Estoril MotoGP test times - Monday.

looks as though casey hasnt found a cure to ducatis or bridgestones possible problems. the camera thing probably didnt affect him as much as he described as his times are still down there. dani is almost a second faster today, wow! wonder if they were on race tires or not? valentino has got some good pace too but what i just hope is for melandri to find some speed on that ducati.

Don't think they were on quali's...The times are a little bit to high for that if you look at the saturday quali times...

I'm curious about tyre factories, I mean why they can't produce different tyres for different surfaces eg. Bridgestone can build tyre for Estoril, Assen or Mugello and Michelin for that circuits they're lacking with performance? What for wasting their time with base tyres non-worked with some circuits???

the times were like this in last years race, so its probably stayed dry all night and the temperature improved today, rossi still looks to be going well, only bridgestone really up there.

Roll on china!

oh i missed hopper...

good work!

They did use Q-tyres. Rossi and Stoner improved on race tyres. Looks better for them in China...

Try this: 3w.f1sa.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id

;)

Judging by Qatar and Estoril, it seems the Rossi/Bridgestone/Yamaha combo has no problem with race pace, as demonstrated by Rossi leading for a large part of the race. It seems to be the longevity of the tires that's the problem. Jeremy Burgess said after Jerez that they set the bike up for not too aggressive in Jerez, so perhaps they could give it a bit more aggression for Estoril... Seems to have been a bit too much for the tires to cope with...

does anyone know how many laps they did on Monday?

Rossi did 90, don't know about any of the others but would think they were all around that number.

Trying to understand tyers here... Rossi picked soft tyers anticipating rain
I am guessing that softer compounds wear out or "go off" faster is that the way it works?

Oh, and "going off" is a chemical reaction that happens due to heating and cooling???
Is that simply drying out/off-gassing or is it something more complicated???

jj,
softer tyres provide more grip early on but go off quicker.
harder tyres take longer to warm up but last longer.
thats the theory!?!

Would all you Europhiles (we'll include the Brutish here too, even though they think they are 'apart') who are calling for Anthony West to be sacked because he is 'too slow' please explain why but you do not ask for the same for Melandri, Guintoli and Elias? And look at Hopkins, he was down with this sad bunch too... So you want him sacked as well. There are only 18 bike son the grid, you want to make it 13? Let's be clear, the D'Antin team has pretty much the same bikes as Marlboro Ducati. Evidence is the fact that Melandri is rolling around in the mud with them. The only Ducati rider in the past two years who has done anything is Stoner. Fact.

Would all you Europhiles (we'll include the Brutish here too, even though they think they are 'apart') who are calling for Anthony West to be sacked because he is 'too slow' please explain why but you do not ask for the same for Melandri, Guintoli and Elias? And look at Hopkins, he was down with this sad bunch too... So you want him sacked as well. There are only 18 bike son the grid, you want to make it 13? Let's be clear, the D'Antin team has pretty much the same bikes as Marlboro Ducati. Evidence is the fact that Melandri is rolling around in the mud with them. The only Ducati rider in the past two years who has done anything is Stoner. Fact.

Baron, that's because Stoner is an amazing rider. Loris had big trouble adapting to the 800 duc too, but he eventually began to figure it out. Apparently, it takes an amazing rider to win on it. Not that the Duc is inferior at all, only that it seems to take a particular type of rider. Like Casey.

West will be along soon. If it rains in China again this next year, I'll bet it's then that he'll make his presence felt (in one way or another)

Marco will connect with the Duc eventually too. He's way too good a rider not to. Any one of these guys has the potential to show up this season, especially at his home round. Remember Le Mans last year? "Guintoli takes the lead"?

What happen to melandry? he is the slowest factory rider. Bring back Hofmann, i'm sure he can ride better than melandri

Not the Euros per say, da groupies are the problem so better not ask those characters for logical explanasions as to why they constantly bleat on about irrelevent nonsense, thats simply beyond groupie ability I guess to comprehend.....ignoring the facts is par for the course for the yellow sandpit flock so expect little else other than humourous yellow logic..... they live in constent fear is my best explanation ;)

Maybe you are right Marty, but is it that they are blind Rossi followers, or just plain stupid? I believe Rossi will win some races this year and be in contention for the title. You do not win as many championships as he has and forget how to do it. He has the talent and the ability. Whether he has the same burning desire is another question, but Eddie Lawson was older when he won his last championship, then went on to race a few more years, even winning on a Cagiva... I do not discount Valentino, just as I do not discount young Mr. Stoner. He has just proved he has the drive, he just needs to get the bike set better. Wonderfully interesting is it not?

marty mary marty when will you ever learn...it was you who was living in constant fear on Friday and Saturday and only started spewing your crap on Sunday after the race....

talking about logical explanations..that my friend is something that you don't understand..god you don't even know how to spell it !!!

ahh yes the logical explanation that you have was wonder boy came is 6th is that his camera came off...

the only irrelevant nonsense comes from you....

JJ: Tyres suffer from two types of degradation: Vulcanization and simple wear&tear. The first happens as the rubber undergoes heating and cooling, having the effect of hardening the compound but is a long process and does not happen too much during a race, it rather affects road tyres. The second is twofold: Firstly the layer of rubber on the tyre becomes thinner as the race progresses so this alters the carcass characteristics and secondly the structure of the mmacromlecule "grid" that forms the bulk of the rubber gets torn and ripped, degrading the amount of grip offered. Ultimately a softer tyre wears faster than a harder but grips better (at least initially)