MotoGP News - Yamaha's Vinales "lost the way" in Barcelona MotoGP setup choices
https://ift.tt/3mWRYYA Maverick Vinales says he "lost the way" in setting up his Yamaha for the Catalan Grand Prix weekend, which contributed to his lowly ninth-place finish in Sunday's MotoGP race. The Yamaha rider had strong race pace throughout practice and was expected to challenge for victory on Sunday, but got swamped on the run to Turn 1 due to the M1's lack of acceleration. As a result, Vinales was 16th at the end of the first lap and ended up just "cruising" for the first 16 laps as he could not overtake the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro or LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow. He eventually got past both with a "crazy move" and recovered to ninth, but feels he tried "too much" to improve edge grip across practice which meant he "didn't know what to choose" in terms of set-up for the race. And Having come from a dominant Emilia Romagna victory last weekend, Vinales admits his "disaster" Catalan GP left his head "crazy" because "I don't understand nothing". "Nothing went to plan," Vinales said. "We tried to take the maximum points, but anyway it's remaining like always; [for] four, five years we have no power. "So, I lose a lot of places at the start. Not on the initial part, but in the second part of the start. "We started the race knowing that, but for me what's very frustrating is I passed 16 laps fighting behind Aleix and Cal, and I could not pass - impossible. "Only time I passed was at corner five, braking on the outside. Crazy move, which I risked crashing a lot. "But this is what happened. But when I go alone, I had really good lap times. "When you get stuck behind someone, you cannot pass [on the Yamaha], this is the main problem. "But all weekend I was struggling on banking with the grip and we tried many things, maybe too much, and for sure we lost the way this weekend. "We arrived to the warm-up with a very different set-up and we didn't know what to choose. "So, when you don't do the correct job, this is the result you have." Vinales says he was also struggling all weekend with front locking, which also meant he sacrificed performance in other areas chasing a fix for this. However, he believes had he started on the front row he could have a "completely different result" as he wasn't experiencing the same dramatic rear tyre drop-off the leaders did. "The problem is this track," he added. "If you start in front, today would have been a completely different result, because the second part of the race I was very strong with the tyres. "I didn't have that kind of [wear] issue with the tyres, but when you don't start well with this bike you cannot defend yourself. "So, the only thing you can do is let laps and laps pass, and until the opponents lose the grip you can't overtake. "And I just cruised for 16 laps behind Aleix and Cal, they were defending really well because I wasn't able to pass." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 27, 2020 at 01:05PM
Motorcycle News - Speed Read: 27 September, 2020
https://ift.tt/2EGhiRe
Today, we’ve gathered together an adorable MZ ETZ 250 bobber, a Yamaha RD350 from the eccentric Blechmann, and a Norton Commando that’s never left its crate. Plus we look at new riding sneakers from Icon 1000, and the evocative art of Chris White. Grab your beverage of choice and dig in.
Chris’ chosen medium is a mix of oil and spray cans, and he paints motorcycles with a very specific approach.
Chris’ process is fascinating, and the resulting work is captivating and emotive. Plus it’s a subject matter we love, so we’d hang his art on our walls in a heartbeat. [MORE]
Konstantin (Wertvoll Engineering) and Andreas (Bellpali Motorradmanufaktur) picked the ETZ because their workshop is in Chemnitz, eastern Germany—spitting distance from the original MZ factory.
The motor’s also been punched out to 350 cc… so this cute bobber must pack a serious bark and bite. [MORE]
This Commando was first shipped to a Belgian dealer in 1977, where it sat untouched for 33 years. There’s no information out there on why it was never unboxed, but it eventually made its way to Holland, then Spain.
The main chassis wraps around a mesh bootie, making this a lightweight, warmer weather boot. Protection features include kevlar toe overlays and D30 ankle inserts, and the sole includes an axial-metric shank to add some stiffness on the bike.
