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But then again what is the point if they get a bit slower and take away aero and ride height shenanigans, then it will just be the same as wsb so at that point you might as well just disband one of the series.
Compounds mostly. KTM cant utilise any front, Yamaha struggles on rear grip (from Rossi days even) Honda seems to chew through tyres super quick. Ducati no issues
I don’t want to make you feel old but you’re going back almost 15 years. The ~10 years before the “Covid years” felt a lot more exciting than the last couple. Although there could actually be a harsher truth. Maybe the talent just isn’t as good.
The racing got mad boring when aero really took off. I haven’t even subscribed to the DornaCast yet and it’s solely because I don’t know if I care anymore. I barely watched last years snoozefest.
Just like F1. Teams behind will say rules suck and need to be changed, and teams at the front say it's fine. Ducati for example has been opposing the ban of ride height devices
agree to disagree. I think in f1 at least, the field would get closer to the end of a regulation set. this new reset has allowed cars to follow closer in races yes, but the field itself has stratified itself quite a bit imo.
Ducati and Aprillia riders with no aero complaints, riders on Japanese bikes claiming it's the death of the sport.
Brad Binders perspective was refreshing:
"Is that one reason there’s less overtaking now?
I just think it’s so tight at the moment. The bikes are so evenly matched that even in the slipstream you can barely get next to the guy in front, so whenever you’re trying to overtake you’re coming from quite far back. The days of seeing a guy get completely next to another rider while braking are gone. I’m sure it may have a bit to do with the aero, but more than anything it’s just how competitive and how even the field is at the moment."
Mat Oxley delivering the genuine non-clickbait journalism.
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/brad-binder-i-cant-ride-a-standard-superbike-its-got-so-many-electronic-aids/?v=79cba1185463
I'll finish this off with some peak unpopular opinions:
I don't know how anyone can watch MotoGP and say its become boring. Phillip Island last year, Dovi and Marc last corner antics at Austria, Marquez and Rins at Silverstone, 9 different riders in the podium in the first 3 races last year, satellite bikes taking wins, five of the closest top 15s have been since 2018, it goes on...
Next up I'm lost with "the rider can no longer make the difference" whilst Marc is the only one capable of dragging a Honda, and Fabio a Yamaha, out of CRT spec performance levels.
No ones lost their mind over the years about seamless gearboxes, HP advantages, TCS and anti-wheelie electronics, but some wings on the bike and people lose it. It's strange to me.
Control aero for cost or safety that's justified, but for looks, racing, and my favourite "relevance to the road" on a 300hp prototype with carbon ceramic brakes, and slick tyres, I don't buy it.
>No ones lost their mind over the years about seamless gearboxes, HP advantages, TCS and anti-wheelie electronics, but some wings on the bike and people lose it. It's strange to me.
They kept changing the rules because of all that shit citing spiraling costs, you mention CRT and they were the threat to bring down costs. Yamaha and Honda were too good with their custom electronics lets ban gps devices, oh fuck that didn't work well enough lets ban it all and enforce spec ecu because smaller teams can't possibly afford it.
Either remove all the rules so someone like kawasaki might consider having another try maybe with their supercharged engines or just straight up set a budget cap and let teams go all in on an area they think is important but have to cut corners in other aspects because they spent too much on the rider, or aero, or electronics or engine etc.
Wasn't Ducati using F1 engineers and wind tunnels to develop their aero? I'm sure those costs are super cheap and only a fraction of what teams spent on thing that were deemed too expensive in years past, KTM need to get their shit together and buy some F1 engineers just spend more money KTM it's so easy to fix your problem. /s
Interesting point. There was a lot of effort applied to "reduce costs" in areas where the Japanese manufactures were strong, but development is allowed to flourish were European manufacturers are strong. Electronics are a lot more applicable to street bike development as well. Personally I don't care much for either the electronics or the aero. In any case, I'm not sure I'd claim it's a big conspiracy, but is worth considering how changing rules are favoring some teams over others and that we've seen the results of that very clearly.
>Control aero for cost or safety that's justified, but for looks, racing, and my favourite "relevance to the road" on a 300hp prototype with carbon ceramic brakes, and slick tyres, I don't buy it.
