The Racing Thread - THIS THREAD CONTAINS RESULT INFO

[Supervox]

Personally I would rather see WSB without Ducati than without all (or even some) of the Japanese teams.

As has been mentioned in this thread before, WSB has only just recovered from the 'Ducati Cup' debacle that it became when the Japanese teams pulled out before.

Also, changing tack here slightly - despite what the factory would have us believe about needing to be competetive & winning races to sell bikes & stay in business, I don't believe that Ducati sell many more bikes on the back of their WSB or BSB success; product loyalty is one of the company's greatest asets - people either love 'em or hate 'em !!

Supervox...I am beginning to think that you are simply bitter and twisted! If you did not have those bairns of ylurs you too could have a Ducati. Dont blame them for your situation!

I cannot believe the amount of obstinance and bloody mindedness over the last 20 odd posts.

It is REALLY simple folks.

Currently: Twins and triples are allowed to tune their engines to a higher state to make them more competetive with an il4 of the same capacity. As any one of us who has modified their bike at all realise, this can be expensive. Multiply this exponentially for the twin and triple teams. Why are these dispensations permitted? Because the volumetric efficiency of the il4 is greater than the twins & triples therefore allowing them to produce more outright hp.

Proposed: As Fizz has already outlined. This is to bring the costs down to at least be comparable to the il4 teams.

People, the 'why don't they just build a 4 cyl then?' bleats are boring and very narrow-minded. Why don't they? Because they don't build them in the first place and for some manyfacturers the engine configuration is part of their corporate identity that's why, think Triumph, Ducati, MotoGuzzi, Aprilia and KTM (yes remember KTM is another pushing for the 1200cc rule).

In Australia we have limited tuning permitted in the SBK class. There are no capacity compensations and all are limited to the same state of tune. The result? Well things are cheaper for people to race but there is not a single twin or triple racing. Everything is an il4 from one of the main Japanese factories. This allows reasonably close racing but also makes it boring as there is only one configuration of bike out there.

Open your minds, put your prejudices aside and look at the facts before shooting your mouth off.

PS - They should have allowed Triumph to race the 675 IMHO.

mat maladin chooses to race in the USA

I wonder why

Ducati do build a 4-cylinder bike.

They did consider a V-twin for MotoGP and quickly realised it was a no-hoper. So went V-4 instead. The rules there obviously not favouring twins.

What there should be is a rule in stone saying exactly what is required. if you can't match it then don't play. Since Ducati are doing so well in WSB and BSB, they are just taking the michael.

[Supervox]

Peter M

Do you REALLY believe that if they are granted a 200cc engine size hike Ducati will spend any less money on their racing ??

If you do then I would suggest that you really are taking a SIMPLE view !! :P

I read in a mag that due to sponsorship and stuff, Ducati only pay 10% of MotoGP budget. So they ain't spending much considering the overall cost.

[Supervox]

Originally Posted by Peter Henry

Supervox...I am beginning to think that you are simply bitter and twisted! If you did not have those bairns of ylurs you too could have a Ducati. Dont blame them for your situation!

Excuse me for not answering you before my previous post !!

The only Ducati I would ever consider owning (& then only if a serious lottery win made money no object) would be a 916.

Not to ride you understand because I can never get over the fact that they sound as if someone's left a bag of bolts hidden somewhere !!

No, just to look at because it is an icon - simply one of the most beautiful bikes ever created.

Typically Italian - form over function !!

I have to say that the die hard Ducati fans accuse others who oppose the rules bent as being narrow minded and say that ducati needs help to stop it being boring, surely they can see it is equally boring if it is a Ducati walkover every year, and that when they start to struggle the italian organisers change the rules to allow them to dominate again.

I am sure there is an easier way to make the bikes more level, ie weight penalties for the inline 4's. Only if they then start to dominate the wins should the rules be changed.
Chog

Originally Posted by Supervox

Peter M

Do you REALLY believe that if they are granted a 200cc engine size hike Ducati will spend any less money on their racing ??

If you do then I would suggest that you really are taking a SIMPLE view !! :P

What I am saying is that any manufacturer that does not wish to run an il4 engine configuration (Lets not just have this as a Ducati bashing exercise shall we?) do not HAVE to spend large amounts of money modifying their ROAD bikes to produce competative hp. If they choose to take the view that they are going to spend that money saved on other things within the team then care schmere, they can have 6 ply toilet paper and a harem if they want.

Lets be perfectly clear about the distinction between MotoGP and SBK. It is bleedingly obvious that one is for protype machinery that you can't purchase from you local dealer, the other is for road based machinery. Carrying on about what manufacturers do in MotoGP is pointless and off topic.

One of the beauties of production based racing is seeing how each manufacturer approaches the challenge with their take on motorcycling. This is interesting stuff and helps make this racing better for the fans and those of us buying bikes from the shop.