MotoGP 2024

KarlKani said:

I was speaking with a race winning Moto GP rider about wsbk and he was like look I love WSBK great show - but if Iananone can come back after FOUR YEARS off the bike snd do that well - It's not that high of a level.

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what's the average age of motogp rider ?

surprised you didnt ask his investment advise on whether to buy BTC or SPY

KarlKani said:

I was speaking with a race winning Moto GP rider about wsbk and he was like look I love WSBK great show - but if Iananone can come back after FOUR YEARS off the bike snd do that well - It's not that high of a level.

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That strikes me as an oversimplification. We know a rider can go from winning to struggling if he’s on a bike that doesn’t suit him or even if they don’t get the setup right from day to day.

I wonder how the race winning GP rider you talked to would feel about the level of competition in wsbk if he was there riding a bike that didn’t suit his riding style and finishing consistently out of the points, especially if other riders on the same bike were performing better - if he was on a BMW for example, finishing 15th and watching Toprak win. I suspect he’d report differently.

He was banned from racing, not from riding. I would imagine someone at that level, suspension or not, has the means to be on a very capable bike when they want.

The point is that GP is next level compared to WSBK, the best WSBK riders would be mid-field in GP if they were lucky. How old is Bautista again and he's right at the pointy end. Just look at what it takes to get there, from the Spanish championship(s) Red Bull Rookies, Moto 3 and 2... There is no way anyone who is in WSBK is going to step into GP and start winning, even Toprak who is only just beating grandad Bautista

I seem to remember Troy Baliss….busting your theory.

Paul G said:

The point is that GP is next level compared to WSBK, the best WSBK riders would be mid-field in GP if they were lucky…

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It’s easy to overlook the fact that most gp riders are mid-field finishers in gp. Being a gp winner is a pretty exclusive club.

Of course GP is next level compared to wsbk, the comparative investment (financial, intellectual, and physical) makes that clear - GP surpasses wsbk in all categories.

The assertion that wsbk riders are essentially farm team “scrubs” compared to GP riders seems unsupported though.

How many former gp riders are currently in wsbk, 6 - Bautista, Iannone, Gardner, Redding, Lecuona, and Sam Lowes? Of them, how many were gp winners - Iannone? How many are wsbk race winners - Bautista and Redding? And then, only on the Ducati iirc - on other bikes they’ve been less competitive. If the average skill disparity between gp riders and wsbk riders was so great, all the former gp riders should be regularly competing for wsbk race wins.

I think the more compelling data point might be lap times. How much faster is the average gp pole time compared to wsbk at the same track? If wsbk riders are scrubs compared to gp riders, then certainly the vastly more talented gp riders on vastly more expensive gp bikes must set pole times in other zip codes compared to wsbk - 10 or or 20 seconds faster maybe?

To get a real picture you would have to put them all on factory supported ducatis!

MotoGP allows carbon brakes and WSB got rid of them years ago. Plus MotoGP tires are grippier than the WSB ones. Those two factors alone are the major reasons that on the same track, MotoGP times are faster. The carbon brakes are a huge difference in stopping power and less rotational mass, and unsprung weight.

Doesn't WSBK also race less laps than MotoGP?

Jack Miller is a GP multi-race winner and wasn’t dominant when he did a couple races in ASBK in 21 and 22. Granted, his bike was probably hamstringing him (allegedly it was mostly stock).

I think if a GP rider like Marquez or Bagnaia jumped on a WSBK it would take them a few races for them to adapt to the machines and tires. Good racers are good racers no matter what series.

Moving from WSBK to GP is apple and oranges. Prototypes are fickle machines. Get the set up off and you’re miles off the pace. Production bikes are more ductile and “easier” to set up.

remember that in motogp, from 1st to 10th, it takes less than a second.
If you race, to loose 1 tenth a corner, is sooooooo easy ( tires, set-up, physical condition, mental condition, stress, etc ).
I would say that ONLY TIME WILL TELL US.
I am looking forward to seeing Toprak in motogp, as well as Bulega.
To win there ( means motogp ), will be ANOTHER LEVEL.
BTW, Acosta is on another level!
Everything else is just speculation.

bp_SFV4 said:

Doesn't WSBK also race less laps than MotoGP?

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4-5 laps less, no biggie

Good insight here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2181509/14926376-motogp-scoops-from-spies

WSBK has been amazing this season, mostly in part due to Toprak and BMW.

What the heck did I just watch? that was unusually wild even for a sprint race. MM crashes and runs into people that part seemed normal

what a race

MotoGP, Marc Marquez: "The future is not clear, I would like an official motorcycle" : Crashes for the second race in a row , repeatedly smashes into the back of people and blames the bike - while a satellite bike wins almost every race and a rookie is 5 places ahead of him in the points. Yeah I'd hire him in a heartbeat.

Quartararo was later found to have broken the minimum tyre pressure rule and has been handed an eight-second time penalty-This drops Quartararo down to fifth and promotes Pedrosa to the podium. Pedrosa got third? I'm not a fan of this tire pressure thing, If I'm being honest I don't understand why it exists if someone would care to explain But I'm probably still going to hate it .. let em race for crying out loud.

I think lower tire pressure gives more contact area to the track

DCPanni said:

I think lower tire pressure gives more contact area to the track

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I understand that part , but too low would cause heat issues also . shouldn't everyone be allowed to optimize the correct pressure? especially since different bikes generate heat differently due to suspension setup and load distribution. In my mind it's like a saying you cannot run light or heavy springs air pressure in the suspension too? unless it's for safety I don't get it.