Just about every piece on this 1985 RD is hand-made—and if it isn’t, it’s been repurposed from somewhere else. Dubbed ‘The Space Traveler,’ the Yamaha was actually built in two phases. First, Blechmann added the classic cafe racer fuel tank and tail section, with a one-off oil tank built into the rear bump. Then his customer brought it back a couple of years later, for Blechmann to add the alloy fairing.
There are a million stunning details to pore over here, like the repurposed vintage bicycle speedo. It’s a cracking cafe racer, and proof that Blechmann truly is a master of metal. [MORE] Motorcycles via Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/2Mf9b0c September 27, 2020 at 12:13PM
MotoGP News - Rossi's MotoGP title hopes "closed" after Catalan GP crash
https://ift.tt/3kRoold Yamaha's Valentino Rossi admits, while mathematically he can still win, his MotoGP title hopes have "closed" after crashing from second place in the Catalan Grand Prix. Running in the podium battle from the off, Rossi found himself in second on lap 14 when Petronas SRT's Franco Morbidelli made a mistake at the first corner. But the Yamaha rider's 350th premier class race would last just two more laps, as he crashed at Turn 2. Having been just 26 points adrift of the championship lead ahead of the Catalan GP, he is now 50 points down after registering his second-successive DNF and the third of the season. "In order not to despair, we have to think that it was a good weekend anyway, that I rode well, that I enjoyed myself and I could play for the win," Rossi reflected. "We are following a very interesting road with the setting of the bike, so even if the championship is closed for me, there are great reasons to be fast from now to the end of the year. "As long as the math doesn't say it, it's not over. But unfortunately, I have already made three zeroes and I fell twice in a row due to my mistakes. Then the bike broke down in the first race, so it's difficult. "But there are still many races and we will have to try to be fast, if I can ride like this, I can go fast on all sides." Rossi concedes he made a mistake by not paying attention to the temperature of the left hand side of his front tyre at Turn 2, and was trying to push at that stage to reduce the gap to eventual winner and new championship leader Fabio Quartararo. PLUS: Why MotoGP's ageing rock star isn't clinging to the limelight "We start very, very smooth at the beginning, we had a good pace and I tried to ride very sweet on the front tyre and rear tyre, because I know, like everybody, at the end of the race we will suffer," he added. "But anyway, we had a very good pace and we stayed at front, but I don't push too much there. "Franco did a mistake at Turn 1, so from that moment I push because I don't want to take too much disadvantage to Fabio. "I wanted to try and stay close to him because I know especially Suzukis at the end are very strong. "But I did a mistake. Looking at the data it's a really, really similar to the lap before but with this temperature I need to pay more attention on the left." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 27, 2020 at 12:36PM
MotoGP News - Zarco: Taking MotoGP contender Dovizioso out at Barcelona a "sad feeling"
https://ift.tt/2S3KKUi Johann Zarco admits taking down Andrea Dovizioso in Sunday's MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix gave him a "sad feeling", acknowledging the works Ducati rider is fighting for the championship. Zarco was forced to check up at Turn 2 when the sister works Ducati of Danilo Petrucci had a moment at Turn 2 on the opening lap. The Avintia rider tucked the front as he braked at lean angle and slid into Dovizioso, who had launched himself from 17th into the top 10, taking both out on the spot. Erstwhile championship leader Dovizioso is now 24 points off the standings lead after Petronas SRT's Fabio Quartararo won Sunday's race at Catalunya. "I'm pretty sad about today," Zarco said. "The weekend was going pretty well and I could expect good things for the race, and finishing the race at the second corner is really giving pain to the brain, to the stomach. "I think the