Please Enlighten Me

[faffi]

If you read the interviews after today's qualifying in Sepang, you will see that Lorenzo had smooth sailing on his two fast laps, whereas Pedrosa complained about massive chatter that prevented him from putting the power down - he even complained about chatter on the straights, for krais sake! Yet there were only a couple of tenths time difference over a 2 minute lap.

 

Stoner said he could barely ride the bike due to chatter and brake problems and that every change they made resulted in the bike become worse. And for all that he's half a second behind pole position. Crutchlow had similar complaints about horrible chatter, yet was only half a second behind his teammate, who didn't have any issues. Hayden said his bike chattered so badly, his hands were still tingling long after the session stopped.

 

I remember Kanemoto said the only way he could tell if a set-up was bad or good was by the amount of sweat on Spencer's forehead, the the clock didn't reveal much. For me, this still seems strange - I would have expected confidence and ease of operation would give substantial gains, not just a tenth or 3.

 

So please tell me, why do the times suffer so little? Or, put another way, why do they gain so little speed when everything is good vs. everything is off?

[aslcbr600]

If you read the interviews after today's qualifying in Sepang, you will see that Lorenzo had smooth sailing on his two fast laps, whereas Pedrosa complained about massive chatter that prevented him from putting the power down - he even complained about chatter on the straights, for krais sake! Yet there were only a couple of tenths time difference over a 2 minute lap.

 

Stoner said he could barely ride the bike due to chatter and brake problems and that every change they made resulted in the bike become worse. And for all that he's half a second behind pole position. Crutchlow had similar complaints about horrible chatter, yet was only half a second behind his teammate, who didn't have any issues. Hayden said his bike chattered so badly, his hands were still tingling long after the session stopped.

 

I remember Kanemoto said the only way he could tell if a set-up was bad or good was by the amount of sweat on Spencer's forehead, the the clock didn't reveal much. For me, this still seems strange - I would have expected confidence and ease of operation would give substantial gains, not just a tenth or 3.

 

So please tell me, why do the times suffer so little? Or, put another way, why do they gain so little speed when everything is good vs. everything is off?

 

 

 

Well that is all they fight for is that tenth of a second, I remember hearing Ben Spies saying that you will never have a bike that does everything perfect. You run a lap and it feels great through this section and then the next section feels unrideable. Since their tolerances are so tight their gripes will be bigger....not to take anything away from them but Pedrosa was saying he was getting tons of chatter but yet still won the race this last round.

 

I think what were used to seeing a big decrease when something is wrong and when they lose a tenth we think "pssshhh cmon now" however that tenth is a huge deal at that level. Just my thoughts on it anyway.

[faffi]

Chatter is big at times, you can see the bikes stutter and shake hard. And in slo-mo, you can see the tyres working overtime with chatter. So it's more than just riders moaning about little things. Somehow they manage to force the bikes to go fast all the same.

[ktk_ace]

im guessing rider ability threshold VS bike capability/ setup threshold

 

ie if a bike can make the rider work only 99% to get pole, its a good setup/bike

 

but as for the top 1% of riders (motogp) , its their job to make sure the bike functions at 110% ... thats why they are paid so highly...

 

Personally, I'd still like an electronic safety net for sporty street riding , Im ... lazy

[utahphunk]

So please tell me, why do the times suffer so little? Or, put another way, why do they gain so little speed when everything is good vs. everything is off?

 

Because they're the best in the world at riding motorcycles as fast as possible.

 

 

 

[tmckeen]

I think you're overlooking the difference in qualifying times and race times, while the best in the world can clearly ride through insane chatter and other setup issues to put together a single flying lap and push to the very edge in qualifying, it has a much greater impact on their race pace, a ideal setup lets them push much harder over race distance, and I think they are less inclined to ride over the limit when theres actual championship points on the line and not just grid position

[Jasonzilla]

 

Also, you have to remember that in a 25 lap race, something as small as 0.2 seconds a lap is 5 seconds in a race.