The motorsports thread.

[sk_tle]

And then there is the sheer road racing, especially the mass starts ones held in northern Ireland such as the Ultster GP, Northwest 200, Southern 100...

[jerk]

Marquez is amazing. The guy is unstoppable and the only thing that can beat him is himself. He's reinvented how to ride a motorcycle. He essentially uses saving a low-side crash as a way to corner faster and harder. the only thing that will let Dovi or Rossi compete is if he crashes out- which is a distinct possibility.

i love Rossi and am always rooting for him- although I like the Ducati boys too. Honestly though- Marquez is as the Italians say, "an alien".

the fairy tale for me would be for Vale to win another championship- retire- and then do a few years in World Superbike and make that series interesting again.

[choke]

Rossi is the GOAT.

Not in my eyes. I think that the GOAT has to have an IoM TT win (or several) on their palmares....so in my world Hailwood is the GOAT and Agostini a close 2nd.

[pdxmech13]

I forget who Rossi was there with at the IOMTT but basically it was a previous winner from decades ago (not a Dunlop) and they did a "parade lap".

Afterwards they asked Rossi if he would ever try to race the event.

He basically said his balls aren't big enough and those guys are nuts.

[sk_tle]

I think it was with Guy Martin. They get along well with each other and I think Rossi invited him several times tp his ranch to race on motocross bikes.

[choke]

He was there with Agostini and they did a parade lap around the circuit together.

[pdxmech13]

^^^^^^^^^^^

That would be my guess as well.

Guy doesn't do Parade Laps.......

[choke]

Here you go - http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/0...t-visit/150110

I somehow missed you saying that they did a parade lap.....if I had seen it I wouldn't have mentioned it in my post.

And Rossi's comments - Rossi: IOM TT is too dangerous | Visordown

[jerk]

MotoGP and road racing/Isle of Man/Ulster Death Race 2000 etc. are completely different sports. It'd be like asking an olympic fencer if he'd ever considered getting into a knife fight.

[Saab2000]

MotoGP and road racing/Isle of Man/Ulster Death Race 2000 etc. are completely different sports. It'd be like asking an olympic fencer if he'd ever considered getting into a knife fight.

Isle of Man and the Ulster GP are the greatest events in motorsport on the planet. After the great open road races like Mille Miglia and Paris-Dakar disappeared there’s nothing left for fans of truly extreme racing. Except the open road motorcycle races.

[Dave Thompson]

The Isle of Man is not only a great race, it’s a helluva event too. I spent a week there in ‘78 watching Hailwood do his last race. A week of castor bean oil, very high octane fuel fumes, wandering the paddocks, testosterone and surviving Mad Sunday. Every moto geek should go at least once.

[choke]

MotoGP and road racing/Isle of Man/Ulster Death Race 2000 etc. are completely different sports. It'd be like asking an olympic fencer if he'd ever considered getting into a knife fight.

I can't agree with that. It is true that in this day and age they have become the arena of specialists just as the classics and Grand Tours have in bicycle racing, but like those bike races there was a time when it wasn't the case. The IoM TT was part of the Grand Prix circuit for many years and those riders managed to be competitive on both types of tracks. In the end it is racing a motorcycle and there's no reason that someone couldn't do well at both if they wanted to......but I do think that it takes a certain mindset to race the true road races and most of today's current MotoGP riders don't have that mindset, since they didn't grow up competing on that type of course.

[glepore]

And this is one of the biggest reasons why I love motorcycle racing more than any other motorsport ... esp at the MotoGP level. Sure, there are races where the leader checks out, but in those handful of races a season where there are 4-5 passes for the lead in a single lap, it's amazing and so entertaining. The days of Rossi making a last lap, last corner pass for the win were awesome.

Laguna Seca 2008 ... battle between Rossi and Stoner is one of my all-time faves.

Rossi is the GOAT.

Yeah.

[jerk]

I can't agree with that. It is true that in this day and age they have become the arena of specialists just as the classics and Grand Tours have in bicycle racing, but like those bike races there was a time when it wasn't the case. The IoM TT was part of the Grand Prix circuit for many years and those riders managed to be competitive on both types of tracks. In the end it is racing a motorcycle and there's no reason that someone couldn't do well at both if they wanted to......but I do think that it takes a certain mindset to race the true road races and most of today's current MotoGP riders don't have that mindset, since they didn't grow up competing on that type of course.

Yeah- but that time was forty to fifty years ago at this point....and the way modern MotoGP guys ride bikes would mean that everyone of them would be dead if they tried to ride that way at IoM TT. The skillsets are of course similar- because it's racing a motorcycle- but it's a completely different sport. I love everything about both of them- and yeah it would be amazing to see Rossi try the TT just once.

I could see Rea doing it actually. That kid has nothing left to prove and for some reason no one will write the ticket he needs to race MotoGP.

[progetto]

IOM is a time trial more than a head to head race, very different to modern GP races

[Corso]

F1 Bahrain GP on Sunday: Hamilton gets a grid penalty because they had to replace his gear box before 6 races. F1 rules are baffling at times.
The money invalid at the highest level is enormous, so screw it, let hem change it every race if they want.

Just my opinion.

Go Ferrari! Don’t fn’ crash out both cars like last year in Singapore last year...

[sk_tle]

I'm watching Tour de Corse this week-end. I've stopped watching rallying for a decade or so but I must admit the live broadcast of some super stages makes it much more enjoyable these days.

The cars are now very ugly and the regulations seems to offer much more freedom in term of aero body work but the bbiggest difference I can spot is how efficient the suspensions are these days. Even on the brakes in the bumpiest roads it is incredible how stable these cars seems to be and how very little movement you can spot in the cockpit.

[jscottyk]

Yeah.

Can't forget this one too.

Marc-Marquez-Valentino-Rossi-Laguna-Seca-Corkscrew-Pass-Kevin-Warren-4.jpg

[jscottyk]

Race #2 of 2018 MotoGP was certainly entertaining. I have to say, the season pass I purchased for streaming has definitely been worth it so far. Great to see two non-factory bikes on the box. Zarco is going to find himself on the top step sometime soon. So cool.

Jack Miller's qualifying was bold and magic. And the standing wheelies afterward were flippin' cool!

[pdxmech13]

I wonder what Zarco does for next year.

The KTM thing is interesting but they are a few years out still from a competing machine.

The Factory's seem pretty content with their current riders saving Lorenzo at Ducati. They'll never get the money back on that deal.