start was correct from my side. Danilo did some really amazing braking at Turn 1 and he overtook me, and then we he changed direction he almost fell down because the temperature on the left is very cool and we have to be very careful. "I just reflexed to not touch him, I was braking and I crashed. "The problem is when I crashed with Dovi, he could not avoid me and we were two Ducatis on the floor, and of all of them, it's Andrea who is playing for the championship. "This gives me a sad feeling today and I think if I didn't touch the brakes I would have hit Danilo and it would have ended in the same way." Dovizioso says he is "frustrated" by the collision with Zarco, but concedes it was merely a "racing incident". "I think my pace in practice wasn't too bad and I think the pace was very similar to Pecco [Bagnaia] and at the end of the race he was really fast," Dovizioso said on Sunday. "So, I don't know if he found something or if that was possible. "It was important to make a good start, and I did it, so I was very happy about that and nothing [else] to say. "It was a racing incident, so nothing to say about that. "I am very disappointed especially when something like that happens you feel very frustrated because you couldn't try anything. "For the championship we lost a lot of points today." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 27, 2020 at 12:29PM
Motorcycle News - Church of MO: 2010 Victory Vision 8-Ball
https://ift.tt/2S2lAFJ Verily, there is one of these for sale in Michigan for 6000 ducats, and I would be on the plane tomorrow if my dwelling did not already overfloweth with OPM (Other Peoples’ Motorcycles). “Pete suggests that it looks like a custom bagger, and the public agrees, tossing thumbs skyward from passing automobiles on a daily basis.” Surely coolness and shiny blackosity shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the 24.5-inch bucket seat of the Lowered forever. Amen me! The American Black Stallion
By Alfonse Palaima Feb. 10, 2010
Photos by Fonzie Video by Fonzie
Tired of specialty coffee, exclusive memberships, limited-edition collectable cereal boxes and canine-centric vacations? Just want what you want, and in a plain-and-simple form? How about a bare bones touring rig with a heart of American craftsmanship? If that sounds appealing, Victory Motorcycles offers its 8-Ball edition of the luxury-touring Vision.Not only do you have a plethora of viable options coming from Japan when shopping for a cruiser, America’s unions offer a few options as well these days. While whittling the choices down to the “new” American builder might have been hard, ergonomics and cost play a strong part in your decision making as well. If you wanna ride far yet still comfortably reach the ground, Victory offers the lowest saddle height in the class with its new-for-oh-ten Vision 8-Ball. Combining style and comfort with a dash of stealthy cool, Victory helps you blend in while standing out from the crowd. The blackened paint scheme blends into the world of night cruisers yet you’ll still wanna show it off, take it on a tour and get the thumbs up from the neighbor. As the biggest member of the Victory 8-Ball family, the Vision strips away the pomp and extravagance found on the 10th Anniversary Vision Tour that you read about last summer and delivers a blank canvas ripe for personalization. For model year 2010, there’s also a sleek and slim version of Victory’s Vegas, Kingpin and Hammer models packed into the new family of four blackened 8-Ball bikes. The Vision-8 is powered by the same big 106 cubic inch Freedom V-Twin found on all the Victory tourers this year, as well as the new Vegas LE introduced just a few weeks ago. You’ve seen the counterbalanced 50-degree V-Twin time and time again, but what you haven’t seen is simplicity like this in a touring cruiser. The Vision’s backbone is a modern, beefy cast-aluminum frame offering rigidity that translates into a responsive, obedient handler. Add in a lower saddle height and center of gravity, and the term “sport-cruising” is born in the minds of riders now blazing new trails through the canyons as well as over the super slabs.
