Our friends at Solo Moto have published a new interview with Jorge Lorenzo, in which he expresses great concern about the competitiveness of Yamaha, and everyone else for that matter, with Honda in the upcoming MotoGP series. When Honda took the top four spots on the final day of testing at Sepang recently, not only with Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, but with riders who don’t normally appear at the top of the timesheets, Lorenzo and others certainly took note.
Lorenzo says Honda has more horsepower than anyone right now, with Ducati second and Yamaha third. He also feels the Honda is very easy to ride, and handles well virtually everywhere on the track. Right now, he indicates Yamaha is focusing on finding more horsepower, but he does not expect a new engine for the start of the series.
You can read the entire interview here. If you use Google Chrome as your browser, it will translate the Spanish interview for you.
Anyone else planning on being in Qatar this year? Be fun to meet up with some other board members…
Maybe Lorenzo is already looking for excuses or is just being realistic?
Rossi helped develop the M1 to a world cup winning machine and Lorenzo just rode it, due to not really being a developmental rider the bike may have reamined rather static.
However Lorenzo is very fast and consistant and I think we’re in for a cracker of a year with all the big guns rubbing shoulders up front, including Rossi!
Early prediction for Quatar Honda, Honda, Yamaha, Ducati,Yamaha, Ducati my pick for the top five
Riders to be announced later
I’ll take you up on that offer: Stoner, Pedrosa, Spies (Yes, I said Spies!), Rossi, Lorenzo, Hayden. That is, if your order proves correct… 🙂
I like your order, but I think Simoncelli (sp?) will also be in the mix. He will be much faster this year.
I cannot for the life of me see how a transmission advantage can give all the Honda riders such a big bump up the classification. There must be more to it than that. Honda somehow found a big bump in HP that no one else has, and they have the services of Stoner, who I think is the best rider in the world. They will be a very tough team to beat.
and therein lies the problem. not seeing it i’m afraid, doesn’t make it any less true. it simply means you can’t see it…? it happens. not to worry though, you hold rank with the VP. 🙂 hell, i wouldn’t be able to see it either if it weren’t for having read some tech articles (with pictures) of it published in an automotive engineering journal a few years ago.
Right you are, Norm. I am no engineer.
Stoner, Honda & fast engines aside. Yamaha now have Ben Spies. He obviously knows something about development AND,…he can ride! Stoner is awesome, but I can’t wait to see what Ben brings this year! Woo Hoo!! Lez race gents!!!
Norm, how come no one is talking about this super transmission. I’ve not seen anyone mention it but you…and if you have inside info on it, how about sharing?
wait one, i’ve gotta find it again…
ok, here she be… straight from vice president nakamoto’s (ie. horses) mouth. he called a press conference at the end of sepang 2 to address allegations honda might be using an illegal DCT. instead, he dropped a bombshell. while i know the mystery behind this transmission’s operation (something the VP-san claims not to know?), i have yet to solve the riddle of getting links to show up properly in posts at motorcycledaily… 🙁 go figure…
http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/slider/2991-la-honda-ammette-un-segreto-tecnico.html
Ok got it now, Thanks Norm.
Interesting. Hard to tell if it’s transmission or clutch related in that article or a combo of the two.At any rate will be something to pay attention to in the future.
in transmission do trust. the mod works so well that what works “brill” for acceleration, has the potential for negative consequences on downshifts (no free lunch). hence the reference to clutch troubles. it just means they had to go back in and once more adjust the ramp and springs in the slipper clutch (mechanical) or adjust the airbleed/ti signal (electronic) at closed throttle to better match the way the new transmission behaves (that ol’ chestnut). i could see how trying to use an existing slipper profile would probably result in a rider feeling like he once again had too much engine braking. could probably even overwhelm an existing TC algorithm requiring that to also be tweaked for optimum performance. at camp honda, it’s tweaking complete…! 🙂
Good stuff man! Thank you!
mystery #2…? officially solved…!
What? I’m confused…what mystery solved? Was there supposed to be a link attached to your reply?
the site has auto hyper-linking. no [url][/url] needed.
Yea I’m not that good with computers, but I see nothing in any of your replies to click on to and nothing that explains anything to me. Sorry. If Honda had a trick new transmission, you’d think they’d be talking about it in every motorcycle scource. I have not seen anything about it.
My favorite will be Stoner this year. Honda is hungry and they know Stoner can deliver unlike the other 2 riders they have. Dani better not run into Stoner like he did to Nicky a few years back cause Rossi will be there. Tim makes a great point about Rossi getting the handling under control. So Jorge be afraid be very afraid.
Jee, Jorge, how about putting your head down and race those bastard Honda’s? Every year Yamaha’s looking for more power, which won’t do a damned thing without control. Handling, cornering and braking is Yamaha’s forte’, so let’s go racing. This is going to be a fun season!!!
be afraid george… be very afraid. but fear not the reaper (or the horsepower)… fear the transmission.
Maybe the engine longevity will play even more more of a card this year.
No surprise. You could see how fast the Hondas were late in the season last year. If Stoner manages to stay upright and healthy, he’ll walk to the championship this year. I’m surprised to hear the Ducati is second in horsepower. If Rossi has something to work with, horsepower wise, he’ll get the handling sorted out.
Oh dear how sad never mind.