Episode 234 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is our Moto2 and Moto3 follow-up to Episode 233, which focused on the MotoGP action from the British GP at Silverstone.
On the mics, we have David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they walk us through the on-track action in the intermediate classes, along with a special interview from Triumph’s Steve Sargent.
Episode 233 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show covers the MotoGP action from the British GP at Silverstone.
On the mics, we have David Emmett, Neil Morrison, and Adam Wheeler, as they cover what turned out to be a very eventful weekend in Austria.
The guys cover a busy weekend in the UK, and start things off with a discussion of Quartararo’s win, and whether it means he has the 2022 title in the bag, or whether a crash like he had in FP2 could still stop him in his tracks.
In the dying minutes of the Q2 session for MotoGP, it looked like we were witnessing a miracle. Jorge Martin flashed through the second sector nearly a second and a half up on the best time at that point.
If he kept up that pace, he would be on his way to destroying the Silverstone pole record held by Marc Marquez, set on the newly resurfaced track back in 2019.
Martin looked to be on his way to being the first rider to break the 1’58 barrier and lap the track in the 1’57s.
It’s only Friday, so the times don’t mean all that much. You don’t win MotoGP races on Friday. But you can certainly lose them, and even lose championships if you’re not careful. Especially on a Friday.
That was the lesson of Silverstone, as both Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo found to their cost. Marc Marquez had a fairly simple lowside, but managed to do so at 274 km/h at one of the fastest parts of the circuit.
Quartararo’s crash was much, much slower – 75 km/h, rather than 274 – but could have been much more serious. The Frenchman lost the rear, then the bike tried to flick him up and over the highside, twisting his ankle in the process.
It is hard to overstate just how different Silverstone is from Spielberg, where the last two MotoGP rounds were held.
Sure, both have very high average speeds – Silverstone at 179.7 km/h is among the fastest tracks on the calendar, and Spielberg’s 188 km/h is the fastest of the season – but that is pretty much where the similarity ends.
Silverstone has 18 corners, where Spielberg has only 10. The Austrian circuit is 4.3km long, while Silverstone is 5.9 kilometers.
The Red Bull Ring is three fast straights with a bunch of corners holding them together, while Silverstone is a complex of flowing corners and combinations of turns which present a real challenge to get right.
Oh, and Spielberg has steep climbs and sweeping drops, built on the side of a mountain (the clue is in the name, SpielBERG), while Silverstone is pretty much flat as a pancake, built around an old airfield on the top of a hill.
Episode 232 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this show is a preview of the MotoGP action that is coming this weekend at the British GP at Silverstone
On the mics, we have Steve English and David Emmett, as they cover a host of topics that have been percolating in the grand prix paddock that past few days and weeks.
The coronavirus has struck another blow to the MotoGP Championship calendar for 2020, with news today that the British GP round at Silverstone, as well as the Australian GP round at Phillip Island have been canceled.
Every year at the British GP round, a special event is held on the Thursday before the races. It is called the Day of Champions, and it raises money for our favorite charity here at Asphalt & Rubber, Two Wheels for Life.
Now in its 30th year of running, the highlight of the Day of Champions is the rider auction at the end of the day, where special memorabilia and opportunities are sold to the highest bidder to raise money for the charity.
At this year’s Silverstone round, the Day of Champions raised £286,000 at auction, before the weekend’s final tally was made, and well on its way to surpassing the £300,000 that was raised last year.
Episode 115 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and in it we see Neil Morrison and David Emmett joined by Stephen English, as the trio discusses the British GP at Silverstone.
A race bookended with events, there is no shortage of topics to cover, and the guys give us the inside details from the MotoGP paddock.
Swinging a lens for us at the British GP, photographer Tony Goldsmith gives us a glimpse of the MotoGP action at Silverstone.
Photos: © 2019 Tony Goldsmith / www.tonygoldsmith.co.uk – All Rights Reserved
Confidence plays a key role in racing. Having confidence in yourself, in your team, in your bike, in your strategy. If you have confidence in every part of the jigsaw puzzle which goes to make up motorcycle racing, you can exceed expectations.
Motorcycle racing may play out on 300 hp machines around six kilometer stretches of asphalt, but the fifteen centimeters of gray matter between the ears is where winning and losing is decided.
That confidence is what explains so much of Marc Márquez’ success throughout his career. He has confidence in his ability, gained through hours and hours of practice, and hard training in preparation.
He has confidence in his team, having worked with the same group of people for most of his career. He has confidence in his bike: it may not do everything he would want, but he understands exactly what it will and won’t do, and can make it do what he needs it to do.
He has confidence in the ability of his team and himself to come up with a strategy to cope with whatever a race weekend throws at them.
All these things combined are what has allowed him to win five MotoGP championships and 50 MotoGP races. Each of these elements of confidence feeds into the other, in a virtuous circle, making him stronger.
And they allow him to take risks at the right time to gain maximum advantage.