Cornering like no other cruiser, the Vision 8’s lean angle is more akin to the Honda Goldwing than a low-slung chopper – ready for thousands of miles before you ever scrape a floorboard — unless you wanted to, of course. It’s steady in the canyons and stable on the freeways. Gription is provided by Dunlop Elite 3s; 130 wide up front and a common and cruiser-conservative-but-solid 180 in the rear. From tip to tail, the Vision 8-Ball is covered in black paint, from its fork tubes to primary cases, with just the right amount of chrome. Pete suggests that it looks like a custom bagger, and the public agrees, tossing thumbs skyward from passing automobiles on a daily basis. That slammed and blackened look reeks of custom, yet it’s a blank canvas you can either enjoy as is or use as a jumping off point. A catalog of Genuine Victory accessories are also available for the Vision 8-Ball, ordering a la carte. Many of the comforts found on the more expensive Vision models can be had: heated grips and saddle, stereo, tail pack, electrically adjustable windscreen, HID driving beam, cruise control, taller windscreen, a bunch of Arlen Ness goodies and even a reverse gear. The Vision 8-Ball is also prewired to accept all these accessories. Victory even left a non-functioning windscreen adjustment toggle on the left-hand switch-cluster to remind you of the potential to upgrade the windscreen. Clean and classic styling in the dash includes an analog speedo and tachometer, plus the more up-to-date digital details in the LCD portion. The Victory trunk pack is also an option for the year-rounders or long-distance riders. As with all the Vision models, the styling is rather deceptive and the saddlebag capacity is less than we found on the Cross Country. An easily accessed non-locking glovebox provides for a bit more storage up front. The big 6-gallon fuel tank sucks up the vapors with ease. The first few tanks went by so quickly I thought we’d find very poor mileage. Turns out that the miles just melt off thanks to the comfort of the ride; the in-dash economy gauge tells us that we got 38 miles per gallon for an average range of 200 miles, give or take. The Vision-8 sports the lowest saddle (24.5-inches) in Victory’s entire lineup by about ¾-inch, combining the air-shock and coil spring rear suspension with a drop of 1-inch from the standard Vision. With the saddle being cut an additional inch as well, the ride height on the Vision-8 is overall 2-inches lower that the standard Victory Vision. The saddle itself, as a result of being so low, is stepped like a king/queen saddle of yesteryear, with a new-century update of being dished as well. The passenger level is nearly the height of a helmet above the operator, offering a clear sightline to the road ahead. Benefits to being the king, there’s built-in lower back support from the stepped saddle, handy when riding solo or two-up. The two-tiered saddle is one of the most comfortable seats I’ve been on in many years. And for a taster’s choice, I rode “biotch” for a short stint around LA while photographing the Vision just to see how the generously sized passenger saddle felt, and I came away wishing that my office chair was merely half as comfortable. Perched eye-level above the operator, and happily planted with my own floorboards, grab rails and comfortable saddle, I could ride there all day. When traffic blocks your escape path, the Vision’s braking system comes into play with a rear brake that is hydraulically linked to the front. On moderate to heavy application of the front brake, the front brakes (dual 300mm discs with 3-piston calipers) are also applied to assist in slowing the beast quickly. With light application of the rear brake, only the pair of rear pistons clamp down on the 300mm rear disc. The big “Vee” taillight impresses the masses but lacks in brightness when compared to the LED version found on the Cross Country or top-shelf Vision. One compromise you might find yourself making — if you’re a loud-pipe cruiser lover – is with regard to the overall tone of the Vision 8-Ball. Although the bike sounds like a running dishwasher when idling, it’s no different from the other Vision models and in need of a manly aftermarket pipe. Victory offers a Stage 1 performance exhaust and chrome fluted exhaust tips to feed your fever, but we can’t vouch for its tone until we hear it. While I’m often a big fan of heel-toe shift bars on cruisers, Victory tucks that one in the accessory catalog, offering one as an accessory for all their Vision’s. Oddly, I prefer this bike to not have one –giving free reign to place my feet in infinite positions from the typical cruiser clam stretch to a more standard ass-over-heels placement.
Perhaps you’re considering a Japanese tourer for the amenities and comfort but didn’t wanna leave the cruiser world just yet. The Vision-8 can help bridge the gap. The fully tricked out Vision has all the bells and whistles of a Honda Goldwing, but it comes at a premium. Sure, the looks are something to get used to, but it’s been four years now, the bulbous fairing only looks big from the outside. Pete says it’s his favorite version of the Vision. When you get on the Vision, the scale just melts away. Compared to the competition How does the Victory Vision 8-Ball stack up to the competition? Well, there seems to be few direct competitors. Against the whole range of tourers, the Vision 8-Ball stands by itself as a price-point winner with tons of style.