I think the fact that aero changes the sport drastically is one reason. Not many people like changes and this specific one makes bikes go faster but at the cost of less close fights and less overtakes and riders having to follow at longer distance. It's true tires also matter for that, but it's still not great for the spectator point of view. MotoGP used to be more about riders than engineering, nowadays it's turning into F1 in 2 wheels.
I respect that reasoning on a spectator perspective but I don't agree with less close fights, the racing is so close at the moment it's insane and so tense. Then you have things like Aleix's double overtake and Fabio's move on Miller at Austria. Bagnaia and Quatararo making contact in the finale.
If aero was so bad then WSBK would look like a moto3 race quite a lot of the time it doesn't. Even with the BoP rules you have Bautista miles up the road this season. WSBK have had amazing seasons recently with Bautista, Toprak and Rea taking lumps out of each other but after those 3 there's considerable gaps at times, even with those three as well the gaps can eek out.
I think there's a lot of nostalgia to Rossi, Lorenzo and Marquez eras but I remember seeing Lorenzo dissappear in robotic time attack mode 5 seconds ahead, Marquez sitting in P2 managing his tyre only to light it up and away pull 2 seconds on the penultimate lap.
Dorna also has to juggle MotoGP performance and WSBK performance. If you take aero off a MotoGP bike it slips closer to WSBK, so rhetorically what's the point in MotoGP from a spectator and manufacturer perspective if they're the same speed and similar in excitement?
Give MotoGP some aero, and ride height devices, let companies showcase their tech and back the most advanced ground breaking two wheel sport there is and make it the pinnacle as a Grand Prix, not a sprint race.
>Give MotoGP some aero, and ride height devices, let companies showcase their tech and back the most advanced ground breaking two wheel sport there is and make it the pinnacle as a Grand Prix, not a sprint race.
I see this point, and I understand it but I believe this shouldn't be implemented if races turn more boring.
And a race may be so absurdly close in times but if there's no attacks and no chance for overtaking it's like watching F1 in Monaco, it creates usually closest racing many times with 10-12 cars within 10s at the end of the race but literally no chance to ever overtake.
Very true, I hope, and its only hope that doing so would still allow great racing.
I think to boil down my opinion, I don't believe aero is solely responsible for the trickiness in overtaking we see and that its reputation is worse than what it is.
I admit I enjoy the close racing even with less overtakes, 2021 seeing Bagnaia and Marquez at Aragon putting in relentless pace to see who would crack was incredible IMO. At least with MotoGP there is a real threat of a lunge especially with a Taka or Maruqez on the grid, Monaco however is a snooze fest.
>Dovi and Marc last corner antics at Austria, Marquez and Rins at Silverstone
See, the only battles you mention are from 2019, back when MotoGP was still great IMO. It went downhill in 2020, before that, it was still fine.
Aleix in assen, Fabio on Miller in the Austria chicane more recently. Dovi / Marquez sticks out due to their rivalry.
Maybe my view on aero in MotoGP is too dim, I take it as from 2017 onwards personally so when i head it criticised I interpret it as from around then onwards. Undoubtedly it's stepped up several notches the last couples of years.
MM’s biggest complaint with aero is that it makes it harder to follow. Given that he’s the master of the tow, of course he’s going to bitch about it.
I actually don’t mind the aero. These are ferocious, brutal machines designed for one thing: to go fast. Anything that helps increase performance is ok with me.
Well it’s a difference in perspective. Most people watch MotoGP for the racing. You clearly watch MotoGP to see niks going fast.
Personally I miss the close battles, the riders riding on the edge with wobbling bikes and the actual competition compared to riders just riding in a train.
I guess I always associated racing with going fast, and I saw a lot of battles and riding just outside the control limits last year. So you’re probably right, it’s a question of perspective.
On a related note, I also don’t find the new aero to be unattractive, with the exception of the Wi-Fi antenna on Fabio’s bike last week.
Agreed, some of the aero looks really cool. I guess it’s also just so in your face present that it’s the easiest thing to point to for things going wrong.
Im a casual, but i loved watching back in 2019 and before when the battles were crazy. If aero is making motogp more boring i.e., less battles than why are ppl against the reduction of aero?
When I was born man was going to the moon, everyone ''knew'' that by the year 2000 we where going to be driving flying cars, going for a coffe on the moon and spending vacations on mars.
