Lets discuss bikes

danielgosling

Hi,

I've been a very serious fan of motogp and superbike racing for nearly 7 years now. However before that my only exposure to any motor sport was from rte's formula 1 coverage. Its great that bikes are getting more coverage nowadays what with rte1 and bbc2 grandstand showing every motogp race live and now Itv 1 has joined with full coverage of the British Superbike championship (which comes each year to Mondello every May). BSB is Britain’s most successful domestic motor sport championship and brings in an average of 25,000 approx people each round. I really love bike racing. Its close and each round is contested like a battle to win and less like a part of an overall campaign to do well in like F1 can be. Riders do care about the championship but they luckily focus alot on winning each race too so their hunger and aggression out on track provide some trilling spectacles. I just wanted to go over some of the points that I consider bike racing to have which elevates it over F1 for excitement.

motorsport is all about this going fast round in circles but for me what makes me love bikes is the personalities within the sport. The riders are more likely to express their true feelings and disappointments on the podium and engage in some great displays of celebration when they do well. Alot of it also comes down to how visible they are to us all the time. When they crash we see their pain as they cartwheel across the gravel and when we get those up close onboard camera shots we can catch the focus in their eyes. All this just adds to our desire to see each and every one of them do well. They personalise their leathers with little mascots and unique cartoons and graphics and each have individually designed helmets. Just a few more things to make your favourite rider stand out and be noticed by you. Of course the F1 community must know a little about Valentino Rossi...I mean it cant be underestimated how much he gives to this sport. Some of his antics over the years on track and while celebrating a victory have been just great and really endear a crowd to him. Yes he might well go to F1 but at least for another year he'll stay and contest the new 800cc bikes for next year.

Of course bike racing is all about the excitement out on track. F1 tends to concentrate alot on the relationship between all the team in the pits and the driver out on the track which is interesting I suppose but for me the reason I watch and follow bikes is that the action on track is focused on over taking and packed with intense action and physicality. Also a crash becomes a cause to feel sorry for a rider and wish him the best rather than woop at the theatrics of it all. I personally hate seeing people crash and get hurt. Bike riders just are not afforded the protective luxuries of a f1 car. Therefore, unlike F1, crashing is something to avoid at all costs so bike riders need to be more canny and not get over excited about a possible pass as it might kill them. When I occasionally watch f1 I'm usually disappointed. There are just some many sloppy crashes. I mean really misjudged passes which the driver should of known better than to take. Very aggressive and disrespectful behavior is common also especially at the start of a race when they all drive into the first corner. It feels more like a lottery as they all dive down into the first turn as if each one is hoping that they'll make it through it all. I mean f1 drivers do have the luxury of much better protection around them to lessen the chances of injury. It’s a shame and I feel they bully each other wide and cause crashes. Really this would be impossible in bike racing as people might die!

I saw a race one time and after one lap there was a 11 second gap between first and second places. That’s actually unthinkable for bike racing. I just finished watching the Sachsinring round of motogp and the top 4 were within 0.7 seconds of each other over the finish line. Anyway that was just a few things. I’d love to talk about this more with bike and f1 fans alike.

trendkill

danielgosling wrote:

Hi,

!

I saw a race one time and after one lap there was a 11 second gap between first and second places. That’s actually unthinkable for bike racing. I just finished watching the Sachsinring round of motogp and the top 4 were within 0.7 seconds of each other over the finish line. Anyway that was just a few things. I’d love to talk about this more with bike and f1 fans alike.

Please, tell me which race that was, where there was an eleven second gap from first to second after the first lap.......plus there is so many holes in your argument that i couldn't even be bothered to argue with you. I am an avid F1 fan for many a year now. I also love Moto Gp, i was at the dutch race on the corner Edwards went down on in the last lap..... but you cannot compare the two sports by ..."which one is better" you just can't!!! they are two very different sports

danielgosling

plus there is so many holes in your argument that i couldn't even be bothered to argue with you.

wow thats a good reply.

trendkill

i can remember alot of strange things that happened in the first lap of races, Senna in Donnington......on the first lap in the rain, belgium.... for a driver to have an 11 second lead to second by the end of the first lap, there would have to have been an accident.... and if there was an accident that would give an 11 second gap between the first two drivers on the first lap, it would be a serious one such as taking out so many cars.. hence the race would be yellow flagged or more likely red flagged.

Only thing i can think why is that if 21 drivers started on dry tyres to a wet race, and one on drys... but if a race is declared a wet race before the start, it is compulsory for every driver to start on wets.

However your not far wrong, Schumacher once achieved a lead of 11 seconds by the end of the 3rd or 4th lap in 2001 at the suzuka grand prix... but its propbably impoossible to have that time by the end of the first.

ger.taxi

totally agree,, moto gp is the BEST?? and yes riders are more open about their races and i think are more in tune with the fans??? F1 in comparsion is getting boring?? too many gimmicks in the cars and really the drivers are a boring bunch off people.. there are really no super stars there at the moment.. compared to yester year,, just look at the old days,,real drivers in dangrous cars,,, no complaints there??????? they knew what would happen if they went off the road??? and really between bernie and max they have turned F1 in to boring two hours off tv ,,, cos really that is what F1 is about these days,, bernie does not care about the bodies who line the enclosures,,,,, lots off empty seats at the german GP tooo,,,, just was looking at the bsb on utv,, wow what a race in the rain??? there is the differance,,, bikers have bigger balls compared to there four wheeled counterparts,,, NO WANNABEES THERE ha ha ha ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Edwardius

Yeah, F1 is mostly like a tired saggy wife that'd be too much hassle to get rid of. You go through the motions every odd while and it's starting to get a bit stale. There is the odd time when you discover why you married her but for the most part she's a time consuming narking old wagon that.
Motogp is like a hot little mistress that can cook better than your wife, doesn't complain when you get pissed and you're delighted to see her whenever you can and she's dynamite in the sack.

Aside from that, Bikes offer a hell of a lot of top level racing series due to the (slightly) lower costs over cars. Look at all the superbike series' with the same or similar world class equipment... BSB in the UK, AMA superbikes in the states, the all Japan championship, Australian superbikes, German superbikes.... all that along with the world series, the motogp feeder series (magically talented psychotic european teenagers knockin' lumps off each other on 95kg 280km/h 250 machines). Also real roads racing is the most spectacularly spine-chilling form of motorsport on this here little rock. You have a bunch of wired lunatics on tuned to the guts GSX-R's, R1's and fireblades blasting through villages at 200 odd emm pee aich with razor sharp accuracy and precision. Why? because if they get it wrong, they have a wall to answer to.

I still love all forms of motorsport but if I have a choice I'm takin Rossi/Bayliss/Lavillia/Mcguinness over Schuey/Hamilton/Loeb/Plato.