The V-8-Ball offers a $5700 savings compared to the next Victory tourer, and it’s a bitchin’ lookin’ bike to boot! Related Reading The post Church of MO: 2010 Victory Vision 8-Ball appeared first on Motorcycle.com. Motorcycles via Motorcycle.com https://ift.tt/2Std7JO September 27, 2020 at 11:33AM
F1 News - Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes driver has Russian Grand Prix penalty points rescinded
https://ift.tt/2FXNfFo Lewis Hamilton says the decision to penalise him at the Russian Grand Prix was "ridiculous". The Mercedes driver said his 10-second penalty for breaking rules on practice starts was excessive, adding: "They're trying to stop me, aren't they?" He added that he did not mean decisions were directed at him personally, but to "keep the racing exciting, I assume". Hamilton finished third, after the penalty for doing a practice start in the wrong place cost him the lead. Hamilton twice made practice starts during the reconnaissance laps before the cars form up on the grid at the very end of the pit lane where cars rejoin the track, rather than in the usual place at the end of the garages. He was also handed two penalty points on his licence, bringing him within two of an automatic one-race ban. "Interesting decision," he said. "It's ridiculous the points they've been giving people this year in general. "Penalty points usually are for… I would say from a driver's point of view they should be if you put somebody else in danger. "If you crash into somebody, of course you should be getting penalty points. I did not harm anybody, didn't put anyone in harm's way, so ultimately it is a ridiculous rule." He added: "Whenever a team is at the front, they are under a lot of scrutiny, everything we have on our car is being triple checked and triple checked, they are changing rules, such as the engine regs, lots of things to keep the racing exciting, I assume. "I don't know if the rules in terms of what happened today was anything to do with it, but naturally that's how it feels. It feels we're fighting uphill. "But that's OK. It's not like I haven't faced adversity before, so we will just keep our heads down and keep fighting and be squeaky clean." Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished second in the race behind Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas, said the decision to give Hamilton points on his licence was "a bit harsh". "If you cause a crash, it's a bit different," Verstappen said, "but the penalty Lewis got was already painful enough. "It is a bit harsh that he is up to 10 points. OK, maybe it was not correct where he stopped but penalty points for that? I'm not sure that's correct." The penalty came at the end of a fraught weekend for Hamilton, who came within one second of starting 15th following a series of errors in qualifying. And it meant he was unable to match Michael Schumacher's record of 91 Grand Prix victories until at least the next race at Germany's Nurburgring on 11 October. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 September 27, 2020 at 11:18AM
MotoGP News - Quartararo: Catalan MotoGP victory not motivated by Marquez comments
https://ift.tt/338EBwp Fabio Quartararo says his victory in the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix was not motivated by Marc Marquez's recent comments about the Petronas SRT rider's performances. Honda released an interview with injured world champion Marquez last week, in which he claimed he expected "much more" from Quartararo following his double win at Jerez in July. Following those races, Quartararo scored just 33 points out of a possible 100, with a best result of fourth in the Emilia Romagna GP - though this was a result of post-race penalty, as he had taken the chequered flag in third. Quartararo bounced back on Sunday at Catalunya to score his third win of the season and take an eight-point lead in the championship. The SRT rider insists Marquez's comments were not on his mind on Sunday, and actually agreed with them. "I talked to Marc on Thursday when he was here," Quartararo responded when asked by Autosport if Marquez's comments motivated him. "But, no, even if he don't say that comment I will give exactly the same [on the bike]. He's also true because I also expect from myself [to be] a bit better. "So, I think he's right. So, nothing about this comment, but what is good is we are back on the podium and it feels good." Quartararo hit the front on lap nine after passing fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi on lap six, and then his early-leading SRT team-mate Franco Morbidelli. The two SRT riders ran close for a handful of laps, and Quartararo believes their pace was "too fast" at that point and worked the tyre too hard - leading to a dramatic drop-off in the latter stages. Leading by 3.5s at one stage, Quartararo's tyre wear led to him to doing "lap times of Moto3 guys" and allowed second-placed Joan Mir on the Suzuki to close to within a second at the finish. "Honestly, it