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Anyone still watching MotoGP?

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#638506

Postby Tedx » January 6th, 2024, 8:28 am

Great story.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#652051

Postby Tedx » March 7th, 2024, 4:10 pm

Well as the saying goes, when the flag drops the BS stops.

Qatar is upon us and I think it's fair to say the anticipation in MotoGP world is off the scale.

Not just Marc Marquez, but basically everyone on a Ducati, an Aprilia and a KTM (including young sensation Pedro Acosta) is in for a win. And we know Honda have thrown a ton of development (and cash) at their bikes (I guess saving 16 million Euros in salary helps) and the Yamaha is not all that far away either - particularly Fabio over race distance.

I suspect the top 3 2024 Ducatis (Bagnaia, Martin & Bastianini) along with M Marquez on the 2023 bike will be elbows out and leading the way over the course of the championship, but there are so many more in there for a win or 2 and we know Bagnaia and Martin are apt to chucking it up the road even in unpressurised situations.

.....If the main Sunday races are close, then the half distance Saturday sprint races will likely be even more of a lottery.

Bring it on.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#652102

Postby Redmires » March 7th, 2024, 6:30 pm

Looking forward to it. A good start to last weeks WSB as well. Alex Lowes last lap move on Bautista to win the race was excellent.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#652111

Postby DrFfybes » March 7th, 2024, 6:42 pm

Yup - box all set to record, and it looks like BTNTSport are actually showing the all important Saturday morning session (FP2, formerly known as FP3, I think) on the 'normal' channel that you can record, instead of it only being on the red button or the abysmal app whilst the Presenters give us "content". Presumably I wasn't the only one to suggest they made "content" available to those who wanted to look for it, and coverage more easily available to the rest of us.

World Superbikes was good, although the Sky box failed to lin the recordings so I had to faff with the Eurosport App, but not too bad except trying to fast forwards through the massive delay. The new rules do look like it might be a bit more of a competition this year, at least until Ducati work out a way around them ;)

And assuming the biulders don't take all our money, this year we might even get out to some circuits as the Rescue dog we acquired aged 15 or so in 2021 finally ran out of time. Much as we miss her, they are rather tying, especially when they're a bit antisocial. Guide dog fostering from now on we think.

Paul

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#654347

Postby Tedx » March 18th, 2024, 3:48 pm

I believe this weekends Portugal MotoGP is being shown live on ITV.

Portimao is a wonderful track for these bikes and it promises to be quite the race.

After his 4th in the Qatar opener in a fairly unruffled fashion (for him!), I'd expect Mr Marquez to crank it up a notch this weekend.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#654371

Postby DrFfybes » March 18th, 2024, 5:39 pm

Thanks for the reminder, for some reason I thought it was the week after.

I do quite fancy a day or 2 around Portimao, there are companies ship your bike and gear out relatively [1] cheaply and book you a hotel and a couple of days on circuit.

Now we're not tied by the dog I might have a go.

Paul
[1] Relative to what I thought it would cost - ie a few hundred quid rather then ££££

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#654523

Postby doug2500 » March 19th, 2024, 12:53 pm

Alvor is a lovely place to stay nearby, or was at least. Not been for a few years now.

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#655497

Postby Tedx » March 23rd, 2024, 7:00 pm

Ok, I'm biased.

But that sprint race .,.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#657214

Postby Tedx » April 1st, 2024, 11:11 am

I see the owner of F1 has bought MotoGP.

....and it's not an April Fool.

<Sigh>

Oh well. I guess we can look forward to the introduction of mechanical overtaking devices to enhance the...errr... spectacle.

Personally, I'd go for a sniper who takes out the last placed rider on each lap. To enhance the spectacle of course.

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#659584

Postby Tedx » April 14th, 2024, 9:17 pm

Well after that US MotoGP, Liberty Media must b popping champagne corks back at their HQ after their recent acquisition.




Monday 15th April 2024 – Free-to-Air Highlights

MotoGP Highlights

ITV4

20:00 – 21:00

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#659948

Postby Tedx » April 17th, 2024, 9:28 am

Given that there are flights from Inverness to Amsterdam, Im toying with the idea of the Dutch TT Hotel (no camping for me!) and circuit package - possibly with an upgrade to some sort of VIP/Premium access.

