Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Well it sounds like next year the GP bikes are going to all run Bridgestone tyres. What a fucking joke! I mean, FFS, it's a prototype category and I think it's bollocks that DORNA (or Dani Pedrosa/Repsol/Alberto Puig/et al) should dictate what tyres the teams run. I was hoping Kawasaki might run Shinko tyres next year and now it seems like we're stuck on Bridgestone's again

What do you think? Are there any advantages to a single (control?) tyre that I haven't considered?

I guess they are looking for closer racing, Im unsure whether I think its a good thing or not yet....

They just said on fox that the decision has not been made yet and the two manufacturers are still tendering. I notice that the winning tenderer has to supply all tyres to all the teams for free Imagine the cost of that!

The only difference is that we'll see a return to the bad old days where some riders complain that some others get special treatment re: special compounds.

Instead of complaining that the Michelins don't work, some will be complaining that someone else got a better tyre due to favouritism.

Rusty wrote:The only difference is that we'll see a return to the bad old days where some riders complain that some others get special treatment re: special compounds.

Instead of complaining that the Michelins don't work, some will be complaining that someone else got a better tyre due to favouritism.

Or the team with the best relationship with the tyre manufacturer gets to do most of the testing, and the tyres suit their bike best.

gee... michelin dominates for years..nothing happens....bridgestone have a couple of good years and suddenly.... we have a one tyre rule? thats farked!!!

prototype class...should be running prototype tyres..make it open slather..cant understand what the problem is.

I'm keen on competition between tyre manufacturers too, however I think control tyres have always made F1 & WSBK racing better. Hopefully the same will happen in MotoGP

put em all on macadams !!
now that would be interesting !!

Get over it mate...

It's better for racing and it levels out the playing field.

I'm all for it

SoundGuy wrote:
It's better for racing and it levels out the playing field.

i actually agree with you there.. but thats not what the class is about. i would rather see the tyre companies go at it, in fact, maybe there should be more tyre companies brought in. i think i counted 6 michelin runners that finished the Motegi race, the rest on bridgies. maybe they could have a rule where you can only supply tyres for "x" number of riders? if they limited that to 6, it would mean at least 3 manufacturers and they all get the same amount of riders giving data? surely that would help level the playing field as well. could also make it that a tyre company can supply no more than 2 official factory teams so no one really has the jump.
if we go to a one make rule, then i dont think it will encourage the manufacturer who doesn't get the tender to try too hard to improve their product.
SBK has done really well with their Pirelli deal, but i dont see why the GP camp should follow suit. i think it detracts from the overall spectacle and competition.


but maybe i'm just talking out my arse..maybe i have no idea... but its just my 2c

I was hoping Kawasaki might run Shinko tyres next year and now it seems like we're stuck on Bridgestone's again


Well the tender is open to all manuafacturers so you never know, you may get your wish.

I would prefer all companies in the mix, it's a prototype class so it should be pushing the technology boundarys at all levels.

SoundGuy wrote:It's better for racing and it levels out the playing field.

I agree that it levels out the playing field, but how is it better for racing?

A few years ago all the top teams ran Michelins, right? In fact for 20 years all the top teams have run Michelins. Given the progress Bridgestone have made in the past two seasons I'd find it really difficult to agree that having everybody on Michelin tyres in the last two seasons would have done anything to improve racing.

I think in the short term it's better for DORNA as it will encourage closer results and potentially more variety in race winners, which means a wider tv audience and more earning capacity, but in the long term I believe it will slow the progress of development of both bikes and tyres, and that's bad for all of us.

There's an existing, well established category of motorcycle racing that encourages close racing on control tyres, reducing the costs and sporting large fields - World Superbikes - the MotoGP is about prototype racing and should be left as it is IMNSHO.

Grey Ghost wrote:I'm keen on competition between tyre manufacturers too, however I think control tyres have always made F1 & WSBK racing better. Hopefully the same will happen in MotoGP

Again, is the racing really better or is it a 'better spectacle'? I don't follow F1 so I couldn't comment there. I agree that a control tyre works well for WSBK, but it's a production class and the control tyre simply serves to highlight the differences between bikes (the whole purpose of running a production class).

sneakypete wrote:...maybe they could have a rule where you can only supply tyres for "x" number of riders? if they limited that to 6, it would mean at least 3 manufacturers and they all get the same amount of riders giving data? surely that would help level the playing field as well. could also make it that a tyre company can supply no more than 2 official factory teams so no one really has the jump....

That's the sort of forward-thinking that I believe DORNA should employ - encourage healthy competition and all the competitors improve - enforce a monopoly and everybody suffers.

penno wrote:...Well the tender is open to all manuafacturers so you never know, you may get your wish...

Technically yes, but can you imagine the response from the Spanish holy trilogy (Pedrosa, Puig & Repsol), Rossi, and even the established Bridgestone runners if Michelin won the tender. A few weeks ago Puig was encouraging all the Michelin runners to boycott the Brno GP on "safety grounds", Repsol used it's considerable influence (money talks) to force HRC into swapping Dani to Bridgestone rubber mid-season, and I think the likes of Ducati would be justifiably pissed off about being forced off rubber they've worked for four years to develop.

Keep the debate going, it's interesting to hear everybody's thoughts!

Again, i disagree.

Having a control tyre is better for racing for a few reasons.

- Its stops the teams and riders making tyre excuses, everyone is on the same rubber.
Therefore it comes down to who's the best rider on the best motorcycle package.

- Data acquisition and telemetry is vastly improved as you have data coming in from all the teams.
This should relate to faster times and an even bigger push in both tyre development and more importantly it will push bike development even further.

- It's been running very successfully in both World Supers and to some extent F1, where both times and lap records have dropped consistently.

- You wont see someone run away with the title because of tyres anymore.
When i watch racing, i do so religiously because amongst other things, i want to see who are the best riders and/or the best bikes, i couldn't care less about tyres.
My one biggest hate about all forms or racing is to see a championship decided by tyres.

I'm not worried one bit about tyre development slowing down, because i dont believe that it will.
Furthermore what ever technology filters down to us mere mortals will always be way above my skills anyway

SoundGuy wrote:Again, i disagree.
- Its stops the teams and riders making tyre excuses, everyone is on the same rubber.
Therefore it comes down to who's the best rider on the best motorcycle package.

Providing of course that no one gets "special" tyres. Seems to work OK in WSBK so you have to assume will work the same in MotoGP.

dave#3 wrote:Technically yes, but can you imagine the response from the Spanish holy trilogy (Pedrosa, Puig & Repsol), Rossi, and even the established Bridgestone runners if Michelin won the tender. A few weeks ago Puig was encouraging all the Michelin runners to boycott the Brno GP on "safety grounds", Repsol used it's considerable influence (money talks) to force HRC into swapping Dani to Bridgestone rubber mid-season, and I think the likes of Ducati would be justifiably pissed off about being forced off rubber they've worked for four years to develop.

Pirelli were only a small player prior to the intro of the one tyre rule in WSBK. Perhaps the rule will make Dunlops dream of another World Championship come true.

One tyre people, it's the only way for Kwacka to maybe keep up, that and start racing 12's..

I see good and bad points for both sides of the arguement...

In saying that, it will be good to see the field evened out.