Lapping under perhaps the best conditions Indianapolis has to offer in late-August, MotoGP took to The Brickyard for the 2011 Red Bull Indianapolis GP. Though Indy’s newly paved track failed to impress riders with its first impression, as more rubber was put down on the racing line during the weekend’s sessions, the pavement increased its grip, making for some impressive lap times in the later practice sessions.
With Casey Stoner breaking Indy’s outright best lap time during FP3 with a 1’39.552 lap time (the previous “Best Lap Time” was set in 2009 by Dani Pedrosa with a 1’39.790), all eyes were on the Australian during qualifying to see if he could further push Indy’s outright top lap on two-wheels even further down on the stopwatch. Eyes were also on American Ben Spies, who has been consistently at the top of the timesheet all weekened.
Riding at a track he calls home, Spies said after the Free Practice that if he could get close to Stoner’s pace, he had a serious shot at a victory in front of his American fans. Was Spies within striking at the end of Qualifying, find out after the jump.
For Hiroshi Aoyama, the perfect lap is unattainable, as motorcycle racers are always looking for a little bit more speed, and thus a better lap. That being said, the Japanese rider has perhaps an unhealthy relationship with velocity, saying that while going 300 km/h is scary, he “likes that feeling.”
With more super slow-mo footage from Catalunya, Red Bull again brings us some 1000 fps video, just in time to promote Sunday’s Indianapolis GP. For those movie continuity buffs, you can tell this video was made earlier in the year, as Aoyama talks about Indy’s four different kind of asphalt types, which have now been paved over for one consistent tarmac throughout the infield. Watch the high-speed camera footage after the jump.
UPDATE: MotoGP riders after finishing FP2 said grip improved on the track, though anything off the racing line was quite slippery.
With MotoGP riders getting their first taste of the newly paved infield section at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the talk this morning after the Free Practice 1 session was about how the new track surfaces faired under the GP riders’ scrutiny. Though weather conditions were pretty much optimal, there is a virtually unanimous opinion that even without the bumps and curbing issues, the IMS track has worsened since last year. While most riders took issue with the virtually glass like state of the asphalt, the problem at Indy really is two-fold. Not only is the freshly paved tarmac devoid of any rubber to help aid the grip, but the infield, which is used almost exclusively for the Indianapolis GP, suffers yearly from dirt and debris.
Elena Myers got a bit closer today to her dream of racing a MotoGP motorcycle, as the young AMA Pro Supersport rider got a chance to ride one of the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R race bikes around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway GP circuit. The outing started with a rocky start, as the Suzuki GSV-R cutout after Myers finished her out-lap, and was on her first proper lap of the session. Getting it started and riding back to the pits, Elena got back out on the track, after her tires were thrown back on the warmers for 20 minutes, and gave the Suzuki a proper go of things.
Taking a slew of laps around The Brickyard’s GP layout, Myers, to our knowledge, is the first rider on a GP bike to go around the newly paved infield section (Nicky Hayden lapped last week on a production Ducati Superbike 1198 SP). Eager not to crash one of Álvaro Bautista’s race bikes, the 17-year-old rode a smooth and consistent pace around IMS, but still managed to open up the Suzuki a bit with a top 306 km/h (190 mph) speed down the front straight. More of a chance for Myers to try out the MotoGP machinery than an actual test, her GSV-R was race-spec sans for some steel brake rotors (MotoGP bikes typically run carbon fiber brake discs).
Also joining Nicky Hayden at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway teleconference was the venerable Colin Edwards, who took some time off from scoping and loading his new 338 Edge rifle to talk to Asphalt & Rubber and a select group of other journalists about the MotoGP season and the upcoming Indianapolis round. By his own admission, Edwards is not having as good of a season this year in MotoGP as he would like, with many in the paddock wondering if 2011 is the Texas Tornado’s last year in MotoGP. Saying that he wasn’t ready to retire, Edwards hinted that some announcements were coming down the line, though probably not in time for the Indianapolis GP.
