Rossi in red for the 1st time at Wrooom

Grim.

not convinced this was the right move for Rossi but he arrived at the Ducati/Ferrari event wearing Ducati red for the first time tonight

frostie500

Grim. wrote: »

not convinced this was the right move for Rossi but he arrived at the Ducati/Ferrari event wearing Ducati red for the first time tonight

really? I think its great to see him moving to Ducati and trying to win on yet another bike. Valentino has little chance of winning more races than Ago but this gives him the opportunity to win premier class titles on three different marques, it's tough not to be excited by the prospect of such a feat.

I understand that a lot of fans see it as a risky move that likely wont pay off in terms of titles and wins but we all thought the same when he moved to Yamaha for 2004. There are a lot of similarities to when he moved to Yamaha in that both factories felt that they didnt need Rossi any longer. Honda wanted to show that it was the bike and not the rider that won titles and Yamaha has Lorenzo for the future.

Rossi is going to be supremely motivated to win this year and next and while 2011 is going to be very challenging is anyone willing to bet against Jerry Burgees and Vale in 2012 when the new 1000cc regulations come into effect?

frostie500

First pics of Vale in his new leathers. They remind me a lot of his 250cc leathers in 1999, the bike looked pretty cool that year so hopefully the same will be the case for the Ducati.

lolie

Grim. wrote: »

not convinced this was the right move for Rossi but he arrived at the Ducati/Ferrari event wearing Ducati red for the first time tonight

cant see anyone but stoner or lorenzo winning it this year but hope im wrong. wonder how vale and alonso got on after their bitching a few years ago

Grim.

frostie500 wrote: »

really?

not convinced was a bad choice of words

i can't wait to see how they change the bike or how Rossi adapts to it (Rossi sliding a duc around Mugello YES PLEASE!!!)

maybe worried is more what i meant with him still recovering recovering from the op on his shoulder at the start of the season and a bike that needs to be man handled to get the most out of it.

cant wait for the testing to start though

re the new leathers They look good imo first time i seen them i thought Nastro Azzurro

Edit: Bike livery unveiled tomorrow isn't it?

frostie500

Grim. wrote: »

not convinced was a bad choice of words

i can't wait to see how they change the bike or how Rossi adapts to it (Rossi sliding a duc around Mugello YES PLEASE!!!)

maybe worried is more what i meant with him still recovering recovering from the op on his shoulder at the start of the season and a bike that needs to be man handled to get the most out of it.

cant wait for the testing to start though

I can understand that, the shoulder injury is still a massive concern to Vale and it will surely impact on the development of the new bike. I wouldn't be too worried about the nature of the Ducati bike though. Even though Stoner manhandled the bike in the last few seasons there have been other riders that have been fast on the Ducati-Capirossi, Bayliss and Hayden-this bike can be fast in hands other than Casey's, and next year it should be fast with Rossi riding it

Grim. wrote: »

re the new leathers They look good imo first time i seen them i thought Nastro Azzurro

Edit: Bike livery unveiled tomorrow isn't it?

Yeah the bike gets launched tomorrow morning, I think its at 11 Irish time

frostie500

Not sure about the livery, might need time to grow on me

amacachi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juFZh92MUOY

pdbhp

There's a lot of good valid points about the switch to Ducati in this thread but the bottom line is the fact that Rossi is by far the most motivated, eager to ride person in the paddock and only one thing is certain and that is Rossi will be battling for the championship whether it be against Stoner, Pedrosa or most likely Lorenzo

lolie

frostie500 wrote: »

Not sure about the livery, might need time to grow on me

i think it looks the biz, cant wait for season to start. just hope his injury doesnt hold him back. i cant understand why some formula 1 teams like merc or williams etc dont use more colour in their livery like the moto gp teams.

Grim.

pic of rossi on the bike looks alot better than the two by themselfs



have to say the thing that annoys me about the bike livery is the ducati logo on the fairing just dost look right where it is needs to be more centred or something

frostie500

Grim. wrote: »

pic of rossi on the bike looks alot better than the two by themselfs

have to say the thing that annoys me about the bike livery is the ducati logo on the fairing just dost look right where it is needs to be more centred or something

Yeah it looks a lot better combined...but Hayden's still looks better!

I havent heard anything technically about the bike yet, does anyone if they decided to go back to the screamer engine or are they going to continue with the big bang unit?

Grim.

pretty sure its the big bang, they brought a couple of engines to the Valencia test for Rossi but he didn't bother with the screamer, pretty sure Hayden said both have there strong points but he preferred the big bang

Preziosi interview up on Motogp.com

h3000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y54XB8tg4g

BoB_DoG

Its definitely the big bang engine although Prez said they might look at the screamer again in the future.

Bike and rider look better together but still pretty bad. Rossis leathers are the most garish,OTT things I've ever seen. Overall a poor paintjob.

As for Rossis decision to switch from Yam to Duc, it was his only option. Suzuki aren't competitive, he wasn't going to ride a satellite bike, Honda are out since they ditched him at the end of 03 and he couldn't stay and be Lorenzos No.2
The Rossi-Ducati connection has finally happened but its out of necessity more than anything else.

Seeing how sorted the Yamaha is compared to the other bikes, especially the Ducati (with its serious front end problems) why would he change? The reason is Lorenzo - Rossi told Yam at the start of the year "Its him or me". Rossi got injured, Lorenzo dominated so their choice was made a lot easier.

I'm fascinated to see how J.Burgess works with the bike. Will he be able to smoothen it out or will Rossi just have to adapt his style.

Looking forward to the Sepang test in 2 weeks..

hrcbob

Is it just me or does the whole setup look more orange than the usual "blood red"???
Also i doubt anyone can make a bike do the things valentino does with the same style and control. Add in the back up of his technical ability and closeness with engineers with the willingness in the ducati team to make "big changes" and he will end up with a tough package to beat..
Never rule out the old head!!!

Grim.

good to see him back on a bike today atleast