Edwards speaks ahead of Sepang

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Colin Edwards is busy preparing for the 2012 MotoGP™ season which will see him aboard the new NGM Mobile Forward Racing team CRT bike. The Texan spoke with motogp.com ahead of the first test of the season at Sepang (January 31 through February 2) regarding his new ride.

How is the shoulder recuperation going? 

"It’s good, it’s not 100 percent, but I woke up the other morning and my right shoulder hurt more than my left and that’s the one I didn’t have surgery on! Obviously I tweaked both of them, the right one needed surgery and the left one is a little bit loose, but it’s good, I am out riding here at Boot Camp and training and getting everything in order."

Based on feedback you gave your team at the first test in Jerez, what changes do you expect to see on the Suter-BMW bike at the Sepang test next week? 

"The main thing is the electronics. The bike has a lot of potential, but we are so held back right now we can only ride the bike at 65 percent because the electronics are not anything like what I am accustomed to and they aren’t consistent enough. With things like picking up the throttle smoothly and the traction control, it’s almost like having to reinvent the wheel. I’ve never worked with the Bosch system or Magneti Marelli before, but there were a couple of their guys at the test in Jerez taking notes, and from what I know they fulfilled all of my request as far as what we need at this next test."

Did you have any other requests for changes to the bike? 

"Anytime we made even a little change to the electronics, it made the bike better as an overall package, even though we never changed any geometry settings. Anytime you make the electronics better you make the bike better. I wasn’t even at a point where I could say, OK the chassis needs this, the swingarm needs that, because we couldn’t get there. Until you can ride the bike at 100 percent, you are going to go in circles if you start changing things. You first need to fix the electronics, that is the main thing."

Sepang is a long and demanding circuit. What would an acceptable gap between a previous good lap time of yours there and the best time on the Forward Racing bike at this test? 

"Well first, going back to Sepang is going to be emotional enough. I think it’s important to go there and get back on the track after what happened a few months ago. And I am looking forward to getting back on the track and getting rolling like we normally do. I’m not worried about what kind of gap there will be; I’m more worried about being able to ride the hell out of a motorcycle. If I’m held back by electronics or something, then that is where we need to work. I’m going out there and ride the bike as fast as I possibly can and see what happens. If I had to give a number, I’d be really happy with a time of 2’03 or 2’02. Can we do that? I’ll just have to wait and see."

You are the only rider aboard a Suter and the only rider with a BMW engine in the paddock, does that help or hinder you? 

"I don’t mind being the only rider, as long as the work gets done. I don’t think it’s difficult to develop a bike, you focus on what needs to be fixed and you fix it. The key thing is the turnaround time - can we fix it in two weeks or is it going to take three months to go through the pipeline to get something fixed? With BMW and Suter I’m anticipating our turnaround time is going to be a little quicker rather than having to go through the process a factory bike requires. I’m looking forward to being able to rapidly improve this bike."

You said at the announcement of your move to NGM mobile Forward Racing that you believe there will be tracks where the CRT is going to surprise some people. Do you still think that holds true? 

"In a perfect world, if I had a motorcycle with 250HP that did everything I wanted it to, yes, I believe CRT bikes would surprise people at some particular tracks. The only question now is: will this 250HP be deliverable? Until we get that sorted and can ride the bike to the limit, then we are going to struggle. When we get to that point, then yes, I do believe the CRT bikes will surprise some people at some of the tracks."

There has been talk that if the gap between the CRT and factory bikes is too large, that penalizations or at least further restrictions could be put to the factories. What do you think about that move if it were to happen? 

"This is a tricky situation. At nearly every country around the world you go to racetracks and you have Mazdas racing Ferraris. How does that happen? You restrict the faster guy or lighten up the slower guy. I believe Moto2 has opened a few eyes. You’ve got a group of guys at the front bumping bars and five guys who could win a race which makes it really exciting…as for MotoGP, do I think it’s unfair to restrict the factories? I don’t know the answer to that. We need better and closer racing in MotoGP. How to make that happen is the question."

source: MotoGP Official

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Petrucci, Ioda set for Aprilia CRT in MotoGP

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Ioda Racing appear to have dropped their plan, reported only yesterday by Corriere dello Sport, to run a CRT MotoGP bike using a Suter frame with a BMW engine, according to El Blog del Mundial de Motociclismo, which picked the news up from rider Danilo Petrucci's Twitter timeline. 