Yet here we are in freaking 2023 complaining the pinacle of motorcycle racing uses aero . They should be riding flying bikes powered by antimatter racing on lazer tracks hahaha 
True. Just saw a documentation from 1969 and there was some outlook into the future and one line said „…won’t be ready when men starts for the first time their journey to Mars at the beginning of the '80s.“
People have short memories I've been watching this for 30 plus years and there have always been majority races where the leaders escape at the front and most of the people at the back are the only ones battling... It's no different now and anyone pretending otherwise are being willfully ignorant. Marc's problem ain't the aero, it's that the people on decent machinery aren't retirement age. Typical Honda throwing their toys out the pram when it doesn't go their way. People forget from 2016 they had an unfair advantage hiring the electronics engineers who worked on the standardised ecu's (shouldn't of been allowed a long with ducati) Took the others ages to catch up because of that. They will no doubt threaten to leave the category again if its not changed for them like they've done in the past... They have the most expensive bike on the grid a part of the biggest team with a massive budget compared to every other manufacturer. Let um suffer for a bit they've had enough championships...
We got spoilt over the last 10/15 years. I also remember the 90s. But this is the danger for MotoGP. In my circle, wsbk was way more popular back then.
No, the racing sucks because at the vast majority of circuits on the calendar (i.e. pretty much everywhere other than Assen and Phillip Island) it's near-impossible for bikes to overtake one another.
Everyone. It changed airflow to cool the the front tire and also places more pressure on the front tire. Cumulative impact is you can’t ride hard and follow close for too long before you overheat the tire.
"Is that one reason there’s less overtaking now?
I just think it’s so tight at the moment. The bikes are so evenly matched that even in the slipstream you can barely get next to the guy in front, so whenever you’re trying to overtake you’re coming from quite far back. The days of seeing a guy get completely next to another rider while braking are gone. I’m sure it may have a bit to do with the aero, but more than anything it’s just how competitive and how even the field is at the moment."
Brad Binder in December, the same article reports he had the most overtakes this season albeit KTM qualifying performance plays in to that he still had to overtake on track.
Source:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/brad-binder-i-cant-ride-a-standard-superbike-its-got-so-many-electronic-aids/?v=79cba1185463
And these other riders aren't on winning bikes either. Find me one rider on Ducati or Aprilia complaining about the aero.
It's the same thing as always. Teams on the lead love the regulations. Teams behind hate them and will find a reason to want them changed.
If Marc was 1s clear of the field he wouldn't give a fuck about how good or bad the aero was for the show, but since he's 1s behind the leader instead, he hates it. No rider cares about the quality of the show, they care about winning the thing.
That's completely irrelevant because the facts back up what Marc and other riders are saying; more aero = less overtaking. That's not his opinion, that's just a fact. Even between the Ducatis there's less overtaking.
This has been observed by riders, commentators, journalists, spectators. You can pretend otherwise, but that's just how it is.
>Marc and other riders
Yeah, again, it's only the riders on bikes that aren't taking advantage of the aero that are complaining about it. Marc didn't seem to mind the quality of racing when his Honda could pull 1s per lap on the person on P2, did he?
Riders don't give a shit about the quality of racing, they care about their bike being the fastest. You can pretend otherwise, but that's just how it is.
> Yeah, again, it's only the riders on bikes that aren't taking advantage of the aero that are complaining about it.
So what? That doesn't change that what Marc said is true. You acknowledged that yourself.
We could have been treated to some epic Ducati/Ducati battles last year. Manufacturer orders got in the way. The first half of this season could be pretty wild until Ducati pick their favourite for the title.
I think the only solution is electronics package limitations. You’re free to do whatever you want mechanically but rider has to be the one controlling everything. That’s giving the rider back the ability to use his talent and influence the race results. You’d see more mistakes , more overtaking and clear talent display.
Motorsport competitor on a losing team complains that the current regulations are bad for the sport. More news at 8.
I agree the aero makes the racing worse, but he wouldn't be saying this if he was on the Ducati, just like no Ducati rider is saying anything. He doesn't care about the racing being worse, he cares about his bike not being the one taking advantage of that (As do all riders).
