Motorsports - General Chat

[Guest Cannabis]

With the MotoGP season kicking off on the 26th March it's about time that the tape was cut on this thread. With a few riders changes taking place over the summer, including Jorge Lorenzo breaking a historic relationship with Yamaha to jump to the Ducati who will you be supporting this time around? Pick from the living legends below;

Repsol Honda: 

Marc Marquez & Dani Pedrosa

Movistar Yamaha:

Valentino Rossi & Maverick Vinales 

Ducati Team:

Jorge Lorenzo & Andrea Dovizioso

Suzuki:

Andrea Iannone & Alex Rins

KTM:

Bradley Smith & Pol Espargaro

Aprilia Gresini:

Sam Lowes & Aleix Espargaro

LCR Honda: 

Cal Crutchlow

Marc VDS Honda:

Jack Miller & Tito Rabat 

Monster Yamaha Tech 3:

Jonas Folger & Johann Zarco

Avintia Ducati:

Hector Barbera & Loris Baz

Pramac Ducati:

Scott Redding & Danili Petrucci

Aspar Ducati:

Alvaro Bautista & Karel Abraham

[Cocaine]

Yamaha, always. Anything else is like switching football team allegiance - i just don't get it.

I think Vinales will be one to watch this season. Rossi will always be, well, the legend Valentino Rossi #46!

I think Lorenzo will do well on the Ducati because he is such a good rider, but he's let his heart rule his head by leaving Yamaha. He wound me up a few times last season when you could tell he wasn't trying - something was going on in the background. Maybe the Ducati talks?

[SirBalon]

I expect Ducati to be more than competitive but as you know, for me there's only one man... Marc Márquez! 

[SirBalon]

34 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

The final test at Qatar is over and all that's left to do is start the season. 

Maverick Vinales has been the fastest at all four tests in the desert which is impressive to say the least. He's followed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Dani Pedrosa (Honda), Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Aspar). 

It's obviously got to be taken with a pinch of salt but it gives a slight indication of where everyone is at. 

Pinch of salt indeed mate...  Riders like Márquez and Rossi want competition to inspire them.

[Guest Cannabis]

So yeah, it's raining in Qatar . Qualifying was cancelled yesterday as it was un-safe to ride (something that I've never seen before) so the grid has been decided based on the practice times from Friday. Maverick Vinales starts from pole position but this could be anyone's race because of the conditions, we're going to see a few falls once the lights go out.

[Guest Cannabis]

On his Factory Yamaha debut Maverick Vinales takes the full 25 points in Qatar and it's fully deserved considering he has led every private and official test and topped the timesheets in practice. Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso takes 2nd with Valentino Rossi taking the last spot on the podium. SirBalon's love-child Marc Marquez finished the evening in 4th which is a great result considering how many problems he's had this winter. 

Gutted for Johan Zarco though it has to be said, on his first race in MotoGP he led the way with a Tech 3 bike before crashing out due to track conditions. Hopefully he can take the positives from this race and come back stronger, Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista also hit the deck.

 

[SirBalon]

Wasn't able to see the race but I'm not surprised at this result considering pre season running.  I think this will be more or less the norm in the first quarter of the season before Honda get the bike in order.

Edited March 26, 2017 by SirBalon

[tlr]

I do enjoy MotoGP, started watching it again last year after an absence of about a decade; the only man left from that era being of course Valentino Rossi! I don't really have allegiances to riders or teams, I just find it really enjoyable to watch. I honestly think if it got better exposure over here it could take off, there's certainly a lot more (decent) British and Irish representation now than I ever remember them being. All we ever used to get was about 45 mins on BBC on a Sunday night, now it's not even free to view anymore.

[SirBalon]

I was gutted  for Márquez when he crashed out while challenging for the victory.  But I'm happy for Crutchlow who's getting some interesting results early on.

[Stan]

severe brain damage for Hayden

https://www.gpupdate.net/en/motogp-news/353337/hayden-suffers-severe-brain-damage/

Quote

Nicky Hayden remains in an "extremely serious" condition with "severe brain damage" following a cycling accident on Wednesday, latest updates have confirmed.

2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden, who switched to the Superbike World Championship in 2016, was out cycling in the city of Rimini, on the Adriatic coast, when a car struck him.

A statement issued by his Red Bull Honda team clarified that he was initially taken to a hospital near Rimini, before being transferred to Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena.

No comments were made about his condition, only that he was in intensive care, until updates from both the Superbike World Championship and MotoGP on Thursday afternoon.

