Austrian Grand Prix - Red Bull Ring

[charleselan]

It would appear that many of the GP riders feel that The Red Bull Ring is not really suitable for MotoGP, or at least that part of the circuit where it would seem little can be done to eliminate the potential of a similar accident without incurring other issues.

Aleix Espargaro has made some very sound comments about how the current bikes are affected on this part of the track, he mainly concentrates on the effect of the current aero devices that are creating the problem. A good explanation by Aleix on this matter.

Absolutely the overly aggressive overtakes area problem that should have been sorted years ago. Racing was always hard but riders in far off times were very aware of the real dangers both to themselves and to their fellow riders. In recent times this has diminished as the thoughts were that it is much safer now, but in reality it isn't as bike racing will never be as safe as cars.

I wonder if Ezpeleta and his team realise how close they came to a Senna Imola moment last Sunday. If not they should be seriously asking themselves some questions before the re-run at the same venue this coming weekend.

[chrisb]

totally agree John,

Mat Oxley is back at his best and has posted 3 excellent articles on MS but I haven't read Aleix's comments, apparently there is to be a meeting with Johan on Thursday [following some surgery on the Wednesday] and it will be interesting what will be done, I tend to agree with the comments around the aero packagaes they are creating turbulence and I am so relieved that there wasn't a serious injury, what worries me is that last time they tried to slow the bikes down it was disatrous with the 800cc things,

Apparently the data from Johna was that he did actually brake later than usual but such is the slipstream but I do worry about this weekend and it is almost a fingers crossed race meeting

[charleselan]

I must read these Mat Oxley articles Chris. I seldom frequent the MS site these days as it is of no interest to me anymore, plus I find the revised layout to be truly terrible and counter intuitive. The old layout was vastly superior and one could navigate the site with ease.

The Aleix "article" is on todays page at Crash.net, which I believe you also look at.

[Carl]

Aug 18, 2020 16:34:26 GMT charleselan said:

I must read these Mat Oxley articles Chris. I seldom frequent the MS site these days as it is of no interest to me anymore, plus I find the revised layout to be truly terrible and counter intuitive. The old layout was vastly superior and one could navigate the site with ease.

The Aleix "article" is on todays page at Crash.net, which I believe you also look at.

After more than 50 years reading MotorSport, usually by frequent newstand purchase, I'm ending my subscription. There are too many simple copy mistakes and too many articles part journalism and part commercial promotion. The 30 page presentation of quarter million dollar watches in December illuminated editorial desperation along with gold dials.

Although sympathetic to the harsh financial times faced by print magazines, I cannot pay for a poor product.

[charleselan]

I haven't purchased a copy of MS for over two years now, I think it has been consigned to the annals of history for me; I will continue to cherish my old volumes with dear old Jenks in his pomp.

At Chris' suggestion I have read the Mat Oxley articles which are good, but he didn't really say much about the accident other than what has been mentioned elsewhere. Aleix Espargaro's words about the current bikes and aero affect are far more prescient in my humble opinion.

I have read that Franco Morbidelli is saying that "someone must be made accountable for what happened", and is still intimating that Johann Zarco is at fault. Well if Johann was deemed to be braking very late as has been mentioned, what the blue blazes was Morbidelli doing hitting him in the back. I think Franco needs to wind his neck in, let us not forget that he had a reputation of being pretty uncompromising in his Moto2 days, which seems to be conveniently forgotten.

The interesting thing in Mat's feature in MS was that of the close performance between the bikes, and this has apparently lead to the dare devil overtaking we now see, done in desperation as the bikes are too close in performance. However to counter that we then have the comment that there is a big difference in top speed between say Yamaha and Ducati, Hmmm!

Chris, I did notice you question to Mat about Scott. I really do think Scott should stay well away from MotoGP, he can build a hell of  career in WSB especially seeing how it seems to be regaining its former glories. One just hopes that the idiots at DORNA do not get jumpy and ruin it all again.

[chrisb]

Carl, I do think Joe Dunn is doing a pretty good job, but sadly the days of the printed magazine look numbered, Autosport which used to be the go to magazine on a Thursday is an insipid version of what it once was, but I will pesevere with MS, there are still some good articles and Mat and Mark amongst others are damm good journalists, although Mat writes more online than in paper, but totally get where you are coming from, as I doing a lot of research into a project I am reading the MS reports from the 60's and the difference is enormous, so much brilliance in the writing, the words they used, the descriptions and the life was really incredible.

John, the meeting to discuss the accidents [both Johan and Pol's with Miguel] are being held today and it will be intriguing as to what is the reaction, but your point about Franco is very valid, from what I gather Rossi is now saying that it wasn't deliberate just bad riding, which I don't understand, perhaps we can get more answers later today but I won't be holding my breath, it seemed to me Mat was trying to avoid getting dragged into the arguments but offer a wider perspective, with regards to equalising performance - both Honda and Ducati [and now KTM] have always been more of the top end and Yamaha and Suzuki more mid-corner which I think he was trying to say causes more aggressive riding, one thing for certain is that it is very competitive, but the aggression for me comes more from this mentality of win at any cost, I wonder if a by-product of the accidents that it might just make a few people re-consider their styles, after all some riders overtake very cleanly and without resorting to aggressive tactics so it is clear it can be done,

yes, I was more referring to when Ducati made the choice of Danilio over Scott and how well Scott has done subsequently, also the fact that he is a top rider and we have no-one coming through to replace Cal in MotoGP and that is a shame, also I feel that MotoGP was always unfinished business, but in truth with WSB being cranked up by more manufacturer interest and a lot more potential winners he is better off there and forging multi winning championships

[charleselan]

So it appears that Zarco has been blamed for the accident last weekend and has been penalised. He has to start the race from the pit lane this weekend as punishment. A lot of mixed reaction to this on the web from what I have seen, and rightly so..........

[chrisb]

yea, no wonder no-one has much faith in the stewards, I am hoping Mat Oxley does do an article on the actual crash, as people are saying Johan made a mistake as opposed to a deliberate move,