A Prediction
Tony, Carol and I have a ton of interviews scheduled for this weekend at the Javits expo.
I was thinking though some possible interview questions for these motorcycle professionals (some of which are professional speed racers) and I think I came up with at least one good one. Here it is.
Which one is more dangerous…speed racing or street riding?
My guess is that most people will say that street riding is infinitely more dangerous then speed racing.
What do you think?
What other generic but good questions would be good for the show?
12 Comments
MotoGP rules limited 4 cylinder bikes to one liter (1000 cc) until the mid-2000's. (An allowance is made for a bit more displacement in 2 cylinder bikes) At that point, the rules were changed to lower the maximum displacement into the 800 cc range. At the same time, the electronics on the bikes were getting more and more sophisticated. The engines were getting so highly tuned that they would be almost impossible to control (even for the incredible talent at this highest level of racing) without very sophisticated electronics. However, running motors in this very highly tuned state wears them out quickly and all those electronics require massive investments. Satellite teams (i.e., not the "factory" teams from Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, and Ducati) were having a harder and harder time staying in the game. The fields have been shrinking as a result and the GP governing body is under pressure to change the rules so private teams can afford to keep racing. So, in 2012, they are going back to 1000 cc (or just under) BUT will be limited to six engines per season per rider. The idea, apparently, is that the larger motors will not need to be tuned to the limit and the limit on the number of engines will discourage too much tweaking.
I like the new rule. It has been reported that Rossi and Ben Spies (who is moving over to GP from Superbike) like it. I'd be curious to know whether anyone in the industry has a problem with it and, if they do, why?
We got some interviews from the Snell foundation and Arai helmets on head protection, GoGo Gear on runway quality motorcycle gear and a ton of others. We will get them posted soon. But it was a very good interview.
Oh....and stay tuned for more from Lee and Ken. We should be getting some interviews with them soon.
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