Red Bull gives you movable wings?
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 09:06AM
So, a busy morning but still not much happening worth commenting on. Watching F1 at Valencia, and oh goody, we have Lee Diffey commentating, Radio Le mans where are you? Still can't see what they were trying to do with that track. Lots of updates on the cars so should be an interesting weekend.
Drivers are not thrilled by the movable rear wing for next year. Some concerned about safety, but the Chaparral did not lose any as far as I remember, and they ran longer races, so do not really think that is an issue. Webber sees it as a gimmick like the "push to pass" and thinks there is little value in seeing passes on the straight, shades of NASCAR or IRL. There are lots of rules about its use. Cannot use for the first two laps, car being overtaken cannot use it, you have to be within a certain distance or time from the car in front. Sounds like another difficult thing to police and cause for dispute.
Melandri dislocated his shoulder, so we are back to 15 bikes for Assen MotoGP. Akiyoshi improved to only 4.6 seconds behind the leader and stone motherless last. Eddie Oliver suggested that the test rider was the better choice because he had experience with the Yamaha GP machine, but that does not translate to racing Eddie and without testing how else is a young rider going to get experience with the GP machine? F1 is to stage a four day test at Abu Dhabi at the end of the season to give young drivers a chance to show their stuff, and for two days they will have the new Pirelli tires. Mumblings from the mechanics about the extra work. F1 may have less races than NASCAR, but the season never ends, and the pressure to develop the car continuously is immense.
Drivers are not thrilled by the movable rear wing for next year. Some concerned about safety, but the Chaparral did not lose any as far as I remember, and they ran longer races, so do not really think that is an issue. Webber sees it as a gimmick like the "push to pass" and thinks there is little value in seeing passes on the straight, shades of NASCAR or IRL. There are lots of rules about its use. Cannot use for the first two laps, car being overtaken cannot use it, you have to be within a certain distance or time from the car in front. Sounds like another difficult thing to police and cause for dispute.
Melandri dislocated his shoulder, so we are back to 15 bikes for Assen MotoGP. Akiyoshi improved to only 4.6 seconds behind the leader and stone motherless last. Eddie Oliver suggested that the test rider was the better choice because he had experience with the Yamaha GP machine, but that does not translate to racing Eddie and without testing how else is a young rider going to get experience with the GP machine? F1 is to stage a four day test at Abu Dhabi at the end of the season to give young drivers a chance to show their stuff, and for two days they will have the new Pirelli tires. Mumblings from the mechanics about the extra work. F1 may have less races than NASCAR, but the season never ends, and the pressure to develop the car continuously is immense.
Reader Comments (2)
Fair point Bob. The test riders are not going to be at the front of the field full stop. However they might well be doing useful donkey work and that's pretty turgid and uninspiring I know but a raw, wideyed youngster might be destroying motorcycles and suchlike and that all costs resources.
You ask about how a youngster might be given experience. Well how about a special end of season, closed doors test for a select group of individuals who have caught the eye of the factories over the season. I'm not talking about the post Valencia race gallop where racers have to share the machines with journalists but a proper invite only test session.
The factories could all be at the same circuit and thereby share the cost, uncontracted riders could spend time on the machines without the pressure of white heat competition and certain ones may impress and names and faces would be remembered by important people for the future.
To be honest with you, I'm frustrated by Moto GP at the moment. There's not enough bikes, costs have more than trebled since the 2 stroke days and the same riders seem to keep being hired probably because they bring some valuable personal sponsership to a satelite team. How do we stop the rot? We have to do something because for myself and a lot of my friends the butterflys we used to get in our stomach before the crown jewels of motorcycle racing lined up on the grid have long since fluttered away!!!
Formula One is doing something along those lines with their end of season test. I agree something has to be done. It has been a long time since I felt compelled to watch a bike GP, which is very sad.