"Nicky Hayden's condition remains extremely serious," read a statement posted on the official MotoGP website.

"The American, who remains hospitalised in the intensive care unit in the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, has suffered serious trauma with severe brain damage as a consequence.

"The prognosis remains unknown."

As well as having his fiancé, Jackie, by his side, Hayden has been joined by his brother, Tommy, and mother, Rose, who arrived from the United States earlier today.

 

[Tommy]

Sounds a lot like Schumacher

[SirBalon]

Read about this this morning. 

I really hope he pulls through...  Can still remember that tremendous season he had.

[SirBalon]

The latest news coming from Italy is that they're going to switch off the life support machine because the amount of damage to his brain is irreparable.  There's apparently no way back and that he is practically brain dead.  If true, this is very very sad news indeed.

[SirBalon]

1 minute ago, Cannabis said:

That's awful news... I'm really gutted about all of this. 

I can still remember him riding clearly, he won his championship just 10 years ago.

Yep...  I remember him going mental when he arrived at the paddock after his victory lap when he became World Champion.  It seems like only yesterday for me to be honest.  People die everyday and every passing away is awful and full of sadness...  No life is worth more than any other just because somebody happens to be a celebrity.  But all the same, these lives in the public eye (especially sport) have something more of a significance for us because we all live part of their lives with them, feeling sad or happy depending on what the outcomes are during those years.  To see someone go and switched off in this manner at such a young age is very sad indeed.

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Where have you heard about his support being switched off? All I can see is that he's in the induced coma?

In these two latest articles mate:

Hayden, l'ultimo bollettinoGravissimo danno cerebrale

La vida de Hayden se apaga

[SirBalon]

Nicky Hayden has sadly passed away. RIP 

[Stan]

Very sad indeed .

No longer suffering in pain though. RIP. 

[SirBalon]

 

Edited May 23, 2017 by SirBalon

[Tommy]

 

So Sophia Floersch almost hit a course vehicle in Formula 4 practice. Unacceptable that something like this happens. Could have been deadly. Now comes the biggest joke: She posted that video on her social media and the Organizers made her pay a 20k € fine for that, which is a lot of money for such a young driver, considering she already had to sit out half a season due to lack of funds. 

[RandoEFC+]

What the fuck was that car doing driving onto the track in the middle of a session?

[nudge]

On 7/8/2017 at 6:42 PM, Tsubasa said:

 

So Sophia Floersch almost hit a course vehicle in Formula 4 practice. Unacceptable that something like this happens. Could have been deadly. Now comes the biggest joke: She posted that video on her social media and the Organizers made her pay a 20k € fine for that, which is a lot of money for such a young driver, considering she already had to sit out half a season due to lack of funds. 

WTF, how did that happen?...

 

Anyway, 6 hours of Nürburgring coming up this weekend! I love WEC, find it more exciting than current F1.

[RandoEFC+]

Anyone watch or ever been to the Isle of Man TT races?

[nudge]

4 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Anyone watch or ever been to the Isle of Man TT races?

I follow it as much as I can every year, never been to though - would love to go one day for sure. I love motorbikes and street circuits, there's something special about them, but this is a mad man's race, so deadly... That Bob Price crash into the pub wall a few years ago still makes my stomach churn.  

[nudge]

Toyota #7 takes LMP1 pole position for WEC 6 Hours of Nürburgring beating Porsche #2 by just over a tenth of a second, while Porsche claim their first GTE Pro pole this season just ahead of Aston Martin. 

Race starts at 13:00 CET tomorrow!

 

[RandoEFC+]

Charles Leclerc of Monaco has been making waves in Formula 2 this season and won the feature race from pole position at Silverstone this weekend - he's got a 100% record in qualifying. Leclerc is a Ferrari academy driver and drove for Haas in practice at Silverstone last year, he has a dominant lead in the Formula 2 championship and has followed Esteban Ocon's career route of winning the European Formula 3 and GP3 championships. Expect to see him join the Haas team, probably in place of Gutiérrez for 2018.

GP3 is more open this season. Since the championship started in 2010, nine drivers that have competed in GP3 have already graduated to F1, including Bottas, Gutiérrez, Haryanto, Kvyat, Ocon, Sainz and Vergne. Silverstone is the third meeting of the year, and George Russell (Britain) currently leads the standings. Russell is affiliated with Mercedes as one of their test drivers and won today's feature race at Silverstone after starting from pole position.