Ducati Heads to Valencia with a Heavy Heart

Ducati GP11 thumb Ducati Heads to Valencia with a Heavy HeartThe Ducati Team is headed for Valencia, where the 2011 MotoGP championship will conclude on Sunday. The weekend’s usual track activities will be touched by the memory of Marco Simoncelli, whose absence will surely weigh heavily on the minds of the paddock regulars and fans. On the other hand, Marco was also emblematic of the great joy and love for this sport that we all share.

It is with this spirit that everyone on the Ducati Team will work as they do their best to prepare for this race on the small, twisty Spanish circuit, which will also host a two-day test on 8-9 October.

VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager

“The Valencia Grand Prix will have a different atmosphere than normal because we’ve been thinking about Marco since Malaysia. He’ll be with us in Spain and beyond, but I think there will also be positive feelings in the paddock, because for Marco, racing equalled happiness, which is a concept that I understand very well. That being the case, we’ll do what we always have and do our best to provide Vale and Nicky with what they need to have a nice race. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we’ll take part in the test, and we’ll see the new-generation bikes together for the first time.”

VALENCIA CIRCUIT RECORDS
Circuit Record: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1:32.582 – 155.732 Km/h
Best Pole: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha – 2006), 1:31.002 – 158.436 Km/h
Circuit Length: 4.005 km
2010 MotoGP Race: 30 laps (120.15 km)
2010 MotoGP Schedule: 2:00 p.m. Local Time

2010 PODIUM: 1st Jorge Lorenzo, 2nd Casey Stoner, 3rd Valentino Rossi
2010 POLE: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2010), 1:31.799 – 157.060 Km/h

DUCATI TEAM’S BEST RESULTS AT VALENCIA
2010: 2nd (Stoner)
2009: 5th (Hayden)
2008: 1st (Stoner)
2007: 2nd (Stoner)
2006: 1st (Bayliss)
2005: 4th (Checa)
2004: 3rd (Bayliss)
2003: 3rd (Capirossi)

DUCATI TEAM – RIDER INFO

VALENTINO ROSSI
Bike: Ducati Team Desmosedici GP11.1
Race number: 46
Age: 32 (born in Pesaro 16 February 1979)
Residence: Tavullia (Pesaro, Italy)
GPs: 258 (198 x MotoGP, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
First GP: Malaysian GP, 1996 (125cc)
Number of wins: 105 (79 x MotoGP, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP win: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
Poles: 59 (49 x MotoGP, 5 x 250cc, 5 x 125cc)
First Pole: Czech Republic GP, 1996 (125cc)
World Titles: 9 (6 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc)

Rossi’s MotoGP track record at Valencia
2010: Grid: 4th; Race: 3rd
2009: Grid: 4th; Race: 2nd
2008: Grid: 10th; Race: 3rd
2007: Grid: 17th; Race: DNF
2006: Grid: 1st; Race: 13th
2005: Grid: 15th; Race: 3rd
2004: Grid: 3rd; Race: 1st
2003: Grid: 1st; Race: 1st
2002: Grid: 6th; Race: 2nd
2001: Grid: 2nd; Race: 11th
2000: Grid: 5th; Race: DNF

Rossi’s 250 track record at Valencia
1999: Grid: 4th; Race: 8th

NICKY HAYDEN
Bike: Ducati Team Desmosedici GP11.1
Race number: 69
Age: 30 (born 30 July 1981 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA)
Residence: Owensboro, Kentucky, USA
Number of GPs: 151 (151 x MotoGP)
First GP: Japanese GP, 2003 (MotoGP)
Number of wins: 3 (3 x MotoGP)
First GP win: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
Poles: 5 (5 x MotoGP)
First Pole: USA GP, 2005 (MotoGP)
World Titles: 1 (MotoGP, 2006)

Hayden’s MotoGP track record at Valencia
2010: Grid: 5th; Race: DNF
2009: Grid: 6th; Race: 5th
2008: Grid: 3rd; Race: 5th
2007: Grid: 3rd; Race: 8th
2006: Grid: 5th; Race: 3rd
2005: Grid: 3rd; Race: 2nd
2004: Grid: 5th; Race: DNF
2003: Grid: 4th; Race: 16th

