2014 MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 discussion (spoilers)

[thro]

2013 is over.

2014 pre-season is in progress, let the speculation begin!


Dorna have put out a season 2013 youtube summary playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmA8p7BfE6duIsbja9J545FIIk_JZ6Lw9

[Kristy]

No speculation needed - Marc Marquez 2014 MotoGP world champ ^_^

[Kristy]

Close between Miller, Marquez and Rins in Moto3. Think it's between Miller and Rins to win it, but don't discount Marquez.

Rabat to take out Moto2. Luthi and Nakagami strong but not always consistent. Lookout for Salom.

Just to toy with MotoGP, the 3 amigos - Marquez, Lorenzo, Pedo consistently up there, with Marquez to take it. As for the best of the rest, it's gonna be tight between Rossi/Bradl/Bautista/Pol Espargaro/Aleix Espagaro/Redding/Smith/and maybe Hayden (he'll be up there mixing it with them and definitely doing better than he did with Ducati but I don't see consistent 4/5/6th places). As for Ducati, who knows how Crutchlow will do, he might be up there consistently with the best of the rest, but reckon I'd put money on him doing better than Dovi, Iannone and Hernandez. Don't think Rossi will do any better in the 2014 season than the 2013 season.

[thro]

I think Pol could be a dark horse for regular podiums in MotoGP.

He'll be on a competitive bike. He's raced Marc before and kept him pretty honest. He just won the Moto2 championship and that racing is close as fuck elbows down everywhere.



Redding/Hayden remains to be seen, but I don't think Honda will be going to the trouble of the "production" RC bike only to cripple it so badly to be un-competitive. 1000cc is plenty of power, and Honda were doing OK with steel valves in the 800s in the first year of them? I think it's more likely they'll be throwing all the upgrades they can at the proddy bike so that it is running as close to the top as possible. If they can stick with the Yamahas and beat the Ducatis with their "Production" bike, then the marketing potential is fucking stupendous.

Yes I know that the bike is nothing like the CBR1000RR. The average dickhead punter (particularly in the USA which has the largest sports bike market in the world and a fairly small MotoGP fan-base relative to Europe, etc.) - does not. And the name "production racer" is clearly marketing based.

Put a repsol paint job on the CBR and watch them walk out the door.

[MotorbikeMike]

Thread stickied before the season's started, let alone half-way through. Whoa, impressed!

Marquez for back to back championships!

[Kristy]

Thread stickied before the season's started, let alone half-way through. Whoa, impressed!

Because the ultimate motoGP fanboi, [MENTION=7023]thro[/MENTION] is now a mod

[thro]

Heh. It did irk me a little that we were half-way through 2013 and the 2012 thread was still stickied

I'm a bit of a freak for organising electronic things. My house and desk are a mess though

Also on Pol - the M1 has before been called "the worlds fastest 250cc GP bike" because if the major bias towards corner speed. Coming from Moto2, it will probably suit Pol quite nicely.

I don't think we've seen a Moto 2 front runner on an M1 yet? Obviously Jorge and Valentino were 250cc champions, but Moto2 is a lot more competitive, with a larger field. All other things being equal, you'd think that Pol should have an easier time adapting to the M1 than Marc did to the RCV. And Marc did pretty well

[Gixxer 7]

Putting my money on Marquez again for 2014... & 2015/16 :-)

Should be a good season in theory with the new bikes etc... But it will still be Marquez/Lorenzo & Pedro with the odd flash from Rossi, Bradl and co. Hopefully the new proddies put on a good show tho :-)

April is just to damn far away is all I can say !

[Far Q]

So Honda are threatening to pull out of Motogp if they can't get their own way on the ECU issue. Hmmm....

[Gixxer 7]

I'll assume that's if dorna try to make All bikes run the same ecu and software yes ??

[Far Q]

I'll assume that's if dorna try to make All bikes run the same ecu and software yes ??

Yeah mate, check crash.net for the story.

[bomoto]

Yep, round 1 can't come quick enough!! Thanks [MENTION=7023]thro[/MENTION] for the ongoing fanboi'ism!!!

[thro]

So Honda are threatening to pull out of Motogp if they can't get their own way on the ECU issue. Hmmm....

Well from Honda's point of view, they want to be able to develop an electronic advantage. Which raises the point: if there is no way for the manufacturers to distinguish themselves, and show off their technological proficiency, why should they bother racing at all?

Some people forget, it's not JUST a rider championship, the factories are out to show off what they can do as well.

Get rid of their ability to do that and why the fuck would they spend millions of dollars a year to compete?

People would be pissed off if the riders who lapped under a certain time or who could exceed a certain lean angle were banned, so why should it be any different for the engineers?

[Far Q]

Well from Honda's point of view, they want to be able to develop an electronic advantage. Which raises the point: if there is no way for the manufacturers to distinguish themselves, and show off their technological proficiency, why should they bother racing at all?

Some people forget, it's not JUST a rider championship, the factories are out to show off what they can do as well.

Get rid of their ability to do that and why the fuck would they spend millions of dollars a year to compete?

People would be pissed off if the riders who lapped under a certain time or who could exceed a certain lean angle were banned, so why should it be any different for the engineers?

Yeap, that's what the article says.

[thro]

good. didn't read it but at least they're talking sense