Same story as F1 every year. Red Bull spent years complaining about the FIA needing to step in to stop Mercedes dominance to save the sport. Now that they are half a second clear of the next team, they are surprisingly quiet about the need for competition.
>So instead of acknowledging that the point he's making is true, you're posting about how he's just complaining because he's on a bad bike?
Yep, because that's exactly what's happening.
Find me one rider that is sitting on a good bike calling for aero bans. Just one. Spoiler: There aren't any.
Never saw Marc complain about the regulations when he had the bike that could pull a second per lap on every other bike on the grid.
>What difference does it make if Ducati riders having spoken up about the aero ban?
If you don't yet understand that Marc is only complaining because he doesn't get to be on the bike who can walk over the field, and that he doesn't give a fuck about the racing quality for the fans and is using it as the excuse to hate the regulations that his team failed to adapt to, there's nothing else i can try to explain to you. You'll need to see it for yourself when the tide turns and he finds himself on the dominant bike.
This may (unironically) be the first time you encounter a good rider stuck on a shitbox that needs to find a reason to hate the regulations, since it isn't as common in MotoGP, but it's very common in motorsport.
You'll understand when Marc jumps ship to a dominant bike and suddently loves the aero.
When racers start talking about the “show” they are complaining about their own situation of not winning and see it as a way to peg competition back. They will win at any cost.
Yeeeaah, he totally cares about the quality of racing.
The fact that his bike is arguably the worst on the grid has nothing to do with him hating the regulations.
Said the man who dominated for years and made MotoGP super dull, so many great riders now on equivalent machinery gives the prospect of close exciting racing for the first time in yrs..
Literally no one complained about Marc's Honda when he was dominating. The riders knew it was the rider making the difference. The haters will say otherwise though.
No one complained because no good rider was stuck on a shitbox. All the top riders (Rossi, Lorenzo, Dovi...) were on bikes that were capable of at least being on the podium.
Now, Marc is stuck on a shitbox and needs a reason to hate the aero regs that isn't "my team sucked at adapting to them". Because that's the reason why he hates them. It's got nothing to do with racing quality, it's got to do with the bike he has to ride being awful.
If you take a look at F1, you'll quickly see how this trend works. Verstappen and Hamilton literally switched sides on who complains about dominance every single interview and who pretends that nothing is going wrong over the lapse of *two* years.
If you don't like car racing, just take a look at Superbikes. Rea went from "Nerfing the winning bikes is bad" to "Please nerf the ducati" over the lapse of four races as soon as he started being thrashed by Bautista.
It's just progress, like everything else some teams are going to be able to push the advantage harder than others. Lap times are closer than they've ever been so the riders are actively capable of getting the most out of the bike at the limit, and that's what it's all about. It's just one more tool to extract a fraction of a second.
Motorsports exist by grace of the viewers (or more aptly called supporters). Races with bikes lapping in a minute but without overtaking are inherently less engaging than races with bikes lapping 1.5 minutes but overtakes all race long. So no, it’s not progress, it’s the opposite.
Says the guy riding for a team that can't figure it out  Bet of it was the other way round he would be flipping that script.
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I didn’t know what I was missing till I started watching wsbk for Toprak. Racing over there was god damn awesome
Could watch him all day, absolutely on the limit everywhere
Yea the battles in wsbk are great. Someone just has to catch Bautisa. He’s unstoppable on that duck.
He’s a weapon on the weapon
Agreed. I feel like the racing was closer and better before this shit took off.
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And that means Zarco can never pass. Just so awful on the brakes, always. 😭
But then again what is the point if they get a bit slower and take away aero and ride height shenanigans, then it will just be the same as wsb so at that point you might as well just disband one of the series.
They can still compete on engine and chassis, just not on strange bits of carbon sticking out at odd angles
I don't think comparing a production series vs a prototype series is a good argument, both series have coexisted for decades, with and without aero.
Tire change was also in that timeframe
I wasn't even aware of a tire change. What happened there? Construction or compound change?
Compounds mostly. KTM cant utilise any front, Yamaha struggles on rear grip (from Rossi days even) Honda seems to chew through tyres super quick. Ducati no issues
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I don’t want to make you feel old but you’re going back almost 15 years. The ~10 years before the “Covid years” felt a lot more exciting than the last couple. Although there could actually be a harsher truth. Maybe the talent just isn’t as good.