MotoGP Testing Changes Good News for Valentino Rossi and Ducati

Valentino Rossi working on a Ducati Hypermotard thumb MotoGP Testing Changes Good News for Valentino Rossi and DucatiMotoGP testing limits will be abolished for 2012 removing at least one of the barriers that has made development of the Ducati Desmosedici painfully slow for Valentino Rossi and his star crew chief, Jeremy Burgess.

One of the contributors for the failure of Valentino Rossi to repeat his stunning transformation of the Yamaha from dog to opening race winner with Ducati this season has no doubt been the strict limits on testing. Not only was Rossi injured when he first rode the Ducati Desmosedici GP11, he had precious few other opportunities to develop the machine.

In effect the team has turned 2011 into a only semi effective development effort for 2012. For although the current spec GP11.1 is essentially a GP12 (or at least how the GP12 was originally conceived) but with a 800cc engine, the differences in power and power delivery have meant that many of the benefits Rossi has seen in testing the bigger bike have, frustratingly, not translated well to the current racer. And in turn what he learns on the GP11.1 may not translate so well to the more powerful machine to be used next year.

All this is set to change with the change in the rules that restricted testing of MotoGP machines by contracted racers to only a handful of opportunities each year. From the final race of the 2011 season factories will be able to test with their contracted riders as often as they like at a nominated track as long as they don’t exceed a maximum tire limit of 240 (120 sets).

So why the change? Well the intention of the original restriction was to lower costs and they have simply done no such thing. Instead the factories have had to employ factory testers who cannot ride the machines fast enough to provide the quality of input that would assist the factory racers.The proposal for change came from the factories, with Ducati leading the charge with the full support of Honda. Formal approval is expected to come from the Grand Prix commission shortly.

The Ducati Monster, Now with Titanium

DSC01131 thumb The Ducati Monster, Now with TitaniumA dedicated Ducatista has rebuilt his Ducati Monster S4RS with a bespoke titanium frame that knocks pounds off the weight whilst adding an equal amount of trick and acting as a rolling showcase for his business venture.

StradaFab promises to build titanium frames for your Ducati Monster, Superbike, Sport Classic or Hypermotard. The Monster frame was made using Grade 9 titanium tubing. With the stock steel frame weighing in at 27lbs, the titanium version managed to be 12lbs lighter. The Quat-D exhaust is about 10lbs lighter too. All of this added up to 364lb (165kg) dry, almost 30lbs less than the claimed stock weight.

DSC01047 thumb The Ducati Monster, Now with TitaniumThe full specification run down includes:

  • Titanium Headlight and Tail light brackets by StradaFab
  • Painted Carbon Fiber seat by StradaFab
  • Carbon Fiber and Aluminum clutch cover by StradaFab
  • Paint by StradaFab
  • Speedymoto top triple clamp
  • Rizoma rearsets
  • Rizoma mirrors
  • Rizoma grips
  • CNC Racing signals
  • Quat-D Ex Box exhaust
  • CNC Racing steering nut
  • Tapered steering bearings
  • Vortex 14T sprocket
  • Driven clip-ons
  • CRG Levers
  • Rizoma bar ends

DSC01055 thumb The Ducati Monster, Now with TitaniumTo achieve the cafe racer look a new tail section was fabricated.

“I made the tail also. I had a vision of what I wanted this bike to look like, kind of cafe racerish, but I didn’t want one of those cafe tails that don’t fit very well. So I carved the tail out of foam, covered it with fiberglass and made a mold for the CF.”

The bike was displayed at the NCR Ducstock show (though unfortunately I failed to see it there).

DSC01124 thumb The Ducati Monster, Now with TitaniumIf you like what you see, StradaFab will build you a frame for your Monster for $6,500 or sell you their rolling showcase for $32,500 (gulp).

pekal

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