MotoGP 2020

[GORDON STREETER]

Just a few changes for the new season, hopefully it won't be dominated again.
Repsol Honda:
Marc Marquez (End of 2020)
Alex Marquez (End of 2020)
Monster Yamaha:
Maverick Vinales (End of 2020)
Valentino Rossi (End of 2020)

Ducati Team:
Andrea Dovizioso (End of 2020)
Danilo Petrucci (End of 2020)
Suzuki:
Alex Rins (End of 2020)
Joan Mir (End of 2020)

Red Bull KTM:
Pol Espargaro (End of 2020)
Brad Binder (End of 2020)*
Johann Zarco (End of 2020)
Aprilia Gresini:
Aleix Espargaro (End of 2020)
Andrea Iannone (End of 2020)
Tech3 KTM:
Miguel Oliveira (KTM contract, end of 2020)
Iker Lecuona (KTM contract, End of 2020)*
Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3 contract, end of 2019)

LCR Honda:
Cal Crutchlow (HRC contract, end of 2020)
Takaaki Nakagami (HRC contract, end of 2020)
Pramac Ducati:
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati contract, end of 2020)
Jack Miller (Ducati contract, end of 2020)
Avintia Racing
Johann Zarco (Ducati contract, end of 2020)
Tito Rabat (End of 2021)
Petronas Yamaha Sepang Team:
Franco Morbidelli (End of 2020)
Fabio Quartararo (End of 2020)

[Dani Filth]

not many rides were left .. but i feel disappointed with Zarco's ride .. Avintia was never competitive, with Rabat, a former Moto2 champion
wonder the year of the bike

[GORDON STREETER]

I wonder if there will be an "official" report and film of the "test swap" between Hamilton and Rossi the other day in Spain ?

[hoffman66]

Err, the entire thing is being done by Monster, it will be all over social media, it's the only reason it is happening

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

not many rides were left .. but i feel disappointed with Zarco's ride .. Avintia was never competitive, with Rabat, a former Moto2 champion
wonder the year of the bike

Avintia will be an official Ducati supported team next year so hopefully he will be able to show his form. I can't imagine a 2 times Moto2 champion signing unless he sees some potential.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I wonder if there will be an "official" report and film of the "test swap" between Hamilton and Rossi the other day in Spain ?

Not sure how official , but this clip is over 6 mins and has plenty of footage of them on track and also briefing each other. Also both lapping on bikes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbKnXi1bZY

As an aside I think Lewis was 4 secs slower on the bikes, Rossi 1.5 seconds slower in the car.
Amusing to see #44 on Vals bike and #46 on the Merc.

[justracing]

Thanks EB.

[Willmaz223]

So Rossi is racing in the Gulf 12 Hours ( Cars ) this weekend in a Ferrari 488 GT3.

Interesting to see how he gets on.

[hoffman66]

He has raced a GT before at Monza.

[Willmaz223]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

He has raced a GT before at Monza.

What series. Italian GT ?

[GORDON STREETER]

He was tipped to move into F1 10 years ago after being just 0.7 seconds off Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari test. He often does local car rallies as well as motocross and enduros on bikes.

[Willmaz223]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

He was tipped to move into F1 10 years ago after being just 0.7 seconds off Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari test. He often does local car rallies as well as motocross and enduros on bikes.

[Purist]

Again, being much less steeped in motorcycles than cars, I thought I'd ask if anyone has any particular impressions from what we've seen of the Kymi Ring, and of course, the coming 2020 Finnish Motorcycle GP.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

He was tipped to move into F1 10 years ago after being just 0.7 seconds off Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari test. He often does local car rallies as well as motocross and enduros on bikes.

He has also done a few full WRC events as well.... I think he just missed out on points in the WRC New Zealand Rally once. Just looked up, and he also did a Rally GB WRC round back in 2008, driving a Ford Focus RS WRC 07. He finished the rally in 12th place, 13 minutes and 20.4 seconds behind winner Sébastien Loeb. His first WRC rally was the 2002 Rally GB, driving a Peugeot 206, but he crashed out of that.

He also tested Kyle Busch's NASCAR Nationwide Series stock car at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rossi achieved a top lap speed of 185 miles per hour, a speed which was said would have put him in the top fifteen of a Nationwide Series race.

He has always said after he finished riding in MotoGP he would take up Rallying in some way.

[S griffin]

He has now managed to win the Gulf 12 hours

[hoffman66]

Rossi did a Blancpain round in a Ferrari a good few years ago at Monza, no idea if he did any good.

Rallied quite a few times, I was doing some research on a Renault Megane Maxi recently and found that Vale had rallied it at Monza in 1997, he must have only been old enough to drive surely?

But he has ralleid a SEAT, Subaru, 206WRC, Focus and one or two others

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

Rallied quite a few times, I was doing some research on a Renault Megane Maxi recently and found that Vale had rallied it at Monza in 1997, he must have only been old enough to drive surely?

He was born on 16 Feb 1979, so he would have been 17/18 depending when the race was. He will be the oldest rider in MotoGP by far next year at 41

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by S griffin

He has now managed to win the Gulf 12 hours

won his class . not overall

[GORDON STREETER]

I read an article that claims 2 stroke engines could well be coming back in for MotoGP bikes because of the advances in design with zero emissions.

[justracing]

2 strokes without a trail of blue smoke, wouldn't seem quite right somehow

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by justracing

2 strokes without a trail of blue smoke, wouldn't seem quite right somehow

The thing is that making them controllable with all the amazing "gizmos" that make them ridable for a lot more riders it could be a good thing. However it's never going to be as good to watch as the days of the old silly narrow band engines with a switch for an "on or off" throttle

[justracing]

Although I didn't follow bike racing much back then, I can remember the 500cc twins being as described as unrideable and "death on wheels" mainly due to their extreme power to weight ratio and the narrow power band.

[GORDON STREETER]

The 500cc 3&4cyl 2strokes could produce ridiculous HP at a certain RPM and had to be detuned to make them "rideable" although it was still almost like a flat "open or shut" position on the throttle. When 50cc racing was going in the 60s some of the engines had a very narrow power band of only 2 or 3 hundred revs and some had 16 speed gear combinations to keep them going !
https://www.bikebandit.com/blog/the-...a-in-gp-racing

[GORDON STREETER]

This makes interesting reading, I was fortunate to see all these bikes at various meetings including the TT in period.
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocia...0s-race-bikes/

[justracing]

Interesting reading, explains why these 2 stroke machines never found their way as production machines. I'm afraid my own biking experiences were limited to BSA Bantams and a 250 C15 BSA back in the 60's, all very tame