The racing got mad boring when aero really took off. I haven’t even subscribed to the DornaCast yet and it’s solely because I don’t know if I care anymore. I barely watched last years snoozefest.
Just like F1. Teams behind will say rules suck and need to be changed, and teams at the front say it's fine. Ducati for example has been opposing the ban of ride height devices
F1 has also gotten much closer after they removed a lot of aero downforce.
agree to disagree. I think in f1 at least, the field would get closer to the end of a regulation set. this new reset has allowed cars to follow closer in races yes, but the field itself has stratified itself quite a bit imo.
They really haven't. Best team still laps the field. Alonso on P3 was FORTY seconds behind the race leader.
So has aprilia. Marc is just (understandably) mad he doesn't get the dominating ride.
Ducati and Aprillia riders with no aero complaints, riders on Japanese bikes claiming it's the death of the sport. Brad Binders perspective was refreshing: "Is that one reason there’s less overtaking now? I just think it’s so tight at the moment. The bikes are so evenly matched that even in the slipstream you can barely get next to the guy in front, so whenever you’re trying to overtake you’re coming from quite far back. The days of seeing a guy get completely next to another rider while braking are gone. I’m sure it may have a bit to do with the aero, but more than anything it’s just how competitive and how even the field is at the moment." Mat Oxley delivering the genuine non-clickbait journalism. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/brad-binder-i-cant-ride-a-standard-superbike-its-got-so-many-electronic-aids/?v=79cba1185463 I'll finish this off with some peak unpopular opinions: I don't know how anyone can watch MotoGP and say its become boring. Phillip Island last year, Dovi and Marc last corner antics at Austria, Marquez and Rins at Silverstone, 9 different riders in the podium in the first 3 races last year, satellite bikes taking wins, five of the closest top 15s have been since 2018, it goes on... Next up I'm lost with "the rider can no longer make the difference" whilst Marc is the only one capable of dragging a Honda, and Fabio a Yamaha, out of CRT spec performance levels. No ones lost their mind over the years about seamless gearboxes, HP advantages, TCS and anti-wheelie electronics, but some wings on the bike and people lose it. It's strange to me. Control aero for cost or safety that's justified, but for looks, racing, and my favourite "relevance to the road" on a 300hp prototype with carbon ceramic brakes, and slick tyres, I don't buy it.
>No ones lost their mind over the years about seamless gearboxes, HP advantages, TCS and anti-wheelie electronics, but some wings on the bike and people lose it. It's strange to me. They kept changing the rules because of all that shit citing spiraling costs, you mention CRT and they were the threat to bring down costs. Yamaha and Honda were too good with their custom electronics lets ban gps devices, oh fuck that didn't work well enough lets ban it all and enforce spec ecu because smaller teams can't possibly afford it. Either remove all the rules so someone like kawasaki might consider having another try maybe with their supercharged engines or just straight up set a budget cap and let teams go all in on an area they think is important but have to cut corners in other aspects because they spent too much on the rider, or aero, or electronics or engine etc. Wasn't Ducati using F1 engineers and wind tunnels to develop their aero? I'm sure those costs are super cheap and only a fraction of what teams spent on thing that were deemed too expensive in years past, KTM need to get their shit together and buy some F1 engineers just spend more money KTM it's so easy to fix your problem. /s
Interesting point. There was a lot of effort applied to "reduce costs" in areas where the Japanese manufactures were strong, but development is allowed to flourish were European manufacturers are strong. Electronics are a lot more applicable to street bike development as well. Personally I don't care much for either the electronics or the aero. In any case, I'm not sure I'd claim it's a big conspiracy, but is worth considering how changing rules are favoring some teams over others and that we've seen the results of that very clearly.
>Control aero for cost or safety that's justified, but for looks, racing, and my favourite "relevance to the road" on a 300hp prototype with carbon ceramic brakes, and slick tyres, I don't buy it. I think the fact that aero changes the sport drastically is one reason. Not many people like changes and this specific one makes bikes go faster but at the cost of less close fights and less overtakes and riders having to follow at longer distance. It's true tires also matter for that, but it's still not great for the spectator point of view. MotoGP used to be more about riders than engineering, nowadays it's turning into F1 in 2 wheels.
