No Ducati MotoGP Progress Till May
Ducati fans eager for the team to make significant progress on their MotoGP effort after a disappointing opening salvo that netted only 7th and 9th at Qatar will have to wait until the end of May to see significant progress. It will take that long to see any significant change in the innovative carbon fiber monocoque chassis of the Ducati Desmosedici GP11.
Although Ducati have had the so called “flexi package” available as early as winter testing, Valentino Rossi has yet to even turn a lap on it after assessing feedback from Nicky Hayden’s side of the garage. Instead Rossi seemed to be favoring adjusting from Casey Stoner’s base settings during the final pre-season test at Qatar days ahead of the race.
Valentino set his times on a bike starting off with Stoner’s 2010 settings and declined to test the flex chassis and 42mm Ohlins forks based on feedback from teammate Nicky Hayden.
link: Rossi Closing the Gap but Long Way to Go | Ducati News Today
Rossi kept on keeping on with the older setup for the race but Hayden chose to race with the newer setup. Unfortunately his race was marred by being involved in the opening lap incident that ended up taking both Pramac Ducatis out of the race. Consequently Hayden ended up last and spent the race playing catchup ultimately finishing 9th.
The flexi-package is designed to give the riders more front end feel, long a Ducati criticism. It consists of a special forward subframe and new triple clamps with a slotted top yoke and 48mm Ohlins forks.
Part of the challenge is that with Rossi not yet fit and up to full speed, it would be easy for him to lead the team in the wrong direction since even being a second off the pace. At the MotoGP level even test riders are of limited value, they simply are not fast enough to help provide a motorcycle for the aliens.
Nevertheless it appears that the ‘flexi’ approach is the way the team is headed. Ducati is hard at work but with a lead time of 3 weeks to make a new carbon fiber chassis, the team will need to race at Jerez and Estoril, at least, with substantially the same machine as they finished at Qatar according to team boss Vito Guareschi.
“It takes three weeks to prepare a new carbon fiber chassis,” Guareschi explained, adding that once they had two more chassis subframes, these would be passed on to Valentino Rossi’s crew to start using. That would not be before Estoril at the end of May, he added.
link: MotoMatters.com
Echoing these sentiments is Ducati Corse head Filippo Preziosi who revealed that the team would be bringing many new parts to try during the Estoril official test which will immediately follow the MotoGP race.
Prezioso promises changes that will be obvious to the eye but still retaining the carbon fiber subframe. He noted that some of the unseen changes will be in the aggressiveness of the engine’s power delivery when leaned right over. When asked about a response to the Honda’s new gearbox he equivocated.
“You can’t just decide you want to build one and then use it,” Preziosi told Sportmediaset. “But it was definitely something that needed to be thought about”, the Ducati boss added.
link: Sportmediaset via MotoMatters
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That’s what I want from a racing frame is front-end feed-back, not rigidity. That builds confidence when the front wheel is all over the place; especially at lean… sounds fun!
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