was a difficult race," the Frenchman said. "I made a great start, but I was fourth. Then Jack [Miller] made a mistake and I knew it was the perfect moment to overtake. "And when I take the lead, Franco stayed five or six laps behind. Our pace was really fast and I think at this moment it was way too fast for keeping the tyres fresh for the end. "At the end, I was three seconds slower, but not because I was in control. "I was pushing my maximum and unfortunately it's difficult to understand because these two guys [Mir and Alex Rins] were much faster than me at the end. "But I think it was so important to make the first part of the race in the best condition. "We can be happy about our job today because after five races in a row where we had tough times, we learned many things." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 27, 2020 at 10:50AM
MotoGP News - Catalan MotoGP: Quartararo wins to retake points lead after Dovizioso crash
https://ift.tt/2FVnF3S Fabio Quartararo took his first win since July and returned to the lead of the MotoGP championship in the Catalan Grand Prix after a lap one crash for Andrea Dovizioso. The Petronas SRT rider dominated the opening two races of 2020 but failed to reach the podium in the subsequent five. Franco Morbidelli held onto his pole position off the line ahead of the fast-starting Pramac Ducati of Jack Miller. As the field bunched up through the first two turns, Danilo Petrucci had a moment accelerating from Turn 2 which forced Johann Zarco to check up to avoid the factory Ducati ahead. But Zarco tucked the front end of his Avintia GP19 and slid into the side of Dovizioso on the sister works Ducati, taking both out of the race. At the front, Valentino Rossi found his way through on Miller at Turn 5 and set about chasing down his protégé Morbidelli in the lead. Miller got out of shape on the way into Turn 10 and almost wiped out Rossi, with Quartararo capitalising to move through into third. Morbidelli's lead over Rossi stood at half a second in the early stages, with the Yamaha trio able to drop Miller pretty quickly. Quartararo moved ahead of Rossi into the first corner at the start of the sixth lap, and three tours later would take the lead away from his Petronas SRT team-mate at the same place. Morbidelli ran Quartararo close, but his hopes of victory faded when he almost crashed twice on the way into Turn 1 on lap 14 and dropped behind Rossi into third. Rossi's gap to Quartararo stood at six tenths, but hopes of a 200th MotoGP podium on his 350th premier class start were dashed when he slide off at Turn 2. Morbidelli was promoted to second again, but his rear faded dramatically in the latter stages, with both Suzukis finding their way through to push him off the podium. Joan Mir recovered from a steady start to get into second ahead of Morbidelli after passing the SRT rider at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap. The Suzuki rider was able to carve into Quartararo's lead - which stood at over three seconds at one stage - and was just under a second back at the chequered flag. Rins came through from 13th on the grid to demote Morbidelli at Turn 10 on the same lap that Mir passed the Italian, and followed his Suzuki team-mate home for his first podium of the season and the first double rostrum for Suzuki since Misano 2007. Morbidelli held onto fourth by only 0.545 seconds ahead of the Pramac duo of Miller and Francesco Bagnaia, with Takaaki Nakagami close behind in seventh on the LCR Honda. Petrucci was eighth on his works team Ducati, while Maverick Vinales salvaged a lowly ninth on his Yamaha after a miserable afternoon. Vinales got a poor launch from fifth on the grid and found himself outside of the points in 16th at the end of the first lap. Struggling to overtake on the M1, he benefitted greatly from those who crashed ahead. The Yamaha rider bested LCR's Cal Crutchlow to push him back to 10th place in the closing stages, with the points rounded out by KTM's Brad Binder, Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, the Honda of Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona (Tech3) and Avintia's Tito Rabat. Pol Espargaro on the KTM crashed out of the top six battle on lap 13 and was later joined on the sidelines by Tech3's Miguel Oliveira. Quartararo's third win of 2020 moves him eight points clear in the championship now, with Mir moving up to second with his fourth podium of the year. Vinales' nightmare means he drops 18 points back, with Dovizioso 24 adrift in fourth. Now 50 points down, Rossi's title hopes have taken a serious hammer blow. Catalan MotoGP result - 24 laps
Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 27, 2020 at 09:18AM
F1 News - Lewis Hamilton penalty hands Russian Grand Prix win to Valtteri Bottas
