Topic: Marc, How does he do it?

[Steve_K]

I saw these pics on Superbikeplanet.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/archive/14archive/mm93nobin/index.htm

Great pics in a short time and what a rider!

Steve

[70CB750]

Oh, he rode GP Brno, Masaryk Circuit.

[bwaller]

He is fun to watch, and saving that crash is unbelievable. My first thought was of Sic though and sometimes it's best just to let them go.

[joesmotos]

I like the 2nd to the last pic where the front wheel is off the ground...gotta love that guy,he aint skeered.

[simon#42]

He is fun to watch, and saving that crash is unbelievable. My first thought was of Sic though and sometimes it's best just to let them go.

sic would have crashed though brent .

[bwaller]

You're right Simon. It would be awesome to see a video. Maybe his dirt tracking practise is paying off.

[simon#42]

its the instinctive things he does that is most impressive and that is what separates the good from the great . rossi was the best i have ever seen for instinctively getting out of trouble
but marc may just be better . others have it but not to this level . i have a friend who deals with F1 drivers , he recons you have to be racing competitively before your five years old
to be able to do it . it is to do with how your brain develops when you are young . any latter and it doesn't happen . as with anything else some are better than others .
this explains why me and you never made world champion brent !

[Retro Rocket]

Simon, Mick Doohan wasn't bad at getting out of trouble either.... I believe it has a lot to do with your problem solving and being able to act rationally and instinctively when the sh1t hits the fan, we are not all born with these traits...

[bwaller]

Instinct is the key word I agree. I also bow to your racing exploits Simon. I'm at Mosport this weekend, I'll try to avoid attempting Marc's move!

[HB-1fan]

Yes, he is amazing. I saw him crash last year at austin, tx. in practice. Trashed his shoulder pretty bad and then came back a couple of hours later and made his first Moto gp win look easy.

I was an instant Marc fan.

Mick and Marc are trully 2 of a kind!!!!!!!

HB

[bear]

Instinct is the key word I agree. I also bow to your racing exploits Simon. I'm at Mosport this weekend, I'll try to avoid attempting Marc's move!

Good luck Brent, hope all goes well for you and the young fella.
A bit disappointing that Brian couldn't make it.

Cheers,
Brian

[Steve_K]

I saw video of Colin Edwards lowsiding with both wheels of the track and saving it.  It was during practice and he waved at the crowd afterwards.

GP riders are different than me and most riders.  At that level,  you just don't see that skill everyday.  (Luck?)

Steve

[simon#42]

Simon, Mick Doohan wasn't bad at getting out of trouble either.... I believe it has a lot to do with your problem solving and being able to act rationally and instinctively when the sh1t hits the fan, we are not all born with these traits...

doohan was a very different type of rider mick , not what i would call a natural  . in his first gp season i have never seen anyone crash so hard so often as he did but bit by bit he got better and better until he was the best in the world .
it was this character that enabled him to come back from what was a career ending accident at assen . for me the fact that he had to work for it made him more special .

[Steve_K]

Mick Doohan was a rider and a racer that was on another level.  I think his race craft and riding skills made him the best rider of his time.  Rider and bike was the perfect combination at the time.
Whether he is is the best rider ever I don't know,  but for 5-6 years he was the best.

Steve

[simon#42]

Mick Doohan was a rider and a racer that was on another level.  I think his race craft and riding skills made him the best rider of his time.  Rider and bike was the perfect combination at the time.
Whether he is is the best rider ever I don't know,  but for 5-6 years he was the best.

Steve

yes i agree ,  unless we could get all the old champions [ at their peak ] and stick them all on identical bikes , on a new track and let them race we will never know .
if we could i would be first in line for a ticket  though !

[MRieck]

Mick Doohan was a rider and a racer that was on another level.  I think his race craft and riding skills made him the best rider of his time.  Rider and bike was the perfect combination at the time.
Whether he is is the best rider ever I don't know,  but for 5-6 years he was the best.

Steve

yes i agree ,  unless we could get all the old champions [ at their peak ] and stick them all on identical bikes , on a new track and let them race we will never know .
if we could i would be first in line for a ticket  though !

    I'm working on a time machine Simon.

[Steve_K]

Marc, Doohan, Schwantz, Rainey, Ago, Rossi, ect all had bikes made for them, tuned for their style.  I think if they all had Doohan's screamer, using his setup, Doohan would still beat them.  Same thing with Roberts Yamaha.  These bike are so personal. 
I think that its the rider that can adapt the best wins.
Steve

[simon#42]

thanks mike !

steve , when schwantz and rainey were at their peak the only engines they had was the so called  screamer   . the big bang engine came much latter .
honda stopped making bikes for specific riders after gardner developed one that no one else could ride . there have usually been at least 4 works hondas all of them the same at the beginning of each season.
the only thing different about doohan's was he would have no quick shifter . the screamer engine was available to all riders but not many liked it .

[bwaller]

It's an ageless discussion, fun at the bar I suppose!! There have been many greats and that's cool.

[Steve_K]

Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki made their bikes to suit the lead rider.  I recall that Honda would design a new chassis and Doohan would test and then use the last year chassis.

If we could gather all the great riders at their prime and put them on Stoners' championship Ducati, I think Stoner would win.  Look at all the world champion riders that tried and failed to ride that beast.

Stoner did say winning the championship on the Honda was easier.

Casey vs Marc what a show that would be.

Steve
 

[simon#42]

Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki made their bikes to suit the lead rider.  I recall that Honda would design a new chassis and Doohan would test and then use the last year chassis.


 

from my experience this is not true , as a matter of interest how did you get this information steve ?

[Steve_K]

Simon,

I may have read that in "Thunder from Down Under" (Mick Doohan).  I also read Cycle World, Motorcyclist and Roadracing World and it is likely that they may have been the source.  It makes sense to me that Doohan would get the chassis with screamer or big bang engine that he wanted.  His style seemed to be more dirttrack as opposed to  250s with the wheels in line. 
With Doohan being the lead rider, who would HRC want to make happy? 

If you have some suggestions on other sources on this I would be grateful.  I have been a fan since Roberts/Sheene were racing.  The history of GP racing is so interesting.
I am always interested in learning new things. 

Steve

[bwaller]

I certainly don't know the truth, but always heard Honda engineered the bike and the riders were to adapt. That's a very general statement I understand...

[simon#42]

the Japanese dont work in the same way as us westerners , at the end of the season the bikes went back to japan and unless you had it in your contract to keep the bike you never saw it again .
the thought of using last years frame when they had a new one would be ridiculous to them . when yamaha made a mess of there 92 frame rainey pleaded to get the old frame back but to no avail .
he was so desperate he borrowed a roc frame until yamaha made a new one [ well about a dozen actually ] .
all the development of the nsr was done by the test riders in japan and then tested again in europe by shinichi ito . ito became a full time gp rider in 93. after doohan had his accident ito did the bulk of the
testing  as mick [ who was not keen on it anyway ] spent most of the winters having work done on the leg .
have met shinichi many times over the years and he still works and tests for honda and even rode in a motogp at aragon a few years ago .
not sure if mick is coming to goodwood  next month , if he is i will ask if hrc wanted to make him happy .... i suspect i would  get a two word answer the second being 'off '

you are right , it would make sense but it wasn't the way it happened
 the source of this however is my notoriously bad memory !

[simon#42]

I certainly don't know the truth, but always heard Honda engineered the bike and the riders were to adapt. That's a very general statement I understand...

the quote was ' riders are like light bulbs , if one goes you screw another one in '

you are right brent , it was a case of here's the bike now go and ride it .