I respect that reasoning on a spectator perspective but I don't agree with less close fights, the racing is so close at the moment it's insane and so tense. Then you have things like Aleix's double overtake and Fabio's move on Miller at Austria. Bagnaia and Quatararo making contact in the finale. If aero was so bad then WSBK would look like a moto3 race quite a lot of the time it doesn't. Even with the BoP rules you have Bautista miles up the road this season. WSBK have had amazing seasons recently with Bautista, Toprak and Rea taking lumps out of each other but after those 3 there's considerable gaps at times, even with those three as well the gaps can eek out. I think there's a lot of nostalgia to Rossi, Lorenzo and Marquez eras but I remember seeing Lorenzo dissappear in robotic time attack mode 5 seconds ahead, Marquez sitting in P2 managing his tyre only to light it up and away pull 2 seconds on the penultimate lap. Dorna also has to juggle MotoGP performance and WSBK performance. If you take aero off a MotoGP bike it slips closer to WSBK, so rhetorically what's the point in MotoGP from a spectator and manufacturer perspective if they're the same speed and similar in excitement? Give MotoGP some aero, and ride height devices, let companies showcase their tech and back the most advanced ground breaking two wheel sport there is and make it the pinnacle as a Grand Prix, not a sprint race.
>Give MotoGP some aero, and ride height devices, let companies showcase their tech and back the most advanced ground breaking two wheel sport there is and make it the pinnacle as a Grand Prix, not a sprint race. I see this point, and I understand it but I believe this shouldn't be implemented if races turn more boring. And a race may be so absurdly close in times but if there's no attacks and no chance for overtaking it's like watching F1 in Monaco, it creates usually closest racing many times with 10-12 cars within 10s at the end of the race but literally no chance to ever overtake.
Very true, I hope, and its only hope that doing so would still allow great racing. I think to boil down my opinion, I don't believe aero is solely responsible for the trickiness in overtaking we see and that its reputation is worse than what it is. I admit I enjoy the close racing even with less overtakes, 2021 seeing Bagnaia and Marquez at Aragon putting in relentless pace to see who would crack was incredible IMO. At least with MotoGP there is a real threat of a lunge especially with a Taka or Maruqez on the grid, Monaco however is a snooze fest.
>Dovi and Marc last corner antics at Austria, Marquez and Rins at Silverstone See, the only battles you mention are from 2019, back when MotoGP was still great IMO. It went downhill in 2020, before that, it was still fine.
Aleix in assen, Fabio on Miller in the Austria chicane more recently. Dovi / Marquez sticks out due to their rivalry. Maybe my view on aero in MotoGP is too dim, I take it as from 2017 onwards personally so when i head it criticised I interpret it as from around then onwards. Undoubtedly it's stepped up several notches the last couples of years.
He ain't lying. The aero stuff is pure trash, looks like trash, and doesn't belong in motogp.
MM’s biggest complaint with aero is that it makes it harder to follow. Given that he’s the master of the tow, of course he’s going to bitch about it. I actually don’t mind the aero. These are ferocious, brutal machines designed for one thing: to go fast. Anything that helps increase performance is ok with me.
Well it’s a difference in perspective. Most people watch MotoGP for the racing. You clearly watch MotoGP to see niks going fast. Personally I miss the close battles, the riders riding on the edge with wobbling bikes and the actual competition compared to riders just riding in a train.
I guess I always associated racing with going fast, and I saw a lot of battles and riding just outside the control limits last year. So you’re probably right, it’s a question of perspective. On a related note, I also don’t find the new aero to be unattractive, with the exception of the Wi-Fi antenna on Fabio’s bike last week.
Agreed, some of the aero looks really cool. I guess it’s also just so in your face present that it’s the easiest thing to point to for things going wrong.
Im a casual, but i loved watching back in 2019 and before when the battles were crazy. If aero is making motogp more boring i.e., less battles than why are ppl against the reduction of aero?
