New Electronics for MotoGP 2016

[Hawk]

Sounds like the new Electronic bike control regs for 2016 will actually promote more rider skills than in 2015.

Rossi doesn't sound to enthused about it right now because he say the 2016 bikes are now harder to ride at a consistent lap time pace. But surely that's the whole point, that it should be a rider skill that allows you to do that and not a reliance on Electronics controlling the bike that allows you to gain a consistent lap time pace.

Not a step back as Rossi claims... I feel it is a sensible move forward for the good of the sport! 

If I had my way we'd scrap the Electronic controls altogether and get back to pure rider/bike skills alone! 

Article concerned: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/motogp/2015/november/rossi-electronics-are-back-to-2008-levels/

Hawk.

[Napalm Nick]

+1 Hawk

and I'm getting out of this conversation quick. Mawks Law is coming....

[Boerenlater]

With his smooth style this seems good for Jorge.

[Hawk]

+1 Hawk

and I'm getting out of this conversation quick. Mawks Law is coming....

Hehe! 

Hawk.

[HornetMaX]

If it's fine for the top teams (Honda wasn't very happy it seems), then it's fine for me too.

I think the point was more to reduce the (electronics) gap between top official bikes and the rest, which should be good.
If it gets rid of some silly "turn-by-turn" stuff (I think it's the case), I'm all for it.

[Hawk]

Rossi got 2 wins in 2000 with the 500cc , I am sure he can handle this change. Jorge is smooth but the question is will he be able to remain smooth given the changes?

Rossi is getting like an old dog.... Old dogs don't like change. This is one of the reasons why age catches up with you in sports, isn't it? 

But I agree with you; Rossi will probably handle the change better than some with his experience, and it will be very interesting indeed to see how some of the 2015 faster riders cope with it(Lorenzo, as you say). We could see a little bit of a game changer here for the better. I hope so. 

Hawk.

[WALKEN]

I would think Marquez would struggle if anyone no?  Some of the stuff Marc gets away with wouldn't fly on a 500cc 2 stroke, would come back and bite him.

[C21]

I think the point was more to reduce the (electronics) gap between top official bikes and the rest, which should be good.

That was the reason of the FIM and DORNA.
But it´s a fake.
All are riding 2016 on the "new" Magneti Marelle ECU (which is based on the WSBK ECU used in 2008-2010).
So far so good.
But the factory teams have more manpower and more specialists to get the Software adaption for TC, EB,WC,Throttle Control, Fuel consumption sorted....way better then the guys working on the private teams.
Nice idea to reduce costs but it will change nothing in 2016 imho.

[Stout Johnson]

I think the point was more to reduce the (electronics) gap between top official bikes and the rest, which should be good.

That was the reason of the FIM and DORNA.
But it´s a fake.
All are riding 2016 on the "new" Magneti Marelle ECU (which is based on the WSBK ECU used in 2008-2010).
So far so good.
But the factory teams have more manpower and more specialists to get the Software adaption for TC, EB,WC,Throttle Control, Fuel consumption sorted....way better then the guys working on the private teams.
Nice idea to reduce costs but it will change nothing in 2016 imho.

Good point there C21. But I still think the gap between the financially powerful teams and the private teams will be reduced substancially. The powerfull ECU's from the factory teams were just out of another league AND they had the manpower. Now they still have more resources to adapt the standard ECU, but that will not be able to create the same gap as the different ECU's meant in the last years.

So for me it definitely means, that good riders will make much of a difference in '16. It will be interesting to see which riders will fit the style that is needed for the new front tyre of Michelin. I am particularly excited for guys like Vinales, the Espargaros and Bradley Smith. Those are pretty fast guys and that also can be very consistent and take rather calculated risks. I kind of think Marquez, Iannone and Clutchblow might be struggling because they sometimes seem to be taking to much risk at times and the Michelin front tyre seems to be not very forgiving. Tyres are under constant development, but Michelin historically has had struggles with the front. So I don't see it necessarily solved very soon.