There are a lot of operators out there offering this kind of thing!

I think I recall a discussion on here about this kind of thing (perhaps it was F1?). Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

TIA

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#659982

Postby DrFfybes » April 17th, 2024, 2:13 pm

Tedx wrote:Given that there are flights from Inverness to Amsterdam, Im toying with the idea of the Dutch TT Hotel (no camping for me!) and circuit package - possibly with an upgrade to some sort of VIP/Premium access.

There are a lot of operators out there offering this kind of thing!

I think I recall a discussion on here about this kind of thing (perhaps it was F1?). Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations?

TIA


How deep are your pockets? The only things that matter in MotoGP are money and rider talent, probably in that order. Arriving at the paddock in a smart jacket and a nice car gets you noticed and remembered a lot more than we probably warranted :)

There are different levels of VIP - the MotoGP VIP packages get you into a nice 'village' to watch but paddock access is restricted to an organised tour with many of them.

Hotels near the circuit book up as soon as the dates are announced.

We used to do a lot of hospitality packages, to the point where riders/teams/paddock staff would say recognise us and nod when they saw us away from the circuit. The best (and first) was direct with Racing Team Germany. Going back about a decade and it was 1000 euro each, ticket from Thurs to Sun, meals in the hospitality (all meals if wanted), paddock pass, we also got a pitlane pass as they had a garage so watched from the pitwall, a circuit walk, and a paddock bike to go around the service road. And unlimited garage access.

The following year we went with Pole Position - you get a paddock pass and lunch on their basic 'moto3' package and a garage visit/tour. It was about 550E each back then, When we said what we'd got the previous year there were some eyebrows raised, especially about letting random punters loose on stepthroughs around the service road and even they didn't get pitwall permits.
https://www.polepositiontravel.com/moto ... 24/tickets You do get minibus transport in and out which saves a lot of faff, and they have group guides which is great for a first visit.

After that we got team and rider details and just did a 'sponsorship deal' with one rider or team for several events per year. Sometimes it included lunch, sometimes not depending on whether the team had their own hospitality. You are not allowed to simply sell paddock passes, so this was the route chosen, although oddly they preferred payment in cash. We also got Test passes so we could wander into the paddock at the test days, and the all important P2 paddock parking. This is great for getting into the circuit (Silverstone excepted) as most places have their own access route. Of course parking inside the circuit means you ain't getting out quick though. Consequently we used to loiter in often helped tidy away the tables and chairs etc in the hospitality units so long as they left the telly on for the Rookies. Met some interesting people, got some interesting gossip :)

For something more akin to the entry level Pole Position offer you would do worse than approach Alain Bronec at CIP Moto3. A very straighforwards guy, and they advertise packages on https://www.cipmoto.com/paddockexperience/ You'll need to enquire about options and cost, and itmght not be cheaper than PPT, but the money goes to the team and not middlemen. At the Jerez test, we'd been introduced to Alain as 'one of my personal sponsors' by one of his riders. His ears pricked up at the mention of 'sponsor', but of course no figures were ever mentioned and he still wondered who these interlopers were. Very unusual for a test day they had new catering trucks and were training staff, so there was a hospitality unit. We were invited in for coffee and when the catering manager saw us, he rushed over and shook our hands and hugged MrsF, whilst completely ignoring the team personnel. The look on Alain's face was priceless, I just shrugged and said "always make friends with the people preparing your food". Since then he's always come over and found a couple of minutes to chat if he sees us at a circuit.

If you are thinking of Silverstone, then Day of Champions is on the Thurs. As of last week tickets were still available, and their paddock ticket (about £65) includes a 3 hour window where you can go into the paddock and get a feel for it. It is very busy, but things are more relaxed on a Thursday and the riders have little to do so you will see a lot more of them. On a race weekend the GP riders particularly go from pit to motorhome like getting The Beatles from a gig to the car. We often just drive down fo the Thurs then come home again.

