These days with configurable electronics, I'd say the difference is mostly in the riders heads.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-bang_firing_order

Me too. Should've seen my reaction when he got the pole at Indy Have to agree though, Ben is a real breath of fresh air in the current era.

For me Ben is "Steve McQueen" cool.

Just wish he didn't have his mom with him all the time.

The real question is what difference all that makes to a motorcycle. As far as I know it's not been conclusively answered, though Masao Furusawa seems to have a good idea. Take a look at this article from (Sir) Julian Ryder, and this one from Scott Jones. Furusawa sees the advantages of a 'big bang' type firing order as mostly relating to the feedback the rider gets from the engine response; the previous theory to hold sway (AFAIK) was that the greater spacing between energy 'pulses' on a big bang engine helped the tyres last longer and grip more progressively, without disastrously losing it all at once. Given that until recently there wasn't a lot of data to go on besides the Honda NSR500s, it's no surprise that engineers aren't exactly sure what's going on with the bikes they design.

I also heartily recommend Neil Spalding's 'MotoGP Technology', if only because it's so nice not to have to leave the room when people start talking about the bikes themselves. The revised edition also covers the 800cc bikes, there's some fascinating stuff about valves there, honest.

Ben just needs to work on his nickname. Elbows doesn't quite represent his coolness.

But speaking of Spies, I was wondering how many riders have won races in WSBK and grand prix motorcycle racing. I've got Vermin, Checa, Bayliss, and Biaggi off the top of my head. I think Vermeulen might actually be the only person to win a MotoGP, WSBK and WSS race. Anyone else?

I like Mary. And believe me, she knows when to stay away from him.

beany, I think folks are worried that Ben is the next No Girls Nicky. Can you in any way confirm that he does indeed follow the female species with any interest?

Well, yeah. He went out with Leticia Cline for a long time while he was in the AMA.

And that's ALL I'm saying on THAT particular matter!

That's all I needed to know!

Edit: Found a picture of those two with Jake Holden. Were Jake and Ben pals? That is one funny dude, I hope he finds a way to stick around in AMA.

Yep. And Jamie Hacking.

A smart bloke would have seen if the bike worked first and got back in the race and maybe punched out a few decent lap times to impress the bosses rather than punching out the opposition.He was fined about 10,000 dollars.

Is that really his nickname, no girls Nicky?

Perhaps he needs to find a butler* like Vale ?

Andy

*buttler ?

Love it!!

From GPOne
Elias to LCR and De Puniet to Ducati - Elias 'has to' be promoted to MotoGP and he doesn't want to be on a Ducati again so Dorna are supposedly trying to put him in at LCR and move de Puniet to Pramac. Pramac doesn't have the money to run a 2nd bike for de Puniet so Dorna may end up footing the bill for de Puniet at Pramac.

So the reward for being the top privateer Honda is a year on a Pramac Ducati?

Poor guy.

Bum deal for sure but he hasn't been the same since his accident.

Yeah, but it will be the 2011 all singing, all dancing Rossi-fied Pramac Ducati!

From what I understand, he's still in some pain.

why wouldn't dorna just help lcr run two bikes? this doesn't make sense, why would de puniet give up a decent honda seat for a poor ducati one?

Honda are probably not prepared to supply any more bikes.

Thank you guys, very intersting stuff !

Biaggi +2 years in Aprilia
http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news...1_and_2012.html

New Kawasaki WSB Team?
http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news...wsbk_entry.html

Provisional 2011 WSBK grid – UPDATED
http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news...d__updated.html

+

Xaus to SuperSonic Ducati?

"we don't really have the resources to supply any more bi.........oh.....is that a briefcase full of money you have there dorna? we'll see what we can do"

If you behave like one what do you expect... :-P

It is bloody obvious that the "fastest" driver or rider doesn't automatically win a championship. Think of Villenueve vs. Scheckter - classic case where single lap speed just didn't count for much because it didn't translate to race wins or podiums regularly enough. It happens all the time. Titles are about scoring the most points over the season and this doesn't automatically mean being the fastest all the time.

We may be coming across as a little rude - but it's difficult to understand why you find the concept so hard to understand.

Ben

Doohan and Magee won as Superbike wildcards. Kocinski, Lucchinelli and Chili were regulars in both series, winning multiple Superbike races, though Chili's only GP win was in slightly dodgy circumstances involving a works rider boycott and some sarcastic clapping from Eddie Lawson. More recently you've got Regis Laconi and Garry McCoy. The latter of whom had a chance to do the 500/MotoGP-WSS-WSBK three-peat, but the Triumph 675 wasn't strong enough. Simon Crafar won a famous Grand Prix at Donington Park, but he didn't ever win a WSBK race, though he most certainly should've.