According to Petrucci, runner-up in the 2011 FIM Superstobk Cup, Ioda will develop their own chassis and match it with an Aprilia engine. “First we were to use Suter BMW [but] we chose a chassis made by us and Aprilia,” he wrote.

While confirmation from team boss Giampiero Sacchi is awaited, the move would be consistent with Ioda's bold approach, which led them to develop their own Moto3 engine under the EMIR joint venture with Robby Motor Technology.

NGM Forward Racing's Colin Edwards is the only confirmed rider to use the Suter-BMW CRT MotoGP package, while the Aspar (Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro), Speed Master (Anthony West) and PBM (James Ellison) teams look set to run an Aprilia package. Gresini will use a Honda-powered FTR for Michele Pirro.

A total of nine (unnamed) CRT entries have been officially accepted by the Grand Prix Commission for the 2012 MotoGP season. These entries add to the twelve factory-built bikes, meaning MotoGP looks set for a grid of 21 riders this season.

Ioda Racing ran Simone Corsi and Mattia Pasini on FTRs in Moto2 last year. Corsi finished sixth in the standings with two podiums, while former 250cc star Pasini was 24th.

source: crash.net by Barry Russel

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CRT: Aprilia vs BMW

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Less than three weeks at Christmas, but still was not published an official list of starters at the 2012 world championship . You perfectly know the names of the 6 6 riders who will compete with the MotoGP "factory" of Honda, Yamaha and Ducati, and the remaining six versions that take on a "Satellite", but much remains to be clarified with regard to team CRT.

In recent weeks, in fact, were made ​​official the names of Randy De Puniet and Alex Espargarò regarding the Aspar team. The team chose Speedmaster Anthony West , the team at Misano Forward already has signed with Colin Edwards, who acted as a bridgehead, but the other teams that should compete among the "Claiming Rule Team" have not yet been officially exposed. And with the publicity of the time registered in the last test will be difficult to sell the participation of the sponsors that will consider the CRT little more than a filler on the grid.

here are some 17 riders for the championship 2012, so the pioneers of the new era are De Puniet and West Espargarò with Aprilia, Edwards the Suter-BMW and Honda CBR Pyrrhus with the Gresini team.

Surely more will be added, but that means two things: that you are struggling to find money ... and that the seat may be for sale. That is, the driver will be called upon to contribute to the cause. Besides, this is what is apparent from ' self-published their own set up by West.

For this we did a little 'smile the news that the Tech 3 rider Hervé Poncharal would be to build its own chassis to compete in the future in their own CRT. The French team, in fact, is currently under contract with Yamaha, but the obstacle is this: in fact, a frame is built around an engine, and before you decide this, then that one. Stating that in the middle of next season, the Tech 3 will be on the track means that you have already chosen the engine ...

For the record, it seems that Yamaha has proposed the engine of his R1 Superbike at a price you think impossible ... why?

source: GP One

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Edwards samples Forward Suter-BMW

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Colin Edwards has made his long-awaited test debut aboard the NGM Forward Suter-BMW machine he will ride in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship as he completed 39 laps at Jerez.

The American made a belated first appearance on the CRT bike around the Spanish circuit having skipped track action since injuring his shoulder in the accident that claimed the life of Marco Simoncelli at Sepang last month.

Sharing the track with Ivan Silva on the Inmotec and Yonny Hernandez on the BQR Kawasaki, Edwards was comfortably fastest of the MotoGP bikes with an unofficial best effort of 1min 43.9secs. 

However, the American remained one second slower than the fastest Moto2 rider of the day, Scott Redding, and was just over four seconds off his own qualifying time at Jerez riding the 800cc Tech 3 Yamaha earlier this year.

Silva, recently crowned CEV Stock Extreme Champion, posted a lap of 1min 45.5, while Hernandez's best was 1min 45.7secs.

Also on track was Ducati, with Franco Battiani and Carlos Checa assuming rider duties in the absence of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. 

No lap times were disclosed, with Checa taking to Twitter to merely state 'nice experience, different feelings in sunny Jerez', though GPOne.com suggests the Spaniard lapped at 1min 41.0secs.

source: crash

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Edwards to make Suter-BMW debut

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Some people have been saying that we really can't judge the CRT's until a top rider finally gets the chance to use one: well that time has come, and that rider is Colin Edwards. The American will ride the Team Forward Suter-BMW during the upcoming Jerez test session, scheduled for this Wednesday through Friday.

