You remember those days too. I'm afraid things have changed: Legal drinking age.
Misano appealed, but unfortunately coincides with my sister-in-laws 50th birthday party and I have a 'three line whip'. Spain is favourite, we picked Catalunya last year for the ease in getting there. How is Aragon to get to?
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You remember those days too. I'm afraid things have changed: Legal drinking age.
Point taken. So I 'll amend my post to "you can drink a beer under 18..."
The world isn't getting any better, is it?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Yes Le Mans usually wet too... never had as bad rain anywhere than on way back to ferry it was horizontal.... not done Spanish rounds but guess they are favourite for sun most likely....
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Will it be Le Mans this year for the French GP?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I believe Aragon is quite a trek from airport - a friend has a friend who works there sent me some stickers/t shirt/cap & has said we can stay there if we want...
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Last edited by lordloz; 9th March 2017 at 00:53.
To add to the Euro race question a news bit i saw in week said Spa had approached Dorna to hold a race, sadly cant be made safe enough at moment to race GP there.. shame.... i drove a classic car and a 911 there.. its a truly mystical experience going there... epic circuit...
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RoundDateGrand PrixCircuit
1) 26/03 Qatar* Losail International Circuit
2) 09/04 Republica Argentina Termas de Río Hondo
3) 23/04 Americas Circuit of The Americas
4)07/05 Spain Circuito de Jerez
5) 21/05 France Le Mans
6) 04/06 Italy Autodromo del Mugello
7) 11/06 Catalunya Barcelona-Catalunya
8)25/06 Netherlands TT Circuit Assen
9)02/07 Germany Sachsenring
10) 06/08 Czech Republic Automotodrom Brno
11) 13/08 Austria Red Bull Ring - Spielberg
12) 27/08 Great Britain Silverstone
13) 10/09 San Marino Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
14) 24/09 Aragon MotorLand Aragon
15) 15/10 Japan Twin Ring Motegi
16) 22/10 Australia Phillip Island
17) 29/10) Malaysia Sepang International Circuit
18) 12/11 Valenciana Comunitat Valenciana - Ricardo Tormo
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Last edited by ghu1967; 9th March 2017 at 07:24.
Thank you. I like the PR track at Le Castellet. And down south the weather is usually significantly better.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I know and expressed my regret badly. I wanted to say that I 'd rather have the French at the PR, but I accept my post doesn't read like that.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Must watch a GP at Germany Sachsenring, been to most European races.
SPA is a great track, watched a 24hrs there in 95, but as said, not a safe track for Moto GP, Brit rider was killed there in 95 (Lee Pullen).
have another friend in Leipzig and promise myself must do Sachsenring one year.... it's a stunning track as is Brno for spectators
here Lorenzo wants to win and finish with Ducati which explains some of his reasons for going there....
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127866
It's just a matter of time...
I've done Catalunya twice, took my bike down from Scotland on my bike trailer. Dropped it off with my friend in Poole, then took the Portsmouth ferry to Bilbao. Few days riding around the Pyrenees, watch the race, few days more in the Pyrenees, then back, job done.
Did Bruno one year (2004), rained all the way there from Calais and all the way back 😢
Looking again at the calendar, I confused the date for Misano & Mugello. Have narrowed possibilities down to Jerez; Catalunya; Brno and at a push Misano. Bit more research required....
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i know there's a thread for him but I met John a few times and a finer more pleasant gentleman you couldn't find.
I started to look into trying to nominate him for a Knighthood a few weeks back in case he passed in the next few years knew this needed to happen soon, after the likes of Beckham et al wanting one despite never winning anything at a world level it was criminal he wasn't knighted when say Lenny Henry of Tiswas has one....
he only got CBE in 2016 for gods sake.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1...-petrol-blood/
legend, gentleman, racer....and as Vale never jumped only man ever likely to be the F1 world champion and Motorcycle Champion.
