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As most of us know the MXGP of Indonesia was a mudder today. As I was watching the races, it got me thinking, what do the teams do to the bikes in between motos? I should imagine chain, sprockets & brake pads get thrown. What about discs? Clutch? Do they swap out the forks & shock incase grit has got under the seals?
Then what about after the meeting? Does the bike get complety stripped down to the frame, do they changed every single bearing on the bike? Plastics replaced?
Then what about after the meeting? Does the bike get complety stripped down to the frame, do they changed every single bearing on the bike? Plastics replaced?
At that level you'd replace everthing you had time for after washing, what,about an hour hour and a half.
Figure 30 minutes to clean then worry like hell about electronic shit. They surely have a pre plan for just that situation.
Suspension they could probably do without service, it is not that hard on parts with mudd. You push down the dust wipers and clean them out with high pressure washer, then put them back.
At a European national (even in factory teams), nothing would be replaced more than tires, clutch (depending on bike model) and brake pads. Maybe chain. If they have the ultra performance package (last 3-4hp on a 250), then maybe, maybe they would tear down the engine already after this race. It is heavy on the bikes, but a deep sand track will put a lot of constraints on bikes to.
Clutches on KTM and Husky can run 100h on a national pro level, so they swap the engine/bike before even need to service it.
I had a mud prep like no other, I slobbered wildly if it rained.
The Shop
I didn't go back to the pits ( in the adjacent Basketball stadium) between the 250 Moto's, but I'd not be surprised if teams that had a spare bike, went to the number 2 bike with settings riders / teams felt were appropriate. And teams without a fully built #2 bike, may well have replaced an engine. There were a Lot of Stanley Steamers out there in the first Moto.
All in all, it was a brilliant event to attend - the track was only about 2ks away from the airport as the crow flies, with an easy loop by road to it, and numerous hotels / beach resorts / beach house rentals within a few Ks.
Despite the weather, the place was Packed to the rafters, with a few extra thousand spectators behind the outer fence line. I predict that the fence line, will be pushed way back for next year.
The spectators were the nicest (massive) group of people you could ever meet - No drunken, obnoxious Red Necks, and all, incredibly enthusiastic. They turned up in numbers that were stunning.
They just need to sort out the drainage for next year. Big pits for catching water, and pumps to direct water to channels to existing drainage channels. It rains so much there, through much of the year, that the water table Is very high - you put mega HP, ultra fast GP Bikes and Riders on it,and they cut down into the water table very quickly. They'll learn from this, I hope.
It's a Huge market, selling 6 / 7 million Bikes a year, and yes, MX racing sells scooters, as branding is Big there. And I mean Big!
I and my usually Dirt / mud averse GF, had a Wonderful time. We Will be back next year. Very affordable - according to the GF, as she footed the entire bill. And she'll be paying for Argentina, too. That, is going to cost her a small fortune, I think.....
And, as I said in another post - plenty of people near deify the 91 Hangtown National where Dowd and Henry won the One (respectively) Moto run, for both the second Moto's to be cancelled. But no, Yanks would never cancel a Moto, would they? Vitardism, running rampant......
At the last Lierop race , a couple of years ago, it rained really really bad for 2 days up to the event, I was there helping a mate out , with 2 riders, in in EMX , one in MX2, and all I did for 2 days was clean bikes in the wash bays.. the sand comes off easier than mud , but it was everywhere. Basically after each race dry it all off, clean air filter , fresh clutch pack, pull plug cap and clean, swap wheels out , its all you had time to do . Overnight was strip to frame, motor/rads and just get them properly clean . It was so bad they didn't do morning warm up , saved a bunch of work.
So, at what point do they nominate a bike to be 'The' race bike, as with what you've said, I assume they have to do?
Not arguing, just asking for info. I've thought that if they had 2 bikes passed / scrutineered, they could use both. But, of course, not as a bike change in a Moto.
At the least, I'd have been changing an engine / fuel system / electrics as a precautionary measure between the Motos, along with normal wear items. Especially if a bike had become a 'Kettle', and / or spent any length of time sitting in one of those absolutely bottomless ruts, with mud / water just slurping through the filters.....
They all have 2 bikes, but they rotate them, so maybe race bike one week is not for the next etc, or they try parts on the spare. Its been like this for ever, pretty much.
With the qualifying races on Saturday now , I don't know if they have to nominate earlier, but you cant just roll out a second bike .
Its supposed to be a cost saving ( or limiting ) exercise so teams cant rock up with a fresh bike for each session.
I know that when Dixon (the team Osborne rode for in GP's ) were running Yamaha's , they revved them them that hard that they couldn't get a cam chain to do 2 races and were changing them between Moto's
Didn't they 'massage' rules a bit after, I think, Lovely Livia Lancelot's bike carked it on a warm up lap a year or two ago, stopping her from starting a race, thus losing the WMX title? That 'they' could get a second bike to start with. Though , I think I'm probably imagining it, or remembering what may have been 'pushed' for as a rule change.
Oh come one, why would they need to change a cam chain on a bike with 3 gears, and doing 'something ' like 16,500 rpm ( and rumoured to be more, at times) for what the Dirt Bike Rider test hinted as being a mid / high 50s HP , Carb'd 250F? Aye Carumbah!..........................
Hell Revs, More Revs and Effing Even MORE Revs is why I think they should have equivalency in MX - who would not want to hear / see a Works Honda 125 4t ('cause 4ts are just the bestest according to Soichiro's Boys) pulling 20 /25K revs out on the track in EMX125s - well, better, a 125 World Championships for that matter. I'm joking - but no, I'm bloody serious.............
Riders can use 2 motorcycles during the weekend which have been controlled at technical verification. The final choice of the motorcycle to be used in a race must be made 10 minutes before the start. Riders cannot change motorcycles
during a Race.
I need to sit down and re-read them, to sort out what's real and what's imagined in my Bear Brain.
I'm hoping that common sense will grow from the EMX250 rule of equivalency, into equivalency in all classes. And the reinstatement of a 125 World Championship.
One can but dream.
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