Who wins is definitely a combination of a lot of things, but yes, all that boardroom racing is unfortunately quite true. Dorna is a publishing company that has a certain business model pay-per-view. The suck all starts there. The viewing audience is inherently small because it's bloody expensive to watch. So tire manufacturers expense is massive compared to the benefit of producing prototype tires for each track. With 2 competitive companies, they are both loosing money. With only one, Michelin wins EVERY race! All the bikes have different frames and build philosophies and all need a different tire. I think I've posted this 17 times. eg.
Honda sells 19,000,000 motorcycles a year (Only 15 million last year.)
Yamaha sold 3,800,000 motorcycles 2020
Ducati sells 48,000 in 2020.
So, tell me who do you think Michelin is going to favor just thinking about tire sales? End of the day that's what this is all about right? They need to sell tires.
Ducati is has its engine as a stress member (stiff as a brick) with a swing arm stuck on it and a short frame on the front. Super high torque power monster.
Honda's frame is a wet noodle. Watch 93's slow mo's - it looks like he's riding a fish.
Ducati needs a soft carcass with a tough tread, Honda needs what they got. Yamaha I don't know what the hell their problem is - I don't know that bike well, it's all hush-hush because you can't bite the hand of the sponsors! This is business. Clearly it's not working that great for them and hasn't for a lot of years plus it's one of the slowest bikes on the grid on the straight. This wkend in Germany they couldn't get anything right.
#20 is a bloody magician. Whatever the suck is with Yamaha, it works for him mostly even if he was also saying this was a hell week for Yamaha.
I wonder if they ever figure that freaking bike out if Quartararo will still be able to ride it. hahaha.
Vale... Doesn't seem to like this.
Do you have additional insight on this issue?
I ask because I’m jafo and have no “inside baseball” knowledge. I’ve heard much speculation regarding this issue (and others like it) over the years, and often wondered if the dominance of a particular rider or manufacturer is something of an illusion - created for entertainment value and politics and more related to “boardroom racing”( as a member here put it) than to actual racing - what happens in the boardroom determines what happens on circuit.
Was Rossi’s dominance through the early 2000’s more due to one-off “Rossi spec” tires than to his skill? Is Marquez’s dominance over the last several years more due to Honda’s “boardroom racing” tactics than to his skill?
m.gpone.com