I hope MV in SBK honour him this weekend in Thailand, I also hope Ferrari honour him on the first rac with a blue and white stripe perhaps on the car?
14 years to the day Sheene also passed..... RIP and RESPECT Mr. S.....
Catalunya should be awesome this year!
It's just a matter of time...
It is a great track to watch from.
Been to Catalunya twice now and it's hard to beat. Train from the city centre takes 20 minutes so you're back in the city centre for after race beers by 5pm. Compared to other European rounds it is ideally situated, Le Mans is actually in Arnage so you need to stay at the circuit for any atmosphere, Mugello similar, we stay in Florence when we go there, Assen is near the city centre but you've got no chance of finding a hotel within 20 miles of Assen. Catalunya is a great choice.
We are doing a quick trip to Le Mans this year, leave early Saturday and on the Caen to Portsmouth ferry on the Sunday night. The big trip this year is San Marino, leave Wednesday and not back home until the following Friday, 3000 miles round trip. Missing both my birthday and wedding anniversary, that bit didn't go down too well !
I did Le Mans a few years ago....stayed in an inn outside Le Mans and it's a great ride in.
Sounds great,
If you go I might ask you a favour
if the girl is still there in the inner circuit where the market stalls are, she engraves leather wristbands while you wait with a dremel,
my OH lost one I got her, I have her number somewhere but can't find it so getting a couple more again would be ace.(or if you can just get her email address/number would be brilliant enough)
I lost my circuit cap I got there too so if any chance of getting one again if you have stowage room I'd be very grateful....
so jealous of San Marino though...grrrrr...what a brilliant trip...
Some interesting aero developments going on.
And currently leading the ugly charts -
testing finishes with Maverick again looking ominous....... edit (sorry D, postimage took so long to load you've beaten me to it!!
http://www.motofire.com/2017/03/spor...qatar-testing/
the main talking point for tech though is....after Honda and Yamaha both trying internal "wings" Ducati.......well they had to didn't they? we'd be disappointed if they had just packed in the aero.... it's a prototype series after all so it's things like this that advance technology...
not ducati pretty but it's interesting and not totally or wholly ugly...perhaps better when in final livery though...
Yamaha below followed by Ducati design.....
image upload
post a picture
Last edited by lordloz; 12th March 2017 at 19:26.
A couple of questions for you - why, post-Stoner, have Ducati struggled to build a consistent front-running bike? They don't appear to lack power, and seem to have spent a lot of resources on aero in the last 18 months or so. Surely it wasn't simply that Stoner had some sort of special skill that meant he could extract more from the Ducati package than anybody else?
Secondly, is there any truth in the rumour that Honda have moved some key engine specialists from the MotoGP team to the Formula 1 team? If so, are the MotoGP team likely to suffer?
i didn't think you were interested in Moto GP...... I've kept off the F1 thread.
since you ask...The Ducati, which, while Stoner was a very fast rider(when he learnt to stop crashing), was a horsepower monster when it arrived that year and they sacrificed handling for outright power....that's pretty much why they won....but a lack of development and funding meant when the others caught up they had a bike with no front end feel and probably unbalanced C of G where the others had power,handling and a Rossi, a Lorenzo and a Marquez...which is about the best you can get....
With Audi money and access to the wind tunnels, etc they have been at the front of Aerodynamics in GP but the bike isn't quite there....and with all their resources now and a Lorenzo on board it's that sort of X factor that they can't yet find....
Hadn't heard anything of HRC losing engine specialists, I can't find any news on this.......retiring director Shuhei Nakamoto did join MotoGP team in 2009 after seven years as Technical Director in Formula One though so there is some traffic but...it's almost an independent company in a way and I'd be surprised if technicians there would move over,
the hybrid unit is so alien to a GP engine really but they are very clever guys so who knows?....they have been altering aero as well so not been idle and they have altered the engine configuration too I believe this year...