https://ift.tt/2G2Qone Lewis Hamilton's quest for the all-time record of Formula 1 wins was put on hold when he was hit with penalties at the Russian Grand Prix. Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas dominated after the world champion was given a 10-second penalty for doing two illegal practice starts. Hamilton's transgressions put him on the verge of a one-race because of accumulated licence penalty points. Bottas' win meant he cut Hamilton's championship lead to 45 points. Hamilton and the Mercedes team made the victory easy for Bottas with their collective failure to know the rules on practice starts before the race, but the Finn might have won anyway. He was on the better strategy - starting on the medium tyres while Hamilton was on softs after a chaotic qualifying session for the Briton - and was tracking Hamilton in the early laps waiting for the race to play out. But two five-second penalties, each for practice starts in the wrong place on the reconnaissance laps before the cars go to the grid, took Hamilton out of the equation. What mistake did Mercedes make?Hamilton asked his engineer Peter Bonnington as he left the pits before the race if he could practice his start from further down the pit lane than the designated area immediately at the exit. Bonnington confirmed that he could, and Hamilton drove down to the end of the pit lane, just before it rejoins the track. When told, Hamilton complained: "Where is that in the rules?" But his actions contravened the requirements to do practice starts in the designated place, not to stop in the fast lane of the pit lane, and not to use constant throttle and speed in the pit exit at this part of the pre-race procedure. It was the second time in three races that Mercedes have fallen foul of race instructions - after he pitted when the pit lane was closed at the Italian Grand Prix, costing him victory. Hamilton now has 10 penalty points - and 12 in a calendar year means an automatic race ban. He will now have to be very careful not to transgress again before the first of those points drop off his licence in mid-November. More to follow #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 September 27, 2020 at 08:00AM
MotoGP News - Catalan MotoGP down to "who cares less" about crashing - Espargaro
https://ift.tt/2S3QnC0 KTM's Pol Espargaro says Sunday's MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix will come down to "who cares less" about crashing as the degradation of the preferred soft rear tyre will be "huge". Most riders have struggled for grip and tyre durability at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya circuit this weekend, with most already favouring the softest rear tyre for the race. Catalan GPs tend to be ones of attrition owing to the low-grip nature of the circuit, with the cooler conditions also causing issues as Michelin's tyre range is similar to what it would have brought had the race been run in its traditional June slot before the shake-up to the 2020 calendar following the COVID-19 pandemic. Espargaro, who qualified seventh on his KTM, says the high risk of crashing on Sunday will mean those who are willing to risk more will come out on top. "The FP4 was great, was fantastic, just the dropping of the soft rear tyre - we expect - is going to be huge," he said. "We tried to use the medium in FP4 and it was a disaster. "We have no idea what to do at the moment because I think the dropping of the soft tyre is going to be around lap 15, maybe even earlier. "So, really the last laps of the race we will struggle not to make a lap time, but to stay on the bike. This is going to be something... maybe by the end of the race it's not going to be who can perform better or who can be faster. "I think by the end of the race it's going to be about who can take more risk, who cares less to crash. And then maybe someone can do the difference. "But I don't feel at the end of the race the fastest is going to be the fastest, because the risk of crashing is going to be so high. "So, the guy who's going to risk more is going to get a better result at the end if he manages to finish the race." Espargaro explained that his team doesn't have enough useful data on how the medium will perform because scrubbed ones lost performance, and the limited allocation meant he couldn't keep using new ones. "When we re-use a tyre from one session to another one, always when you are using a medium or soft and you pit and pit out, you feel a big dropping," he added. "But if you even cool down the tyre and warm it again, like it happened in FP4, it's even worse. "The tyre becomes so hard and you never get to the rhythm to heat the tyre up again and you're just spinning [the rear]. "So, the problem in that situation [is] we don't know if the medium tyre has potential, because we don't know if by using a new tyre if we could bring it into a better situation and the tyre would work good. "But we don't have enough tyre to do that, so have to re-use and it's impossible to re-use tyres here. It's dangerous." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei September 26, 2020 at 01:45PM |
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