African GP500

[Eirik]

Anybody see wild man McCoy destroy the competition in South Africa? Man, what a style he has :g

Despite him spinning the rear wheel violently out of every corner (even with knee still on the deck - I've never seen that before ever) and locking it up under braking, his rear tyre was almost like brand new after the race, the only rear tyre in the paddock to be so. Amazing.

He seems so confident riding with the bike all over the place, though. In only his 5th road race ever back in the very early 90s, he was followed by an Australian champion in the wet. Approaching a corner, the latter was already sitting up under braking while the former was still down behind the bubble. The champion then muttered to himself "that's a sick kid" or something to that effect.

Will be interesting to follow him the rest of the season. And BTW, this year we have 10 realistically potential race winners and 20 people who will most likely climb the podium during the season, which makes for close racing and MUCH more action than F1 can hope to come up with this season. So if you have a chance to watch Eurosport's live action from the GP-series - please do!

[Ciaran]

Eirik,

Now this sounds like big fun! It's grabbed my attention as in Ireland we receive Eurosport as a part of our standard cable package. I watched snippets of some of the GP's last year, and some of the slides were spectacular, to say the least. The problem I have is that I'm not well up on who's who, like the current world champion, the previous one, who's well established, and who's new - you get what I'm saying? This makes the sport harder to get into. Is there a good site you can recommend that has good information on the GP's? Also, what is the frequency of the GP’s? Is it similar to F1?


------------------
Ciaran Moran.
ciaran@eForecourt.com

[Eirik]

Go to
http://www.motograndprix.com/index.f...tion=250sum905

if you get an error message in the centre picture, click on "front page" under the left side MENU.

The schedule is similar to that of F1. There will be a race this weekend (along with Superbike).

Here's a quick resume: The dominant rider over the past decade almost has been Mick Doohan. He ended his career last year with a terrible crash, but is alive and walking (somewhat). I wouldn't rule out a comeback - he seems to want going back to do development testing for honda, and if that shows him to be faster than the others, don't bet against him returning next season.

When Mick dropped out, racing slowed down (in lap times) but hotted up in action. Suddenly, there were many riders who thought they could win.

Currently, the riders expected to be the best consistently are:

Alex Criville, Honda, reign. champ
Kenny Roberts jr., Suzuki
Max Biaggi, Yamaha (4 times 250 champ)

Slightly below these, but still with an outside chance of becoming champion, are:

Carlos Checa, Yamaha
Loris Capirossi, Honda (recent return to 500 from 250 96-99, former 125 and 250 champ)
Sete Gibernau, Honda
Tady Okada, Honda
Valentino Rossi, Honda (reigning 250 champ)
Gary McCoy, Yamaha (added due to his convincing but surprising win)

Furthermore, these riders are capable of winning the odd race:

Harada, Aprilia
McWilliams, Aprilia
Barros, Honda
Abe, Yamaha
Laconi, Yamaha

As you can see, the action is more varied and a lot closer than F1. Also, there is real passing and no pit stops, so action is usually intense to the flag. Sometimes, the races stretch out like a F1, but often you can have ten riders in the end (especially in 125cc) that could all be covered with a small blanket, separated by a mere second after 45 minutes of racing. Ever seen that on F1?

[Ciaran]

Ok, I quickly went to the site - I'll give it a good read before the weekend. Just one or two more questions. In the MotoGP, there's 3 grades 500cc, 250cc, 125cc right?
Do/can the same drivers race in each category, or are they completely different? Also, which one in your opinion is the most exciting? Race wise, do they start with the 125cc and work up to the 500cc?

Secondly, what is Superbike, and what's the difference between GP and Superbike?

Excuse my ignorance , but I've never bothered to find out before!


------------------
Ciaran Moran.
ciaran@eForecourt.com

[Eirik]

A racer may enter all classes, but in today's hot competition, that would be like entering a slalom, giant slalom and Super-G in the same day and hoping to place high at every race and very event, all year. In fact, motorcycle racing is much more physically and mentally challenging than ski-riding, mostly due to the prolonged duration. Max Biaggi tried a Ferrari F1 two years ago (being Italian and 4x WDC), and went down to 6 seconds behind the lap record. He said of the F1 that it was physically much easier to drive and that he could brake and corner much harder in the car. The bike's a lot more work physically to ride, the F1 is faster.

The last rider to do more than one class, was Freddie Spencer, who became WDC in both 250 and 500 in 1985. A 125 has about 50hp, a 250 about 100hp and a 500 has 180-200hp. Especially the 500s could be made to make much more power, but they cannot make it tractable enough to be of any use.

Traditionally, the 125-class has offered the most action, but now the two larger classes are pretty even as well. The first race of this season definitely saw the hottest action in the 500cc class, while the 250 was determined after one lap, more or less. But it may all change for this weekend.

A superbike is a production-based motorcycle with a 750 four or 900 triple or 1000 twin engine. They are much heavier than a GP bike (about 165 vs. 130kg or 100kg for a 500 twin like Aprilia) and makes a bit less power. Lap times are similar, though, because a superbike is much easier to handle. The engines in superbike are much more flexible, so you can accelerate sooner out of a corner. On a 500 GP bike, one mm of throttle movement can give you 40 additional hp, not recommended when all grip is already used for cornering. A superbike is not much more than a hotted streetbike, according to top racers. Carl Fogarthy (Foggy) rides a superbike and has won a lot of WDCs and races. Yet the top 500GP riders will in general win races when they ride superbikes (like the Suzuka 8-hour), despite no practie to speak of. That's because if you can handle a 500GP, you will have no problem with a superbike.

Hope this helped shed a little light on the matter.

[Ciaran]

Well its a bit much to take in all in one go, a bit like information overload! But I've got a much better understanding of it now. I also saw the ads on Eurosport last night for the weekends GP in Sepang. I've seen the circuit last year for the F1, and IMO its a fantastic looking track. And I just love that grandstand! I'll tune in and see if I can get interested in the races.

------------------
Ciaran Moran.
ciaran@eForecourt.com

[Junior]

I watched some of the racing on Sunday, and I sat Gobsmacked at McCoy, I saw the move he pulled on Biaggi (I think) and the crews showed the battle with him and Biaggi for ages .. and and there was McCoy Drifting the bike sideways into the bends, it was like a demented snake under his arse, I've seen a few races and a few road rash videos but even before people crash the bike never looks like the way it behaved with McCoy....... I think I've found the new God ..Schumi is boring long live 'MadMan' McCoy

:g