Submitted by David Emmett on
Coiled like a scorpion's tail, Honda's top exhaust remains a thing of beauty
Even the clutch pressure plate is gorgeous
This is as naked as a factory bike gets
Compare and contrast: a fully unclothed Power Electronics Aspar Aprilia ART
Nothing to hide for the Aspar CRT team
Meanwhile, at Ducati, mechanics are strategically placed to prevent photographers from getting a shot
This is about all you're going to see: the heatshield under the Ducati exhaust
The GP12s - this was Hayden's bike - are already at the limit of chain adjustment. New parts needed
The Ducati dash, giving little away in warm up mode
... even when the bike is running
Take a walk down pit lane, and you can see a completely stripped FTR chassis, ready to take a Kawasaki engine
And the Kawasaki engine, ready to be fitted to the chassis
The magic is on the inside: factory Aprilia electronics
The San Carlo Gresini FTR Honda CRT machine
And the bare FTR chassis Gresini are using
Control is everything: Dani Pedrosa uses stomp grips on his Honda RC213V
If there's something to be seen at one factory garage ...
... then there's another factory team sending someone to check it out
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Comments
First Pic
Is that the new Rain brake light peeking out? That is going to be Obscure! (but I'm guessing it's going to stick out in the rain?)
Blinded by the LED Brake Lights...
I'm sure those are LED brake lights and are going to be shockingly bright. It's right below the exhaust pipe, so it should be painfully visible. I'm sure HRC had 5 engineers testing brake light visibility alone. Trailing riders will probably be complaining that it's too bright!
Is it just me or does Ducati need to work on fit and finish with centering their exhaust in the tail section? Were you guys in a hurry or something? Oh yeah...
-Chris
It's called error of
It's called error of parallax........
And it comes from not being directly behind the bike in this case.
I've seen other photos and it is all centred-up nicely.
Burgess has been critical of the cobbled-together nature of the Ducati when he first arrived there - but you can't see that now. At a fundraiser night in his hoime town of Adelaide, when an audience member asked him about the quality control at the Ducati team, Burgess laughed and responded "What quality control?" And then went on to extemporise on how much longer and more difficult it was to even remove a rear wheel on the Ducati compared to the Yamaha. And how that often limited them to one less tyre change per practice session.
I can't see Jerry and Vali letting that continue.......
not really
This pic is centered on the bike and said exhaust is still noticeably off-center. And for a glam shot. Shame, shame!
http://motogpmatters.smugmug.com/MotoGP/2012/Ducati-Launch-2012/i-Pz9bXr...
Burgess has been more and more invisible as the off-season progressed. I wonder how long until he throws in the towel? I think he is like a fish out of water without a huge Japanese R&D dept throwing new, well-finished parts at him each round.
Chris
http://moto2-usa.blogspot.com/
Exhausts
These photos and one elsewhere of a set of detached M1 exhausts show them to be absolute works of art.
A question for the technical minded. The Ducati and Honda V fours have separate exhausts for each bank of cylinders, the Aprilia ART doesn't. The inline fours irrespective of firing order seem to all be 4-1 type systems.
Why would Aprilia be different from the other V4s - is a packaging issue or related to what they are trying to get out of the engine.
My first time seeing the
My first time seeing the brake light and the front brake lever guard. Ducati didn't have it on their launch bike photos. I wonder why only some bikes have it? I guess it's not required during testing.
Brake lever protector
The brake lever protector is compulsory, but it's quite hard to see from certain angles.
Rubber Band
Thanks for the fantastic pics.
Love the high tech rear brake lever return spring on the Honda - HRC engineering might at its best.
no carbon brakes for CRTs?
no carbon brakes for CRTs?
Carbon brakes
The CRTs will have carbon brakes too, but all bikes, factory and CRT, will use wheels with steel brakes to fit when assembling the bike. Carbon only needed on the track, and they're too expensive to accidentally damage when putting the bike together.
Honda exhaust
Is the Honda's exhaust made from Titanium? I ask because of the welded seams going blue from the heat.
Yes
I doubt you'll find steel exhausts anywhere in pit-lane (other than on the starter engines).
Thanks for the great pics!
Even the CRT bikes look beautiful naked