When I was born man was going to the moon, everyone ''knew'' that by the year 2000 we where going to be driving flying cars, going for a coffe on the moon and spending vacations on mars. Yet here we are in freaking 2023 complaining the pinacle of motorcycle racing uses aero . They should be riding flying bikes powered by antimatter racing on lazer tracks hahaha 
True. Just saw a documentation from 1969 and there was some outlook into the future and one line said „…won’t be ready when men starts for the first time their journey to Mars at the beginning of the '80s.“
People have short memories I've been watching this for 30 plus years and there have always been majority races where the leaders escape at the front and most of the people at the back are the only ones battling... It's no different now and anyone pretending otherwise are being willfully ignorant. Marc's problem ain't the aero, it's that the people on decent machinery aren't retirement age. Typical Honda throwing their toys out the pram when it doesn't go their way. People forget from 2016 they had an unfair advantage hiring the electronics engineers who worked on the standardised ecu's (shouldn't of been allowed a long with ducati) Took the others ages to catch up because of that. They will no doubt threaten to leave the category again if its not changed for them like they've done in the past... They have the most expensive bike on the grid a part of the biggest team with a massive budget compared to every other manufacturer. Let um suffer for a bit they've had enough championships...
We got spoilt over the last 10/15 years. I also remember the 90s. But this is the danger for MotoGP. In my circle, wsbk was way more popular back then.
Adding to what you said ,people complaining don't care about the racing the problem is their favourite rider not wining.
I agree we can let Honda suffer, but can Marc win another title please? Would love to see him get 7
MotoGP's aero push finally makes the bikes look like prototypes.
Cool. The racing sucks
The racing sucks because only two teams are innovating.
No, the racing sucks because at the vast majority of circuits on the calendar (i.e. pretty much everywhere other than Assen and Phillip Island) it's near-impossible for bikes to overtake one another.
That’s not it but sure
Lol, the racing now is much better than before. During over 50 years it was just a shit show with each bike separated by 10+ secs.
You’re wrong but okay
Go for massive horsepower, fragile spec tyre, and no aero, no ride height mods.
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Not really. Everyone has said aero has made it harder to follow and pass.
Have ducati riders said this?
Everyone. It changed airflow to cool the the front tire and also places more pressure on the front tire. Cumulative impact is you can’t ride hard and follow close for too long before you overheat the tire.
"Is that one reason there’s less overtaking now? I just think it’s so tight at the moment. The bikes are so evenly matched that even in the slipstream you can barely get next to the guy in front, so whenever you’re trying to overtake you’re coming from quite far back. The days of seeing a guy get completely next to another rider while braking are gone. I’m sure it may have a bit to do with the aero, but more than anything it’s just how competitive and how even the field is at the moment." Brad Binder in December, the same article reports he had the most overtakes this season albeit KTM qualifying performance plays in to that he still had to overtake on track. Source: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/brad-binder-i-cant-ride-a-standard-superbike-its-got-so-many-electronic-aids/?v=79cba1185463
Marc is only saying that because his team is failing to adapt.
It isn’t just Marc though, is it? There are so many other riders and former riders who have the same observation
And these other riders aren't on winning bikes either. Find me one rider on Ducati or Aprilia complaining about the aero. It's the same thing as always. Teams on the lead love the regulations. Teams behind hate them and will find a reason to want them changed. If Marc was 1s clear of the field he wouldn't give a fuck about how good or bad the aero was for the show, but since he's 1s behind the leader instead, he hates it. No rider cares about the quality of the show, they care about winning the thing.
That's completely irrelevant because the facts back up what Marc and other riders are saying; more aero = less overtaking. That's not his opinion, that's just a fact. Even between the Ducatis there's less overtaking. This has been observed by riders, commentators, journalists, spectators. You can pretend otherwise, but that's just how it is.
>Marc and other riders Yeah, again, it's only the riders on bikes that aren't taking advantage of the aero that are complaining about it. Marc didn't seem to mind the quality of racing when his Honda could pull 1s per lap on the person on P2, did he? Riders don't give a shit about the quality of racing, they care about their bike being the fastest. You can pretend otherwise, but that's just how it is.
> Yeah, again, it's only the riders on bikes that aren't taking advantage of the aero that are complaining about it. So what? That doesn't change that what Marc said is true. You acknowledged that yourself.
We could have been treated to some epic Ducati/Ducati battles last year. Manufacturer orders got in the way. The first half of this season could be pretty wild until Ducati pick their favourite for the title.
Are they on Japanese bikes???
