MotoGP @ Mugello

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Hungrymc said:

obscene said:

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet but Lorenzo's lap times were all within a 1 second bracket for the whole race!? The guy is a machine. Such respect for his riding.

I think Marc's were also in the same range (excluding first lap and the last lap - which you also have to for Jorge)
And Rossi's were within 0.4 for the 8 laps he completed (exclude start lap as you have to for the others)
Marc also had to make several passes to get into 3rd.

They are 3 great riders.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just a nobody, and have never had any delusions of grandeur, but...this whole 'consistent lap times within tenths of seconds' thing isn't actually that special at all...

I can comment with some authority, because 10 years ago I spunked the equivalent of the cost of a decent property, in chasing the glory of receiving crappy plastic trophies, and smashing my body to bits, racing superbikes all round the UK. Great fun besides being personally ruinous....and I did alright. Plenty of wins and podiums, enough to keep me happy...

Anyway back to the point...anyone who takes racing seriously, even at club level, spends an inordinate amount of time learning the racecraft of hitting consistent markers and cues, in order to be able to circulate a track in a reasonably organised fashion. Then once you've got the basics, you then apply that to each individual circuit you visit, so that after a while, assuming the setup is reasonably good, you can turn up and put in some fairly competitive laps anywhere, from the word go.

This is even more important in British club racing, as you get close to FA practice and qualifying time - so it's important to hit a groove early doors. So as for the lap time thing - I could dig out timing sheets from my own racing days which show similar consistency - in fact it's relatively easy to get to a certain lap time and consistently turn in the same, lap after lap.

The difficult thing, and the thing which will win races, is being ale to break out of that consistency within the same few tenths every lap, and find another half-second or so over your competitors, for enough laps, without crashing, to break them and win the race.

Anyone else who's raced on here will know exactly what I mean

[Hungrymc]

Ray, your point is fair, but that final push, the extra half a second (or maybe an extra 5 hundredths) is one of the differences between the very best in the world and the rest of us. There isn't anything so impressive about constant laps when those laps are 95%. But if they are 100%, really extracting everything from the bike, and are competing with the very best in the world, then it becomes impressive.

Lorenzo has made a career out of it and won multiple world titles. It's not just consistency, it's constancy at or very close to 100% performance (obviously being on a bike with the potential is essential as well). If you or I could do this, we'd have a good chance of being on the grid with him in MotoGP. For what it's worth, I don't particularly enjoy watching him. I respect how he rides, and he deserves great credit for the last lap fight. The point that I was making was that this is meant to be Jorge's biggest weapon, but on Sunday he didn't actually stand out over Marc or Rossi in consistency (those three did stand out over everyone else) And then he went and won the race in the fight on the last lap anyway.

I guess consistent lap times in itself isn't anything particularly special until you put it in the context of the quality of the opposition and the shear performance of these bikes.

[998420]

Great point Ray, I would add that, like in F1, it is not only the ability to be faster, but also to then fight at that limit and beyond, much though I hate the pair, but Lorenzo and Maquez gave a reasonable demonstration of this last week. I say reasonable, because although they did produce a good fight, they both lack the real domination of the line, of the track that Vale has, they nearly came together, MM in particular is almost out of control at times.

In F1 Lewis and the Verstappen kid have this magic far in excess of their rivals who can turn similar lap times, and can lap consistently.

[Centurion07]

Hungrymc said:

There isn't anything so impressive about constant laps when those laps are 95%. But if they are 100%, really extracting everything from the bike, and are competing with the very best in the world, then it becomes impressive.

This^.

Consistency is one thing, consistency at the very limit; that's something else, and it's why there's currently only, realistically, 3 or 4 riders that are truly in contention for the win on any given weekend.

[egor110]

Centurion07 said:

Hungrymc said:

There isn't anything so impressive about constant laps when those laps are 95%. But if they are 100%, really extracting everything from the bike, and are competing with the very best in the world, then it becomes impressive.

This^.

Consistency is one thing, consistency at the very limit; that's something else, and it's why there's currently only, realistically, 3 or 4 riders that are truly in contention for the win on any given weekend.

And this year even they haven't been consistent, which can only be good for us the viewers.

[MrsMiggins]

chevronb37 said:

I was in Mugello over the weekend and it's by far the craziest motor racing event I've ever attended. It makes the Bathurst 1000 seem like a WI tea party by comparison - and that was my previous gold standard for racing lunacy.