Despite some inconsistent race performances, Colin is still extremely fast, and well known for his testing ability.  The only lingering question is his fitness, after he was injured in the tragic Sepang crash which took Marco Simoncelli's life.

In any case, it should certainly be interesting to see what the Texan thinks of the production based machine, and how it compares to his old Yamaha M1.

source: GP One

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CRT's at Valencia: what's the story?

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After all of the hype and curiosity about the new Ducati chassis, actually built by FTR, had receded, the biggest story during the two day Valencia test became the CRT's.

One of them, the Inmotec, can't be considered a CRT, since it's actually a prototype.  Its four-cylinder engine is currently 800cc in displacement, and is expected to increase to 900cc.

So the other three bikes in action were the Suter-BMW of Team Laglisse, ridden by Carmelo Morales; the BRQ-Kawasaki, ridden by Hernandez and Robertino Pietri; and the Grillini-Gapam, powered by BMW and ridden by Nannelli and Federico Sandi.

The fastest among them, as expected, was the Suter-BMW, which averaged a gap of around 4 seconds to the leaders, after a year of testing and development work.  The BMW engine, right at the 81 mm bore limit, appears strong, but we need to wait for the faster tracks before we really have an idea.  Someplace like Phillip Island or Mugello, as apposed to the twisty Valencia layout.

The Inmotec was around 5 seconds off the pace, but the bike looks well made and finished, as does the BQR-Kawasaki and its FTR built chassis, although the latter does appear rather tall.  In compensation the Kawasaki engine has a removable gearbox, which helps on a racing machine.

Rough Around the Edges - The Grillini, on the other hand, is clearly derived from a Moto2, and it shows.  Nannelli reported that the bike has a rather short wheelbase, and that only further supports the notion that it was designed for a 600.

With Sandi at the controls - who suffered small crash this morning - the bike was close to seven seconds off the pace, but even at first glimpse you can notice that it looks rather homemade.  A bike built with passion and care, but definitely in need of some refinement work.

So far there has been no sign of the highly anticipated Aprilia powered bikes, but they should be coming soon. Two are expected to go to Team Aspar, and one each to Andrea Iannone and Giampiero Sacchi, the latter using rider Petrucci.  The chassis will be be built by FTR, and should be almost identical in spec to the Superbike.

Of course this now begs the question: why not just run with a slightly "prototyped" Superbike, which would probably be even better.

Superlicense  - On the topic of rider qualifications, Honda man Livio Suppo was clear: "The riders should be required to have a Superlicense.  Slower bikes with inexperienced riders on them could be dangerous."

The Italian manager does have a point, but who should be in charge of verifying rider ability?  It could have been an ideal job for Loris Capirossi, but nobody requested him to do so.  As usual the organization work from Dorna leaves something to be desired, while the FIM continues to be invisible.

source: GP One

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Kallio impressed by progress of Suter MotoGP prototype

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Mika Kallio’s duties as Test rider for the developing Suter MotoGP machine continued on Monday at Brno, where the Finnish rider put in a solid 81 laps as the Swiss manufacturer and its collaborators in the project – the Marc VDS Racing Team – made further progress on the 2012 bike.

Six weeks on from the previous Test at Mugello the Suter and Marc VDS engineers had made noticeable progress, and by the close of the day Kallio had posted a best lap of 2’00.144 on the BMW engine powered machine – 3.976s off Casey Stoner’s top time on the Honda 1000cc machine.

Reviewing the progress made, Kallio told motogp.com: “Here, things went much better than before. We tested three times in Mugello and we had a few problems there – the lap time was not at the level we wanted it to be, and we were too slow. However, when we arrived here everything was immediately better, it looks like the bike fits this track better, and lap-by-lap I’m getting used to this level of power again and the lap time has been improving. Step by step we have made quite a lot of changes for the electronics and the clutch system, and for the engine braking too, and it looks like we made quite a big step today. I think the team and I can be happy, our level is quite good at the moment.”

Kallio is confident the encouraging advances in the machine can continue, and he added: “I think we still need to improve on the same areas that we improved here. The biggest problem in this Test was that when I entered the corners I didn’t have such a good feeling in the rear, there is a little bit too much sliding, and it’s difficult to turn in because I miss the feeling in the rear a little bit. It looks like that’s where we’re losing the time. Of course we need to work a lot with the electronics and many other small things, but I think if we can improve the rear in entry, then it should be better.”

source: MotoGP Official Website

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