Paul

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#665828

Postby Tedx » May 25th, 2024, 2:59 pm

Spoilers below




















Marquez now second in the world championship after five and a half races.

He looks like he's having so much fun. No money, 2nd hand bike, fourteenth on the grid and he finishes second.

It's not fun he's having, it's a laff

Maybe. Just maybe......

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#677260

Postby Tedx » August 1st, 2024, 7:24 pm

It's British MotoGP time and I believe it's being shown on ITV from Silverstone.

Will Jorge get mad? Will Pecco stay cool? Will Marc just ride the wheels off his knackered old Duck?

Well the smart money says Aprillia due to the fast sweeping nature of the England-Shire track. I'd love to see Fabio and the Yamaha do well.... especially with that retro paint job.

https://www.the-race.com/motogp/motogp- ... d-gallery/

https://youtube.com/shorts/_Nr7iSb9TU8? ... pasq9Hi0wB

Oh, and look at all those fag adverts. Bring em back. Just for one day..,

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682224

Postby Tedx » September 2nd, 2024, 4:36 pm

Tedx wrote:There's probably not too many that have any interest in MotoGP on these boards and even fewer that have ever heard of the name Marc Marquez

But there is an interesting story that's developed over the last few months that's worth sharing (i'll be brief!)

Essentially, Marc is a 6 time MotoGP (premier class) world champion. All won with the factory Repsol Honda team (i.e. the biggest manfacturer and probably the richest team out there). It is reported that he was on 16 million Euros salary a year from Honda (and he has individual sponsors on top of that). But when you saw Marquez ride a bike, you knew he was a cut above the rest. He's just such an immense talent. Unfortuately, because of his skill, Honda got lazy in developing their bike. They knew Marquez could ride through any problems and this was evident when you saw that the other Honda riders were consistently in the bottom 25% at the finish.

But then something happened. The other manufacturers (except Yamaha) caught up and leapt ahead of Honda. As a result Marc had to push harder and harder to keep up and, inevitably, the bike started throwing him off, with some very nasty broken bones and subsequent operations and recoveries. The other Honda riders couldn't (or wouldn't) push any more and ended up further and further back.

Marquez decided that he couldn't take any more and when he discovered the latest bike wasn't much better than the last, he broke his contract in year 3 out of 4 and left the team that he had done everything with.

His brother, Alex, is also in MotoGP and rides for a 3rd/4th string private outfit who rent secondhand Ducatis from the factory. The bike is maybe secondhand, but it is still miles better than the Honda. So Marc made a decision to leave Honda and took a paycut of almost......16 million Euros (i.e. I've read in several places that he is being paid nothing by Gresini Ducati)

Gresini will have secondhand bikes (although they will be last years Championship winning bikes). But the team has no money (although that might change now!) and the crew and backup are minimal compared to the factory team. It really is a tiny operation compared to most of the rest and every year they have a battle to secure funding just to get them to the end of the season.

So Marc had his first outing for Gresini at the end of season test back in November. The first time he walked though the door and got on the Ducati...and he was timed at 4th. Now Ithink he was holding back and these test don't often tell you very much, but he was very fast, lap after lap. And the cheesy grin he had on his face when he took his helmet off told a thousand words.

The factory Ducati Team are barely hiding their anger. This is a real threat to their dominance. And it could possibly the first non factory team to win the world champion since....errrrr.....possibly a Mr V Rossi in 2001 (I think). A looong time anyway. 'They are free to sign anyone' said one of the factory bignobs....not thinking for a minute they could sign the 6 time world champion.

It's quite an unbelievable story really. In F1 terms, you're looking at Max Verstappen walking out on Red Bull and joining, I dunno, Haas or something.

For zero money.

And in secondhand car with no team around him.

Sorry for the ramble. I felt the need to share :D


We're 12 races down, 8 to go.

Marc is in third place, some 70 points behind the leader. The may sound a lot, but when you consider that there's a maximum 37 points to be had (12 for the sprint and 25 for the main race = 296 points) then things don't look so bad - especially when you take in the weekend we've just had.