I was there too. Totally mental. Even getting around the circuit you're taking your life in your hands with bikes, scooters, bicycles charging around everywhere.

Ianonne was in his element on the podium and threw his helmet into the crowd; surprised there wasn't a murder to get it.

I was lucky enough to get into Mugello on Monday for testing and met Sam Lowes in pit lane. What a nice guy and doing so well this year. Looking forward to seeing him on the podium again and again.

[Iva Barchetta]

I'm probably the last Mugello spectator to get home from Italy.

Certainly was an experience and as for the traffic.

Getting in was bad,going home was insane,even the bikes couldn't get out or move on the road to the west as cars

grid locked it.

I was in my own car BTW.

Poggio Secco is a good grandstand as mentioned in a previous thread,my seat was about middle.

[vonhosen]

CAPP0 said:

Seriously considering this for next year. Talked about it for too long now.

Riding there and back aside (would love to but it eats into available time too much), what's the best way to get there and the best place to stay? I was thinking fly into Italy and rent bikes?

I got back today.
It's worth a ride down. We did 2,500 miles (of mostly twisties) over 8 days, plus the 2 days at the track.
Fantastic trip, we had some snow, hail like you wouldn't believe, but mostly glorious sunshine on great roads.

[NJK44]

Proof that some Rossi fans are bellends

[Fleegle]

Sorry bud, but you really do come over as a div

[djsmith74]

Interesting little video of what it's like at Mugello from Rossi's perspective....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m29sG5ADovw

[NJK44]

Fleegle said:

Sorry bud, but you really do come over as a div

I'm not the one burning dummy's resembling Marquez, my conscious is clear.

[mitzy]

djsmith74 said:

Interesting little video of what it's like at Mugello from Rossi's perspective....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m29sG5ADovw

Watched this last night love these insight and interviews
Louis Cap is so cool

[mitzy]

MrsMiggins said:

chevronb37 said:

I was in Mugello over the weekend and it's by far the craziest motor racing event I've ever attended. It makes the Bathurst 1000 seem like a WI tea party by comparison - and that was my previous gold standard for racing lunacy.

I was there too. Totally mental. Even getting around the circuit you're taking your life in your hands with bikes, scooters, bicycles charging around everywhere.

Ianonne was in his element on the podium and threw his helmet into the crowd; surprised there wasn't a murder to get it.

I was lucky enough to get into Mugello on Monday for testing and met Sam Lowes in pit lane. What a nice guy and doing so well this year. Looking forward to seeing him on the podium again and again.

Glad all that went had a great time, its an eye opener isnt it.

[tight5]

Yamaha has found the reason for their engine blow ups.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2016/06/02/yamaha-sh...

[Hungrymc]

NJK44 said:

Proof that some Rossi fans are bellends

Now - if that were a Rosberg dummy and was being done as a joke.....you'd be fine with it.

Some Rossi fans will be bellends, some people are bellends.

[NJK44]

Hungrymc said:

Now - if that were a Rosberg dummy and was being done as a joke.....you'd be fine with it.

Some Rossi fans will be bellends, some people are bellends.

No I wouldn't. It's disgusting.

Plus those Rossi fans aren't joking.

[Hungrymc]

NJK44 said:

No I wouldn't. It's disgusting.

Plus those Rossi fans aren't joking.

I apologize for the Rosberg comment, I think I've noticed you celebrating his misfortune. Which I wouldn't call disgusting but I think is in poor taste. However, I'm not judging - each to there own.

And I believe the Rossi fans are joking even if it's a dark humor. I also think the joke is in poor taste. But we all have different thresholds on such things.

[NJK44]

Hungrymc said:

I apologize for the Rosberg comment, I think I've noticed you celebrating his misfortune. Which I wouldn't call disgusting but I think is in poor taste. However, I'm not judging - each to there own.

And I believe the Rossi fans are joking even if it's a dark humor. I also think the joke is in poor taste. But we all have different thresholds on such things.

It's obvious to see that I do not like Rosberg but I would never take it as far as this, or condone it. The only time I'm happy at Rosberg losing out is because I want Lewis to win, and if that means the points gap is closed, then of course I'm happy

And yes perhaps they are, weird humour I guess!