On a related note, Vito Guareschi, Maio Meregalli and Wilco Zeelenberg have won WSS races and MotoGP races as team managers. Which probably says it all about the status of WSS as a route to Grands Prix, especially in the early years. Of the three WSS 'graduates' to GP that I can think of, Vermuelen, Xaus and Toseland, none of them lasted particularly long, and all favoured a quick return to Superbikes rather than hanging around trying to bum a ride somewhere in the paddock. So Crutchlow and Rea had best be careful.

Now, if we could include national Superbike championships and victories in this calculation, the list would be a bit longer and a lot more illustrious. The Australian and AMA Superbike championships significantly pre-date the World championship anyway, and at times have certainly been more prestigious.

I don't know how different Ducati will be next year, but should be different by 2012? What I mean is that, usually the bike Rossi and his crew have is the most sought after bike in MotoGP. It will also be interesting to see not only how Rossi handles the Ducati but how the Hayden and the satellite riders are able to do with Rossi's Ducati.

Burgess Confirms He And Crew Will Move To Ducati With Rossi

That Burgess and his team will follow Rossi was something to be expected.

But, will Uccio also follow?

Zoe

Hayden is already coping with the Ducati far better than non-Casey riders before him. He had a slow start and even needed on-track tuition from Casey but now he is riding as well as can be expected from a rider of his level. Satellite situation should be more interesting: if Aspar (and Karel) beat Pramac again it would reflect badly on the latter.

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sp...niet-to-ducati/

A source said: “Toni was really close to Pramac but Lucio (Cecchinello) has been pushing really hard to get him, so it looks like Randy will now go to Ducati.”
Capirossi signed a new two-year deal to join the Pramac squad in Sepang earlier this month.
In other transfer news, former 250GP world champion Hiroshi Aoyama will move to the Gresini Honda squad in 2011 to partner Italian Marco Simoncelli. Aoyama will move following the collapse of the Interwetten Honda outfit.
That follows Honda's decision to go ahead again with a planned three-rider factory effort featuring Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso.

Alex Debon appears to be stepping down from riding to enter team ownership, Bradders is riding his bike.

Maybe Toni will have his mojo back after Moto2. Or maybe the wide open spaces on the motoGP grid will bring out agoraphobia.

All these changes are making for an interesting time.

Andy

Is this confirmed? The last I heard was that Bradley was talking to Tech 3.

all depends on whether honda want him to do well or not, seems like he's gonna be at the back of a queue of at least 4 other riders though

by his bike do you mean his ftr or his teams bike

the ftr looks a very decent package, abraham has done really well on it since switching

Bradders news here

Aoyama and Ronald McDonald in the same team sounds like fireworks to me....

Zoe

Philip Neill's TAS Racing 'to solely spearhead' Suzuki UK's racing operations in 2011.

So Team Crescent are out of the Suzuki loop in BSB -- what are the odds of them continuing to run the manufacturer's GP bikes?

and marquez basically saying "if i win it i'm off"

Hunting 'round Youtube trying to put off writing a tutorial essay, found this rather nice piece of ESPN motorcycle footage.

1985 Daytona Battle of the Twins. Was actually looking for race footage of the Britten V-1000, but Marco Lucchinelli vs. a big old exhaust smoke-spitting Harley twin on the high banks is really fantastic to watch.

Toni Elias get promoted and RdP gets moved to Ducati? The guy is a champion of Moto2 and he gets to pick and choose where he can go just cause he doesnt like to ride the Ducati? He should be grateful he is getting ANOTHER chance.

Also I saw Ben Spies' girl friend on howard stern

If you mean Leticia, that would be . . . ex-girlfriend.

yes. I seen her on howard stern... lol

Oh lord.

What was she doing on Howard Stern? Not riding Ben's bike one would hope ....

Andy

It seems de Puniet don't want to ride the Pramac Duc(his manager said they have no contract). I think maybe hi will the second Ten Kate rider...

I see what you did there..................

As of now, all indications are that 17 year old Scott Redding will ride the prototype Suter-BMW Moto1 at the Valencia post season test.

"We chose the BMW engine because it's an inline four cylinder with dimensions similar to those of the Honda CBR600RR motor used in our Moto2 chassis - Suter said - That helped simplify the design process."

Ducati show interest in Redding

His recent form has been enough to catch the eye of Vitto Guareschi, who recently inquired about the rider only to find out he had just signed a two year deal with Marc VDS. Could Scott be the right rider for Ducati down the line?