“Will we make any kind of announcement at Indy? Probably not. Misano, maybe, I don’t know,” mused Edwards. “We’ve got a few pieces of the puzzle laying around. We’ve just got to put those pieces together. Probably the worst thing is that I’m not ready to retire. That would make it easy for everybody. But at the moment, I’m still enjoying it. I’m still having a good time, and I’m still motivated. Until that goes away, I’m going to ride motorcycles.” Read the rest of the teleconference transcript after the jump.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway played host to a teleconference with both Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards this week, allowing Asphalt & Rubber and a select group of journalists to get a preview of the riders’ thoughts before the Indianapolis GP kicks off in earnest this Friday. The only MotoGP rider so far to preview the resurfaced infield at The Brickyard, among other things Hayden gave journalists his thoughts on the new pavement, where he stands in the Championship, and esprit de corps inside Ducati.
What caught our ear listening to the teleconference was that despite all the frustrations he’s had this year, and his noticeable changes in demeanor during press scrums after particularly discouraging sessions, Hayden remains forever the up-beat optimist in the MotoGP paddock. Talking about the level of commitment and the attitude inside Ducati Corse, Hayden said “I told Fillipo (Preziosi) that after the last test, I’ve been impressed with his team and how all the guys have just kept their head down and kept working,”
“Those guys, they get there early and stay late. Some of the engineers I spoke to back at the factory, they’re all on board,” Hayden continued. “I’ve got to believe that hard work and that good attitude is going to pay off in the long run. It normally always does, and I hope this is no different.” Read the rest of the teleconference after the jump.
Make no mistake about the fact that we are well into the 2011 Silly Season, a festive time where paddock gossip is rife with the movings and rumors of where riders and teams will land for the following season. With MotoGP set this weekend to make its second American appearance for the year, we are kicking off the rumormill reports properly with talk of where Colin Edwards will race in 2012. Rumored to be in World Superbike for 2012, the Texan Tornado has been linked to both a factory Ducati ride in WSBK and a factory seat at BMW Motorrad.
Speaking to Asphalt & Rubber and other journalists at a conference call hosted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday (a transcript of that is in the works), Edwards alluded to the fact that we wouldn’t hear about his future plans at Indy, and likely not at the San Marino GP as well. The Texan did clue the assembled press into the fact that he wasn’t ready to retire his racing spurs yet, and would likely be racing in some form or another for the 2012 season.
Two seasons after Dani Pedrosa knocked Nicky Hayden off the track at Estoril and seemingly derailed his teammate’s championship bid, emotions about the move still ran hot at The Kentucky Kid’s home race. There’s no telling for whom the pair in this photo might have shirts made next weekend, but the odds are on Filippo Preziosi.
Considering that these guys look like they’ve eaten meals that weighed more than Pedrosa, they seem unlikely to care that the father of the career-wrecking Ducati GP concept is in a wheelchair, but certainly the majority of Indy’s great fans will keep it classy. Best of luck to Nicky and Dani and all of those who compete at the highest level of motorcycle racing.
AMA Pro Supersport racer Elena Myers will have a chance to flog one of the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R bikes at the Indianapolis GP this year. Getting an opportunity to acquaint herself with the MotoGP machinery, Myers will do a few laps at 12:45 PM on Thursday before the Indy GP, in a PR event put together by American Suzuki. After a similar publicity event fell-through last year, the ride will be Myers’s first on a GP bike, and hopefully a glimpse into the future, as the young California native has made it clear that the premier class is where she wants to take her career.
“Words cannot describe how excited I am to ride the Suzuki GSV-R at Indy during the MotoGP weekend this year,” said Myers. “We had talked about it last year, but things didn’t work out, so here’s a big thanks to everyone involved for making this possible. When I sat on the bike last year, it felt like it was made to fit me. So actually being able to spin a few laps on it will be quite the treat. I’m really looking forward to the weekend.”
While Ducati might not be getting a two-wheel drive system in MotoGP anytime soon, the Italians are apparently in the process of running a parallel program to its MotoGP racing effort that explores the concept of Ducati Corse switching to an aluminum twin-spar frame. Uncovered by French journalist Thomas Baujard of the French magazine Moto Journal (yes, we really wanted to make sure you knew the French were involved with this), Ducati Corse has apparently enlisted the help of a third-party chassis manufacturing and engineering firm to construct a prototype aluminum chassis.
This news plays into the fact that Ducati has absolutely no experience in making an aluminum twin-spar frame, having dropped the steel trellis design for an all carbon fiber version back in 2009. Not wanting to start from zero, like Corse did with the carbon chassis in 2009, and with the “frameless” chassis in 2010, Ducati hopes that with aid from a third party, the Italian company can come up to speed on the twin-spar design, and begin to make improvements for the GP11/GP12 for Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden.