Following yesterday’s Sprint race, the same three riders visited the podium today after the full-distance event. The finishing order was slightly different, however, with Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) picking up the win today ahead of second place Brad Binder (KTM) and third place Jack Miller (KTM). The KTMs look awfully good now … with Pecco the only Ducati pilot able to beat them this weekend.
Bagnaia now takes the points lead in the championship going into the Le Mans round in two weeks. For full results of today’s race, take a look here.
Any additional heat on the front tire isn’t caused by dirty air, it’s simply the down force adding aerodynamic weight to the front half of the motorcycle. If there was a loss of airflow on the trailing motorcycle it would slingshot past the motorcycle in front.
May be that is it. Forgot that the follower is “sucked” by the one in front.
Do any of you guys who follow this stuff notice that tires seem to be an issue this year? Race lap times are down slightly and people losing their front tires and crashing seems to be up.
The problem is the increased emphasis on the aero packages. All that additional bodywork is making it very difficult to follow other riders in close quarters. By all accounts, there is simply no longer sufficient clean air to cool the front tires and brakes of those trailing bikes.
The problem has been M******n (overrated overpriced crap) for a lot longer than that
About warming front tire. What do you mean?
Not enough air on the tire of the following guy. Aero elements send air upper the front tire of the follower then before. Just proposal.
Tires are an issue in all forms of land racing, always.
The aero stuff may be exacerbating tire loads but I don’t believe that tires are cooling any less in the draft then they did before aero. Hot is hot. Overcooking tires is nothing new there just seems to be a slightly (and that’s all it takes..) bigger difference between leading and following then there was before.
Except that every single rider, engineer, and tire technician is specifically blaming the increased aero packages for the sudden increase in front tire overheating episodes these past two seasons in MotoGP. They’re all saying the same thing, that the trailing rider can no longer stay in the slipstream, because no air is getting to their front tire due to the dirty air coming off of the bike(s) directly ahead of them.
Sure, it’s the problem of the day but it isn’t like tires couldn’t be overheated before. Tire management has always been an issue in racing. There has never been a time when it hasn’t.
Motorcycles have always made incredibly “dirty” aerodynamic wakes. That also isn’t new. I don’t believe the winglets on them now are making a significant impact in that. The air wake of these bikes is also very hot, also not a new problem.
I did read somewhere that, particularly at COTA, front tire wear was resembling rear tire wear.
I suppose if the aero was active they could turn it “off” on the straights to reduce drag and take the heaviest downforce off of the tire when it doesn’t need it.
“they could turn it “off” on the straights to reduce drag”
I’ve read that they’ve been using the rear ride height device to this effect, reingaging it at high speeds to lower the angle of attack of the wings & reduce drag.
I’m coming around on VLJ’s point about the dirty air. FQ and A. Espargaro are both saying that they are fast when in clean air but can’t follow/race. I still believe this has less to do with tire cooling than it does with disruption of their own aero. Both are amazed at how Brad and Jack are able to race close with the KTM indicating that their aero package is more stable.
KTM recently got a lot of help from Red Bull’s F1 program. F1 has a lot of experience with dirty air from the other cars.
It’s really too bad that no matter how hard they try to control costs the teams always find new ways to firehouse money at their racing program. Give me a naked, carbureted, any stroke, throttle by cable class were the racers race without the influence of carefully spent fortunes. Set the displacement limit so high that power quality is more important the power quantity so the teams have to figure out their own displacement, config, and cylinder count sweet spot.
Motorcycle racing where you get a motor, a cycle and a racer to pilot the the combo. Go ahead and bring your 1000hp bike if you want to lose all day with it.
It works for observed trials. A world trials has two and four strokes and the riders choose the displacement of their bikes. Not all of them ride the bike with the most available displacement.
if we limit top speed to observed trials levels (3mph) we could stop worrying about aero.
To Dirck’s comment. Was thinking the Trials/MotoGP analogy Mick made was poor, but I have just given up.
In his mind this is the way the world works. We are surrounded these days by a “bumper sticker” mentality. People won’t try to grasp a thought unless it is simple enough to fit on a bumper sticker. Unfortunately, reality is more nuanced.
Or they could simply ban it (aero implements) and mandate that aero be limited to shape only. It seems to be damaging the quality of the racing for gains that can’t be detected by the onlooker. This is one of the reasons why FIA changed the aero rules in F1.
You ride much faster on the loop trail at a trials event. Some events have really fun loop trails. The bikes have six speeds and go much faster than you think. Speed on the trail is typically suspension limited.
Anyway, as the bikes become more about aero and electronics viewership has fallen. There hasn’t been much going on in the traditional engine and chassis department. Motorcycle racing should be about motorcycles. Areo and electronics are for the car guys. They can have it.
Engine and chassis are still the most important aspects of GP. Yamaha still can’t satisfy their riders with power and nobody (except Rins that one day) can ride the Honda. These things and aero aren’t the reason viewership has dropped and I don’t think any of us knows what is. The fact is that the quality and closeness of the racing is vastly better than it has ever been in the history of the class. That larger numbers of people don’t want to watch has nothing to do with the technicalities of the machinery. Most viewers have no idea what’s going on under the bodywork, just like F1 fans don’t.
