Step Zero

Post season testing starts tomorrow. I've heard some pretty interesting things about the Duc.

I'd love to see Nicky and Vale in the mix next year against Honda and Yamaha.

BTW...Suzuki mechanics were given the ok to talk to other teams. I wonder if that means we've seen the last of Suzuki, and where will Alvaro go?

The way Alvaro knocked out the three top Ducs and his own Suzuki in Valencia, it seemed to me like he was already being paid by Honda or Yamaha!

Have you seen the pictures also from the new Ducati 1199 Paginale street bike?

H8R, can you shed any light on the 2012 Ducati? Must admit I'm not up to date on the talk about the 2012 season.

PLAYLIFE wrote:H8R, can you shed any light on the 2012 Ducati? Must admit I'm not up to date on the talk about the 2012 season.

Well...

Ducati has suffered from a lack of front end feel for awhile (years). They chased their tale this year. They've been using a C/F mono frame. Basically the bike is three pieces (front end, engine, swingarm). Most bikes you can remove the engine and still have a rolling chassis. Not on the Duc. So for 2012 Ducati has gone to "step zero". Basically an aluminum twin spar design frame like everyone else. What the step zero does is it completely mimics the 2011 bikes weight bias so Duc can find out what has been making the bike so hard to ride. As you know, in engineering, you really only want to change one thing at a time. So the Ducati right now is the same as the 2011 bike, but with an alu. frame. Valentino (as has everyone else) has been wanting more weight on the front tire...which was impossible to do with C/F frame without redesigning how the engine mounts in the frame. Thats why Vale needed a new engine (#7 for the year so he had to start from pit lane) so after the test today and tomorrow at Valencia hopefully Ducati will know which way to go with weight bias.

As an added bonus of difficulty is that Bridgestone changed the tires for 2012 so Ducati really had to wait until today to see if the tire "fixed" the problem.

Honda is having HUGE chattering problems with RC213V.

Ben worked through baseline setting with revised 2012 1000cc M1. Without Jorge he had to chase things that two guys should've done.

Tomorrow should be interesting.

I hope that helps.

That engine issue was big. To experiment with the front end Ducati would have to bring in an entirely new engine with new mounts for every adjustment they made.

Thanks H8R, much appreciated!

The Ducati for the last few seasons has looked like it had weird tendencies, the way the riders would lose the front end always looked awkward, the way it used to just fold underneath the rider on initial turn in. I would assume stiffness and weight distribution would have played big parts in that.

PLAYLIFE wrote:I would assume stiffness and weight distribution would have played big parts in that.

Maybe. The way C/F "talks to the rider is different than Aluminum. I've never ridden a bike with a C/F frame...but it seems like the riders get a numb feeling from it. A bike without enough weight on the front will have a similar feeling. So it could be a variety of things, or just one thing. I don't know. I am guessing that Ducati will get it right, or closer to right for next year.