand for links to the production bikes Aprilia will want to run a V4. It was supposed to be making about 240 bhp even back in the 990 days.

I'm not convinced about running a full customer Honda, unless you manage to get someone really special on the bike, it won't be especially competitive. It'll be OK, in the same way the 500 twins were, but I doubt it'll be able to mix it with the factory bikes in the way the West Pons V4's did.

However, this will probably see the death of the bikes running Kawasaki and BMW streetbike engines which have always struggled.

All the extensive analyzing and debating.....

Maybe....Lorenzo just sucks in the wet?

I thought that CRT entries were created to make racing for private teams more affordable then it was.

If Aprilia and other CRT teams really want to compete against satellite teams who are running real MotoGP prototypes then they will have to spend much more money and in that case CRT will eventually lost it's purpose.

Yes, he is racing, but conditions were not good. He did an out lap and came back in again, doesn't want to risk an injury. Saving it for qualifying...

Did I miss something. Is Lowes not racing this weekend?

that late May is still too early in the English winter for bike racing...?

And we wonder why Bridgestone never wants to admit guilt? Nice article David.

Audi (Ducati) and BMW can probably justify the presence for similar reasons where aspiring potential customers are a target.
David has said elsewhere on this site that the reason the factories are in MGP is largely the mass sales they make in emerging markets. If so, Piaggio should have a plan....
Even the most race-loving management board of a 'factory' is going to want to have a chance of winning a championship in 5 years though.
'Production racers', in HRC and Yamaha terms, are just CRT v2 - if current satellite bikes cannot get into the front row and CRT are further back, then how on earth are second-rate satellite-spec. bikes/engines going to be anything but a failure to produce better racing and numbers (CRT has helped in numbers, but not the main element of competition)? Dorna must realise that -and the fans would see the improvement, if rules created a more equal competition.
A major part of this seems to be that the HRC/MSMA stranglehold needs to be broken - at least that seems to be a common opinion. All teams should have a formal and equal presence. I have no idea what goes on behind the MSMA 'curtains', but it seems to be a manipulative relationship that enables HRC to control what goes on. I don't want to put Honda down, because they have provided tremendous support to racing in many areas but, as said above, they should be obliged to supply equal (not 'satellite') equipment to other teams. That should include software too – everyone should have open and free access to the software if they use the same engine – that way the factories should have no more than a one-race advantage (surely enough in these micro-improvement times).
If HRC and Yamaha cannot do more than supply second-rate packages in comparison to their best, then that needs to be part of the change - what can they supply in sufficient volume? (All teams get all upgrades together and if someone cannot afford it the rest will have to wait.) That should stop (apparently) meaningless technology that has no commercial value being developed. Keep the trick stuff for the test tracks.
Oh yes – let testing commence. Why hold back rookies or anyone/anything else? Let them ride where they want to. Some may not be able to afford a lavish test programme, but they will not be any worse off than now and yet be getting better/more equal equipment, which seems to be the main thing holding teams back.
Under such a scenario this may also be the only time a single-make tyre rule can work.
I suspect that until something along these lines happens then the 'others' will stay as they are - engine/component suppliers who will not put their name on a team until they have a fair chance of success, and sponsors who don’t see the point of throwing money at a list of ‘who came last’ as their main TV exposure.
I welcome Aprilia's efforts (and BMW/Suzuki) but I would really like them to be ‘Aprilia’, not some sponsor/race team running their engine etc.

MM: "That can be solved with suspension changes, but making those changes on the grid after the sighting lap gives you no chance to test that you got them right."

Please take these with a grain of salt as I'm just thinking aloud naively.

Either R1200GS or Multistrada/Panigale bikes have electronic suspension adjustment on the fly. It's just couple of clicks when you still enjoy riding. If a rider is suffering all these just because he wasn't able to test the latest -suspension- settings, there must have been a way to, at least, reset it on the go.

If MotoGP is the pinnacle of the motorcycle racing with all the glorious electronics, why not they have electronic suspensions that can be adjusted in ride? Is it because the benefit doesn't satisfy its additional weight? Is it because the technology is not there yet to cope with the forces our beloved riders can have the bike generated? Or is it because I'm having blonde moment now and just missing the giant elephant in the room?

Perhaps the crew did a 2012 chassis setup adjustment on a 2013 chassis and it didn't work out quite like they expected?

Ben Spies' bad luck is still hanging around in the tuning fork camp, perhaps?