Anyone going to Assen? Our big trip this year is the TT, so we're doing a basics trip to Assen, staying in the Mercure in Groningen. Friday and Saturday. Might try to get to Le Mans if we can find anywhere to stay.
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That's exactly what it was. The Ducati was an absolute pig but Stoner was able to ride the wheels of it and beat it into submission. When he won the 2007 championship it's true that the bike was the fastest on the straights and the worst in the bends but Stoner went against convention at the time where everyone was using TC to minimise slide and keep both wheels pointing in the same direction and he had the TC set up so that the bike would come out of corners almost sideways. It wasn't long before the rest of the grid caught on and they were all using the same style.
I was never a Stoner fan but some of the things he did were mind blowing... He was the first rider to genuinely challenge and then beat Rossi, his team mates were all made to look like amateurs even though they had world championships to their names, but most impressive for me was his performance over a whole weekend - Sometimes he's do the first practice on Friday and find a good set-up in the first session, then he wouldn't bother coming out again until Saturday qualifying and that was only for the last few minutes where he do an out lap, pole position time and then in lap. His total mileage over the weekend was a fraction of what the rest of the field were doing but he knew from the first Friday session that the bike was good and there was no point doing any more laps just for the sake of it and risking injury.
As for why Ducati have struggled since then, there are plenty of reports of how the designers and management failed to act on what the riders and engineers were telling them and asking for. That was definitely the case in the Rossi / Burgess years but Audi have since taken over and done some major restructuring with Gigi Dall'Igna at the helm so I wouldn't rule out Lorenzo winning a championship for them in the next year or two.
Moto GP is go go go!!!!
FP1 about to begin....
Moto 2 just finished (& i believe Triumph will be supplying 750 triples in a couple of years).... nice new graphics on BT sport...
this should be interesting....
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and by Jove!!
Lorenzo pulling one out of the bag while Rossi remains well in it.
Vinales though hammers it home again.
That makes Vinales, Folger and Baz stealing this FP1 show.
Promising spectacle indeed!
Watching FP1 now.
It's going to be interesting. Vinales stays on top....
Rossi 1 1/2 sec off the pace, and Bradders remains last
Ha ha! Yes not too bad for a neanderthal! Thanks. He was & could ride round its deficiencies but no question it was outright power that let him escape most of the time & then no chance of catching him.
Good effort from Lorenzo to be there or thereabouts first time out.
Also Folger & Zarco.
Definitely so far will be Marc V Mav but never count Rossi out till Sunday.. nor Dani....
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Sh**** my dvd recorder cant be repaired...wont buy LG again support is terrible. My older Panasonic one i dragged out just recorded 4 hours of nothing on a disc but the HDD worked okish. I normally record everything but not sure what i'll get over weekend... damn
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Thanks for suggestion but i already pay enough for BT and that still doesn't help me record it- think may have managed to get it to record in low quality at least.
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My take on chances sofar is that if the Ducatis can find just a bit more, they can simply blast past on the straight, gaining a bit of time because of slipstreaming. The rest will loose time trying to overtake on the twisty bit.
Training/qualifying lap times are without following/overtaking and this track gives the Ducatis a few tenths there.
Seems like Lorenzo is in with a podium chance, which seemed rather unlikely so far.
Fingers crossed that:
1. Vinales does not disappear into the distance.
2. Marquez does not take him out with his usual wild antics early in the race.
3. Rossi can get it together.
4. Folger, Baz and Zarco will grow even more during the race; the three of them in the top 8!!! of FP1 is amazing.
FP2: and then they turned it all inside out!!
FP3: a mix of FP1 and 2 meaning that Rossi was wrong with his 9 potential winners. If we include Lorenzo it must be 12!
The closest and most competitive season start I remember. And that goes back to the early seventies...
Out all afternoon even though finished work early got back as it ended.....and even though tested temporary recorder have got 5 hours of blank screen..... not happy at all....
Let's hope the race isn't cancelled