Stop reading if you don't want to know what happened.
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So Marquez won his first sprint race AND his first main race in almost 3 years and the (then) championship leader finished poorly in the sprint then had an almost catastrophic collision with Marquez's brother in the main race. Luckily both appear to be ok, but it could have been so much worse.

So for the top 4 riders, the job is simple. Win at all costs.

Inbetween my original post on this an now, there has been the traditional rider merry go round....and Marquez's plan has been revealed. As of next year, he will be an official rider in the Ducati factory team, where he will team up with the current 2 time world champion and now second in the title race. The same man who is issuing thinly veiled insinuations that the collision between himself and Marquez's brother was deliberate....

Ouch. It's been called a 'racing incident' by control.....

https://youtube.com/shorts/3W_RoY_8jZw? ... CA9v79Wwx2

Add to that the fact that the (new) current leader of the championship and the man who is in 4th place are also a bit pissed off at being elbowed out of Ducati in favour of Marc and we have a potentially volatile situation in hand....

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682317

Postby DrFfybes » September 3rd, 2024, 8:00 am

Yes - Aragon wasn't the most interesting racing with the new surface offering little grip and the rubber being wased off each night with the rain.

It was eventful though.

Tedx wrote:So Marquez won his first sprint race AND his first main race in almost 3 years and the (then) championship leader finished poorly in the sprint then had an almost catastrophic collision with Marquez's brother in the main race


I wonder how long it took the Tinfoil Hatters to suggest it was deliberate :)

Paul

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682340

Postby Tedx » September 3rd, 2024, 10:13 am

DrFfybes wrote:Yes - Aragon wasn't the most interesting racing with the new surface offering little grip and the rubber being wased off each night with the rain.

It was eventful though.

Tedx wrote:So Marquez won his first sprint race AND his first main race in almost 3 years and the (then) championship leader finished poorly in the sprint then had an almost catastrophic collision with Marquez's brother in the main race


I wonder how long it took the Tinfoil Hatters to suggest it was deliberate :)

Paul


Well Pecco himself seemed to have doubts.

https://youtu.be/qF8YldRN5Rg?si=bCbVDYkbeqdLpCgl

'He was still at 40-60% throttle' and the shaking of the head at the 'he claims he couldn't see you'

Saying that, Pecco was much faster than Alex Marquez. All he had to do was just wait until the following straight - and he still had 6 laps to go, so plenty of time and he was never going to catch the guy ahead of him.

The main benefactor of al this is Jorge Martin. Pramac seem comfortable that Ducati will continue to support his effort into the latter part of the season (and there can't be that many upgrades to be had now), despite the risk that the No.1 plate could end up on the factory Aprilia next year.

As you say, the racing was dull, but full of incident and as we move into the last 8 races in 11(?) weekends it's going to be pretty intense.

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682427

Postby Redmires » September 3rd, 2024, 11:03 pm

Good result for Jake Dixon in Moto2 as well. He's on a bit of a roll at the moment.

Tedx
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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682453

Postby Tedx » September 4th, 2024, 8:01 am

Moto2 is.normally when I nip off for a shower on a Sunday morning......I've just never really got into it.

But with 6 riders within 50 points, it's getting interesting.

#smellyTed

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Re: Anyone still watching MotoGP?

#682457

Postby DrFfybes » September 4th, 2024, 9:45 am

I've always preferred the action in the lower classes - much more exciting and unpredictable.

Moto2 did get very processional for a while, the Honda engines and everlasting Dunlops were so well understood that it was basically a matter of getting a setup and planning the best time to complete the distance - Scott Redding was always suffering because of his weight and Tito Rabat went so thin he looked ill when he was winning. Getting a bit more exciting now as tyre management becomes more important.

Look at the laptimes though - riders doing solo laps within hundredths of a second of each other, and doing it repeatedly. The standard is now so high, so consitent, and so close that someone having "a good weekend" like Marc did is rare and often after the first few laps it is all over. The same was true if Jorge Lorenzo got a second lead on lap 1 a few years back, rarely would someone come to challenge him.

The IoM is getting similar - riders time trialling on public roads for 130-odd miles and coming in withing a few seconds of each other is quite astounding.

Paul


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