In the classic film, “The Princess Bride”, Inigo Montoya is fighting with The Dread Pirate Roberts and he is amazed to find someone whose sword play is as good as his. He stops in the middle of the duel and asks, “Who are you?” DPR replies, “No-one of any consequence.” “I MUST know,” says Inigo and the DPR says, “Get used to disappointments.”
Well, it seems that 9 times world champions, Valentino Rossi mught have to heed Inigo’s advice. Not only does he face the ongoing prospect of qualifying a recalcitrant bike much further down the grid than what he has been used to and then having to settle for what are very mediocre results in the race by his standards, but he may have to get used to further disappointments.
You see, the flaffing around that the team has done to make the bike into a Yamaha has meant that they have used up some of the valuable engines that SHOULD have lasted the team till the end of the season. Both Rossi and Hayden are already more than half-way through their allocated supply of engines and the season is only a third in. Both “works” riders, and, I might add, some of the satellite riders, are facing the prospect of having to start from pit lane later in the season if the present trend continues.
Coburn says
Do you realise that your statement “to make the bike into a Yamaha” is totally flawed when taking into account the fact that the engine on the Ducati is a “stressed member”? The design of each bike is fundamentally different and when Ducati stated that Rossi should not expect them to make him another Yamaha it was a figure of speech.
Phil Hall says
Yes, mate, I do realise that it was meant as a figure of speech. However, it is not without humour that the GP11.1 no longer pivots its suspension off the rear of the engine as its predecessors with the CF “mini chassis” used to do. In fact, those that have looked at it close-up say that the new rear suspension looks almost identical to that on the M1. So there is a little more than figurative speech involved, it seems.
Coburn says
Yes it appears to be similar to the M1 however, the engine remains a stressed member of the chassis to which the front and rear suspension units are still attached. The use of the engine as a stressed member is one of the defining characteristics of the Ducati.
Phil Hall says
Agreed, however, this gpone article makes it clear just what a radical change the GP11.1 is and how remarkably similar to the M1 the new suspension is. There is a lot of talk about that the main problem with the Ducati “chassis” is that it simply doesn’t flex predictably or correctly compared to what riders are used to. Ducati is hoist on their own petard, of course, as they can scarcely abandon the “min chassis” idea and return to the previously highly successful steel tube frame without losing huge amounts of face (although it’s hard to imagine them losing much more than what they already have)
http://www.gpone.com/index.php/en/201106154009/Ducati-GP12-technical-analysis.html