Mandatory bike swap for MotoGP @ Philip Island

[pontifex]

This is a first...

From motogp.com:

The change came courtesy of an announcement from Race Direction after qualifying on Saturday, with Bridgestone having announced that it is unable to guarantee the safety of its rear slick tyres beyond 14 laps.
It has therefore been decided to make the following changes to the MotoGP™ class race in the interests of safety:
1. The race distance will be 26 laps (previously scheduled to be 27)
2. Every rider will be required to enter the pits and change to their second machine with fresh tyres at least once during the race.
3. No rider is permitted to make more than 14 laps on any one slick rear tyre. This means that a bike/tyre change before lap 12 would require a second bike/tyre change to finish the race
4. Riders using ‘Factory’ and ‘Satellite’ machines will be required to use the ‘hard’ option tyre (B51DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone
5. Riders using CRT machines will be required to use the CRT ‘hard’ option tyre (B50DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone
6. The pit lane speed limit zone will be extended both on entry and exit and the exit route to rejoin the track will be marked by a white line in the runoff area; crossing this line whilst rejoining the track from pit lane will result in a penalty

[OreoGaborio]

Way to go, Bridgestone!!!!!!

[JettaJayGLS]

I blame Gino.

[Pittenger5]

How do you fuck that up THAT badly?

[sdog30]

Way to go, Bridgestone!!!!!!

I think it's ridiculous measures to take instead of, say... using non-spec tires that aren't fucked up.

[Pittenger5]

Moto3 bike

[kumpy]

They practiced bike swapping in practice. Marquez was quick for the change, Lorenzo did this "cool guy" spin off his bike and spun onto this other bike, Pedrosa is so small, he preplanned jumping off one bike and pounced onto the second!

[Kurlon]

Ok, if the Moto3 bikes are eating tires, something is seriously wrong.

[Pittenger5]

Maybe they meant moto2, the moto3 race is unaffected.

[Gecko]

... or they could have done what Dunlop did in Moto2 and cut the race distance in half....

[warsaw1776]

From what i read, the newly resurfaced track is eating tires much faster than bridgestone expected. Very little testing of tires had been done on the new surface prior to this race weekend leading to the bad results from the tires they sent. I think its fair enough, and should make the race very interesting.

Plus, keep in mind Dunlop provides the spec tires to moto2 and they are having the same issues.

[Mr. Kurtz]

Didn't WSBK run there in Feb, on the new pavement?

[warsaw1776]

Didn't WSBK run there in Feb, on the new pavement?

Yes. With Pirelli tires.

Not saying bridgestone or dunlop are not to blame, just passing on what I had read.

[jwm2k3]

Enough of the cryptic posts, what the fuck is going on? Do they have to make a pit stop and switch bikes during the race or what? Seriously thats fucked up if they do. Im 5 IPA's deep and cant re-read the pervious posts....

[warsaw1776]

Enough of the cryptic posts, what the fuck is going on? Do they have to make a pit stop and switch bikes during the race or what? Seriously thats fucked up if they do. Im 5 IPA's deep and cant re-read the pervious posts....

Its all in the original post.

26 lap race. Between lap 12 and 14 all riders must go into the pit and switch to their second bike and continue the race.

[FalArAk]

19 lap race now,must swap before the end of lap 9 or 10.

Here yago..

It has therefore been decided to make the following changes to the MotoGP™ class race in the interests of safety:

1. The race distance will be 19 laps (originally scheduled to be 27).

2. Every rider will be required to enter the pits and change to his second machine with fresh tyres at least once during the race. In normal circumstances this means that the rider must change machine only at the end of Lap 9 or Lap 10.

3. No rider is permitted to do more than ten laps on any one slick or wet rear tyre. This means that a bike/tyre change before Lap 9 would require a second bike/tyre change to finish the race.

4. The above procedure is valid for a dry race or a race that starts in wet conditions. Clearly in a wet race the rider will change to a bike with wet tyres.

5. If the race is started in dry conditions and it then rains the race will be stopped with a red flag. The restarted race will be for the number of laps required to complete 19 laps, but with a maximum of ten laps and a minimum of five laps.

6. Riders using ‘Factory’ and ‘Satellite’ machines will be required to use the ‘hard’ option tyre (B51DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone.

7. Riders using CRT machines will be required to use the CRT ‘hard’ option tyre (B50DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone.

8. The pit lane speed limit zone will be extended both on entry and exit and the exit route to rejoin the track will be marked by a white line in the runoff area. Crossing this line whilst rejoining the track from pit lane will result in a penalty.

[warsaw1776]

19 lap race now,must swap before the end of lap 9 or 10.

Here yago..

wow. Should be interesting.

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

Didn't WSBK run there in Feb, on the new pavement?

Yes. With Pirelli tires.

Not saying bridgestone or dunlop are not to blame, just passing on what I had read.

Big difference in power and how it is put down. Apples to oranges.

[warsaw1776]

Wirelessly posted



Big difference in power and how it is put down. Apples to oranges.

Big difference between wsbk and moto2 or CRT as well? I thought I saw somewhere that CRT bikes at some tracks are lapping less than a second faster than wsbk. Still not apples to apples, but, to me at least, wsbk fits somewhere between moto2 and CRT, both of which are also having tire issues.

[oVTo]

Wirelessly posted

Big difference in power and how it is put down. Apples to oranges.

But WSB ran a full race compared to being limited to a 10 laps. With traction control limiting drive when the bikes are leaned over, wouldn't the difference in power be not nearly as significant as the distance traveled at speed? The damage in the pic seemed to be on the edge, not the middle of the tire.

[tsorfas]

I'd love to see bike swaps in motogp

[TTD]

The race is a bit of a cluster fuck right now. Expect lots of bitching!

When switching bikes they had to slow down to a certain speed... Pedrosa almost crashed his bike trying to get below the speed. He did not crash - but he did not get below the speed - so he had a penalty imposed... time will tell.

[kumpy]

... not sure about that but I'll let ya know how the new surface is in January!

Maybe they meant moto2, the moto3 race is unaffected.

[TTD]

Wow... that was F'd up. Won't spoil anything but should be interesting comments for a few days.

[kumpy]

I'd love to see bike swaps in motogp

SPOILER ALERT!!

These bike swaps seem so dangerous, Pedrosa is doing wheelies trying to slow down while pitting in, Lorenzo almost flips over his handle bars but ends up body checking a pit crew, Marquez runs right out to the race line and Lorenzo smack into him! Marquez and Staring are both black flagged!