Deflategate hits MotoGP

[lostboy]

With Ducati running an illegally low pressure front tyre at Jerez and apparently taking advantage of a years old gentleman's agreement.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arti ... tyre-rules

[ChrisW]

Well that's depressing.

[Skub]

It's not like Ducati to uh....bend the rules.

[Supermofo]

I was just reading this via twitter. Same old Italians isn't it. From the sounds of it it's only been passed to Mat as it's been going on for a while and people are getting pissed off with the repeat offences and no punishment. I can't believe tyre pressures aren't in the rules in the same way fuel/weights etc are??? That seems crazy letting people police themselves.

I'd love to see the pressure results for the last season as well.

[KungFooBob]

I dunno, I'm in two minds...

1. It's prototype racing, there should be no rules!
2. There needs to be rules or else whoever has the biggest R&D budget wins.

I'm not sure I believe the safety argument for tyre pressures. What's the difference between a rider crashing because he's pushed too hard and a rider crashing because the team decided to put less air in his tyres... from a safety POV?

[Supermofo]

I thought the pressure limit was set after Scott Redding's tyre exploded?

Although I think it's less a safety issue and more an issue of letting people police a rule themselves. Either there is a limit or there isn't. Sounds like most of the teams keep within the rule but as there is no penalty then people are gonna take advantage of it.

[MingtheMerciless]

Who’d have thought it? Another red team playing loose with the rules

It’s not like they’ve got form or anything (2L overflow fuel tank full at the start of the race)

[mangocrazy]

Front tyre pressures have only really become an issue since aerodynamic devices became such a big thing. Just about every rider is saying that following in close formation causes tyre temps (and pressures) to skyrocket, plus they are all saying it's getting very difficult (if not impossible) to overtake unless the rider in front makes a mistake. Is no-one putting two and two together?

The real problem is aero. Yes, it brings lap times down, but it reduces overtaking opportunities in a big way. MotoGP is going the same way as F1 went, and I for one really do not want to see that. I think that FIM/Dorna should grow a pair and ban all front aero devices from the start of the 2023 season. The bikes would be slower, but the show and the spectacle would improve dramatically.

[Yorick]

A slight twist on this..


https://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/10 ... impossible

[weeksy]

All sounding a bit F1 there isn't it... next they'll be developing a DRS type system to allow overtakes !

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Make them all ride LCs and pull the keys out of a hat.

[KungFooBob]

A slight twist on this..


https://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/10 ... impossible

Marc Marquez: ‘People want to see overtakes!’

Didn't stop him fucking off into the distance for several years.

[Yorick]

A slight twist on this..


https://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/10 ... impossible

Marc Marquez: ‘People want to see overtakes!’

Didn't stop him fucking off into the distance for several years.

He overtook most of the field a few weeks ago

[lostboy]

It will lead to a load of block passes, accidents that are associated with them and then an outcry.

[weeksy]

It will lead to a load of block passes, accidents that are associated with them and then an outcry.

I think what they're saying above is that they can't. Because they can't stay close enough and if the do, it overheats and they then lose the front and take both out

[mangocrazy]

Time was that you could ride in someone's wheel tracks and pop out when you wanted to try an overtake. Now if you're close to the rider in front you get instability problems and the tyre pressure climbs really rapidly. So to make a pass you need to close up to the rider in front, then almost immediately make the pass. You don't have the luxury of applying pressure over a period of time from close quarters. Bastianini showed how to do it when he went past Miller and Bagnaia.

But he probably had sufficient grip advantage to be able to do that. Most of the others were more evenly matched.