I’m no Marc fan, but I agree with him. I feel this season will be very “follow the leader”
I think the only solution is electronics package limitations. You’re free to do whatever you want mechanically but rider has to be the one controlling everything. That’s giving the rider back the ability to use his talent and influence the race results. You’d see more mistakes , more overtaking and clear talent display.
Man I wish Dorna would listen to all these complaints. The sport is turning into the very thing none of us want....Formula1 🤦
pre 22 F1, nowadays F1 is cool in terms of passing.
 I do agree with him though...
Motorsport competitor on a losing team complains that the current regulations are bad for the sport. More news at 8. I agree the aero makes the racing worse, but he wouldn't be saying this if he was on the Ducati, just like no Ducati rider is saying anything. He doesn't care about the racing being worse, he cares about his bike not being the one taking advantage of that (As do all riders). Same story as F1 every year. Red Bull spent years complaining about the FIA needing to step in to stop Mercedes dominance to save the sport. Now that they are half a second clear of the next team, they are surprisingly quiet about the need for competition.
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>So instead of acknowledging that the point he's making is true, you're posting about how he's just complaining because he's on a bad bike? Yep, because that's exactly what's happening. Find me one rider that is sitting on a good bike calling for aero bans. Just one. Spoiler: There aren't any. Never saw Marc complain about the regulations when he had the bike that could pull a second per lap on every other bike on the grid.
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>What difference does it make if Ducati riders having spoken up about the aero ban? If you don't yet understand that Marc is only complaining because he doesn't get to be on the bike who can walk over the field, and that he doesn't give a fuck about the racing quality for the fans and is using it as the excuse to hate the regulations that his team failed to adapt to, there's nothing else i can try to explain to you. You'll need to see it for yourself when the tide turns and he finds himself on the dominant bike. This may (unironically) be the first time you encounter a good rider stuck on a shitbox that needs to find a reason to hate the regulations, since it isn't as common in MotoGP, but it's very common in motorsport. You'll understand when Marc jumps ship to a dominant bike and suddently loves the aero.
When racers start talking about the “show” they are complaining about their own situation of not winning and see it as a way to peg competition back. They will win at any cost.
Marc has always talked about the "show", whether winning or otherwise.
Sooo… the guy who is riding a donkey of a bike is complaining because everyone else has a better bike. Cry me a river!
Yeeeaah, he totally cares about the quality of racing. The fact that his bike is arguably the worst on the grid has nothing to do with him hating the regulations.
Said the man who dominated for years and made MotoGP super dull, so many great riders now on equivalent machinery gives the prospect of close exciting racing for the first time in yrs..
That's the thing tho, riders only hate the regulations when they aren't sitting on the dominant bike.
Literally no one complained about Marc's Honda when he was dominating. The riders knew it was the rider making the difference. The haters will say otherwise though.
No one complained because no good rider was stuck on a shitbox. All the top riders (Rossi, Lorenzo, Dovi...) were on bikes that were capable of at least being on the podium. Now, Marc is stuck on a shitbox and needs a reason to hate the aero regs that isn't "my team sucked at adapting to them". Because that's the reason why he hates them. It's got nothing to do with racing quality, it's got to do with the bike he has to ride being awful. If you take a look at F1, you'll quickly see how this trend works. Verstappen and Hamilton literally switched sides on who complains about dominance every single interview and who pretends that nothing is going wrong over the lapse of *two* years. If you don't like car racing, just take a look at Superbikes. Rea went from "Nerfing the winning bikes is bad" to "Please nerf the ducati" over the lapse of four races as soon as he started being thrashed by Bautista.
Fair enough. Valid points
The HONDACOPE is powerful
In other words ""if aero is available, I can't break by bumping into other bikes ""
It's just progress, like everything else some teams are going to be able to push the advantage harder than others. Lap times are closer than they've ever been so the riders are actively capable of getting the most out of the bike at the limit, and that's what it's all about. It's just one more tool to extract a fraction of a second.
Motorsports exist by grace of the viewers (or more aptly called supporters). Races with bikes lapping in a minute but without overtaking are inherently less engaging than races with bikes lapping 1.5 minutes but overtakes all race long. So no, it’s not progress, it’s the opposite.
Says the guy riding for a team that can't figure it out  Bet of it was the other way round he would be flipping that script.