So I read that Michelin is purging moisture laden (probably from ambient) air from the tires with dry air by using two valves, while heating the tires, to try to get a handle on the overpressure problem caused by tire temperatures increasing from following during the race. Why can’t they just inflate them with dry nitrogen, and pressures will stay more constant. If I was running the tire show, I’d pull a vacuum on them, and inflate them with dry nitrogen and problem solved.
So you’re saying that you have an easy fix they haven’t thought of yet?
Yup. But they ain’t asked me yet.
In the words of Mr.Rob Muzzy when asked how he felt about the current tires they were using (1990s) “this years crap is better than last years crap”.
I’ll be in the cold, cold ground before I call a Penton a KTM!
Is that why so many Harley guys pay extra to make their bikes loud and obnoxious? So people don’t go around calling their bikes Silnet Gray Fellows?
I ignored Pentons back in the day. I thought it was crazy to name a bike after it’s plastic. It would be like caling them Acerbics, after the company that made their plastics for decades. Though I think KTM took plastics in house a while back. So you’re stuck.
Plastic? I believe they were named after enduro rider John Penton who developed and marketed the bikes.
I raced motocross against his son Jack, who was also an excellent rider.
Huh? I thought Pentons were named for John Penton.
Hmmm? I thought Jack Penton was a racer. Suppose I could just look it up but somebody probably knows.
Yep John Penton was a champion enduro racer, and he developed and marketed Penton motorcycles here in Ohio
Thanks mickey. I didn’t think Penton bikes were named after a plastic company.
I think Mick may be confusing it with Preston Petty. Remember when he/they started making plastic fenders? Geez, I’m getting old. Time for another bike before it’s too late!
Yer thinking of Preston Petty I believe.
the CW is that front tire pressure gets too high when following. i submit that bagnaia’s pressure gets too LOW when leading hence him dumping it while leading before midrace. when he follows, he seems to stay upright. mav’s chain reminded me of the cobras that would appear on the track in maylasia and indonesia a few years back (great camera work). bag’s barely knee-high post-race victory wheelie was a sad reminder of what has been lost to computer control. king kenny and flyin’ fred merkel rode chest-high thru-the-gears w/ good old fashioned carbs.
Binder is pretty mind blowing. The Katie M’s look fast and Miller is fun to watch. There are going to be some big point swings with all the opportunities to crash.
Alan Cathcart did an interview with Stefan Pierer a while back. In it Pierer indicated the he was serious about GP and seemed to indicate that some aero work was done by Red Bull that was going to make a difference.
At the time I thought that it was typical CEO blather. Maybe not so much.
Whatever, I admit bias. KTM still develops two strokes. So they have my support by default.
Great race, seeing KTM battle with Ducati is exciting. Actually the whole mix of manufacturers and riders in continuous contention for positions is the best racing can offer.
Wow, did Fabio get royally screwed. Zero reason for that initial long-lap penalty.
Otherwise, same ‘ol…
If Peco finishes the race, he finishes at or near the front every time, and cruises to an easy defense of his title. That’s all he needs to do. Simply stay upright. The victories, podiums, overwhelming point totals, and championships will follow. No other Ducati rider is remotely consistent enough to stay with him at the front over the course of a full season.
Rins Rins’d again. Pretty easy to predict. It wasn’t CotA this week.
Binder is a hero. Along with Fabio, Binder is the best rider in the paddock at consistently getting more out of less, and it’s looking more and more like he’s no longer having to deal with less. The KTM is becoming a serious force.
Jack is solid, but not quite champion-level. A solid number two rider, a great wingman. An Aussie Dani Pedrosa, albeit nowhere near as fast or consistent.
Jorge is fast for one lap, but also not champion-level. Riding that missile, and with so many other riders dropping like flies, he should be scoring more than he has been so far.
Zarco is maddening. If he keeps this up, he may go down as the fastest rider never to win a Premier Class race.
Mir? Anyone with two functioning eyeballs saw this coming from a mile away. How many of us predicted this, all the way back when it was rumoured he was going to Honda?
Nice off-the-bench effort by Dani. Had to make mickey happy to see his boy show well. Pure class, as always.
Wtf happened to Maverick…again? There were so many easy points on the table this weekend for him, and he did absolutely nothing in his home race, while his teammate nabbed pole and at least had an okay Sunday. Just like Rins, I guess Maverick gonna Maverick.
Honda and Yamaha both need Pedro Acosta like crazy. KTM would seem to have the inside line on him, but can Honda really afford to let that guy escape their clutches? Can Yamaha really afford to let Honda get him?
I don’t know, but if KTM is willing to back up the Brinks truck to sign him, the way Honda undoubtedly will, I think that if I were Pedro I might just view KTM as the better fit for the beginning of my MotoGP career. He knows them, they love him, and their bike is far and away superior to anything the Japanese have to offer. He can always start with KTM and let the Japanese come calling later, once they’ve proven to him that they can offer a championship-level machine, which, at the moment, they most certainly cannot.
Or he could simply sign with Ducati, and kill everyone.
If it weren’t for the crash-up derbys that the sprint races appear to be turning into I would agree that Pecco has it in the bag. I worry that he’ll get caught in one of these early race crashes and get injured. If that happens then it’s 2020 all over again.
“Honda and Yamaha both need Pedro Acosta like crazy”
They both have good riders (Mir among them). They need to fix their bikes or it won’t matter who they pay to ride them.
+1 @VLJ
Very nicely put ….all of it.
It did. Made me smile. He’s still pretty fast for a guy that doesnt get to race very often.
very interesting season