I also kind of have the feeling that Yamaha will struggle. I have the feeling that the M1 chassis has been designed rather conservative which allowed for a very smooth riding style and gain time especially in turns. But they needed a very good front tyre to be able to do that. With the current Michelin I think Yamaha might struggle a bit more than others. But it is very early to draw such conclusions. Yamaha also has time to adapt the chassis if needed.

I am definitely excited for the new season, I think we will see new faces being able to reach a podium.

[Docfumi]

The numbers look good so far for everyone. 


MotoGP Valencia Test 2016
Session 2 as of 11/11/2015

Pos       Rider                                Team                           Fastest lap   Lead. Gap   Prev. Gap   Laps   Last lap
1      MARQUEZ, Marc           Repsol Honda Team        1:31.060                          29 / 42   
2      VIÑALES, Maverick     Team SUZUKI ECSTAR          1:31.163   0.103   0.103   53 / 57   
3      PEDROSA, Dani           Repsol Honda Team        1:31.180   0.120   0.017   30 / 60   
4      ESPARGARO, Alei        Team SUZUKI ECSTAR    1:31.212   0.152   0.032   44 / 55   
5      LORENZO, Jorge         Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   1:31.282   0.222   0.070   47 / 48   
6      CRUTCHLOW, Cal        LCR Honda                   1:31.494   0.434   0.212   57 / 58   
7      ROSSI, Valentino        Movistar Yamaha MotoGP   1:31.498   0.438   0.004   57 / 65   
8      ESPARGARO, Pol    Monster Yamaha Tech 3   1:31.619   0.559   0.121   50 / 51   
9      IANNONE, Andrea   Ducati Team                  1:31.619   0.559   0.000   57 / 60   
10      SMITH, Bradley      Monster Yamaha Tech 3   1:31.694   0.634   0.075   70 / 71   
11      PETRUCCI, Danilo   Octo Pramac Racing        1:31.717   0.657   0.023   61 / 62   
12      BAZ, Loris             Avintia Racing                1:31.796   0.736   0.079   41 / 49   
13      REDDING, Scott     Octo Pramac Racing        1:31.901   0.841   0.105   48 / 54   
14      BARBERA, Hector           Avintia Racing                1:31.937   0.877   0.036   54 / 62   
15      DOVIZIOSO, Andrea   Ducati Team                  1:31.967   0.907   0.030   49 / 62   
16      MILLER, Jack         Marc VDS Racing Team   1:32.100   1.040   0.133   44 / 49   
17      LAVERTY, Eugene   Aspar MotoGP Team        1:32.377   1.317   0.277   49 / 51   
18      RABAT, Tito            EG 0,0 Marc VDS          1:32.402   1.342   0.025   54 / 56   
19      BRADL, Stefan       Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   1:32.492   1.432   0.090   52 / 59   
20      HERNANDEZ, Yonny   Aspar MotoGP Team        1:32.510   1.450   0.018   34 / 48   
21      BAUTISTA, Alvaro   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   1:32.847   1.787   0.337   28 / 52   
22      PIRRO, Michele      Ducati Team                  1:33.568   2.508   0.721   5 / 6   
23      TSUDA, Takuya      Suzuki Test Team           1:33.797   2.737   0.229   24 / 32   
24      DI MEGLIO, Mike   Aprilia Racing Team Gresini   1:34.372   3.312   0.575   13 / 21   
25      AOKI, Nobuatsu     Suzuki Test Team           1:37.031   5.971   2.659   11 / 13   

[BOBR6 84]

Its good to see suzuki up there!

Is norton coming back soon too? KTM have built a grand prix bike too 

I dont think the new electronics will make much difference to the end results.. Laptimes will be a little slower maybe to begin with but I think tyres will play a bigger role.

[HornetMaX]

Same as bob, slower lap times overall (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but overall I'm not expecting big changes in the hierarchies.

[Yohji]

but suzuki used 2015ECU... not 2016's

[Stout Johnson]

but suzuki used 2015ECU... not 2016's

Yes, teams did not do that many laps with new bikes, except Repsol Honda. It seemed to be more about getting info on the new tyres and what changes might be needed in terms of chassis and weight balance given the new tyres. We will probably see more from the new bikes in the Sepang tests.