[Ducati] re: Jerez GP testing 800's

[thoroughbred.motors at comcast.net]

I would agree that any MotoGP rules that would attempt to nuetralize a lighter rider's percieved advantage with balast would not be effective.  I think you could only achieve the desired result if the weight were worn by the rider (weight belt), rather than fixed to the bike.    

With that said, I witnessed an advantage by Pedrosa when powering off of turn five (and up the hill) at Laguna Seca this year.  The 30-40 pounds that Hayden gave him seemed to allow Pedrosa to accelerate out of that turn quicker.    

<<begin argument about Pedrosa's superior turning skills here>>

Ken Mannina

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Jules" <jules at popmonkey.com> 

> also sprach Alex Ortner on Friday, December 01, 2006 4:20 PM: 
> >> p.s. There really should be a rule in place in MotoGP for combined 
> >> bike/rider minimum weight, and ballast required if necessary. 
> >> Whether Honda will keep that from happening is fodder for another 
> >> conspiracy theory fer ya. 
> > 
> > 
> > Hi Dennis 
> > That is a very good suggestion and makes more sense with the current 
> > rules then ever before. 
> 
> that's been tried before but the riders laughed it off. i think the 
> human animal is so incredibly adaptive that where rules which try to add 
> or make up for a rider's physical characteristics (weight or whatever) 
> would be much more damaging then the perceived benefits. 
> 
> for example, pedrosa's weight benefit is offset by him having to work 
> harder to muscle the bike around. yes, we all expected it to be worse 
> for him, but is that because it was over stated in the pre-season? or 
> because he worked extra hard to be fit enough? 
> 
> the point is, he shouldn't be FURTHER penalized for his weight. 
> 
> besides, motorcycle racing isn't just about weight. sure, engineers are 
> always working on shaving pounds because it *is* an advantage (and a 
> fine engineering challenge) but that doesn't mean it's a bigger 
> advantage then the rider's skills... 
> 
> in my opinion, making rules based on a rider's physical characteristics 
> is admitting that it's all (or at least mostly) about the machine. and 
> isn't that evil honda's stance? 
> 
> -- 
> j u l e s @ p o p m o n k e y . c o m 
> http://www.popmonkey.com/jules 
> 
> 
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