| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
While searching for info on the 2013 season schedule, I ran across this bulletin on the AMA's site: http://www.amaproracing.com/assets/AMAP-RR-2012-Co mp-Bulletin-2012-05-Revised.pdf It looks to me like this is intended to level the playing field on the electronics, something that has apparently been a significant disadvantage for EBR. The recent Roadracing World test of Danny's EBR 1190RS made the point that in order for the 1190RS to be consistently competitive, either EBR was going to have to add sophisticated traction control or the AMA was going to have to outlaw it altogether. Thoughts? | ||
| Pwnzor |
My personal opinion: Racing should be raw. Man, machine and skills only. Traction control is for commuters. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'd be OK with "stock" electronics. Meaning you can run a retuned version of the stock ECM (tuned for higher compression / better gas / race exhaust). None of this "special traction control programming for the particular tire / track / temperature / phase of the moon" stuff. And it has to be cheap enough that the same system is put on the production bike. | ||
| J2blue |
Looks like a simple and straight forward solution to the problem we saw over the past season. It is very clear and succinct in it's wording. I got it in less than 10 minutes. Of course there is no cap on lawyers who may try to find a loophole somewhere. But it looks very tight to me. | ||
| Deanh8 |
How does this work for people who have already invested more then 18k in development time? If a new guy gets electronics is he limited in what he can spend for development time? | ||
| Trojan |
I'd be OK with "stock" electronics. So what about those manufacturers who would offer sophisticated electronics on road bikes to begin with? Do they get a penalty or are they allowed to run all sorts of TC/anti wheelie etc to the detriment of everyone else? BSB now runs a spec ECU for everyone and it has really opened up the competiton to everyone (except Ducati) with winners from all the major teams this year. Of course everyone will moan about it for a while but it seems to work and keeps costs down too, especially for the smaller teams  | ||
| Reepicheep |
I'd say that if they can get stock electronics that are affordable for production bikes to work well enough to help win an AMA superbike race, then they should have an advantage. What I don't want is electronics that need $50k of developer time and that only work at one track with one tire under particular conditions. | ||
| Monkeyboy |
The hardware restrictions I understand but how about the extra staff needed to setup and maintain the electronics? It would seem to be as big a hurtle and cost as the hardware itself. | ||
| Trojan |
The hardware restrictions I understand but how about the extra staff needed to setup and maintain the electronics? In BSB Motec are contracted to supply and mantain the ECU and associated sensors etc. The ECU software cannot be changed other than adjust throttle control and to suit different bikes. So teams do not need to employ an army of electronics geeks in order to win races. This is a similar systme to that being proposed for MotoGP using Magnetti Marelli electronics, and as used in Moto3, so the systems are already out there and working. If the AMA wanted to adpot one of these it could do so with very little development or expense to either the teams, the ECU supplier or the AMA itself. BSB has the full range of Jap/European bikes taking part so software is already there for most 'Superbikes' except the EBR 1190, which is currently not eleigible for BSB. Alternatively they could contract someone such as Bazzazz to come up with a solution for the AMA. | ||
| Bads1 |
Matt currently Jordan Motor Sports is using Bazzazz. | ||
| Monkeyboy |
Thanks Trojan. | ||
| Trojan |
With Dorna taking over WSB and their stated intention of making the Superbike class closer to the current Superstock rules in 2014 (with very limited electronics) this would seem to be the ideal time for various domestic series to get back into line with WSB and have a set of rules that covers both international and domestic series surely? | ||
| Firstbuell |
hey Trojan, dream on....... | ||
| Trojan |
hey Trojan, dream on....... May be a pipe dream, but it would perfect commercial and sporting sense for both WSB adn domestic series organisers. It would make it so much easier for domestic teams to take part in selected WSB races and for WSb team to to run at selected domestic rounds, which would bring in more spectators. I think it is a complete no brainer....but then you have to factor in the various organisers and the slice of pie (and political influence) that they will want  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Matt- that logic would appear to fall in the arena of "needlessly simple".  | ||
| Trojan |
Lin Jarvis from Yamaha apparently suffers from the same incurably niaive logic as me He has written to Dorna asking them to try and get a set of Superbike rules that will be applied to ALL domestic championships, and be a lot closer to Superstock rules. His argument (in addition to the wild card rides etc) is that the factory can then produce 'affordable' Superbike race kits for the R1 that will fit pretty much all championships rather then the ridiculous situation now where they are all different. I can't see Aprilia or Ducati joining his crusade for Superstock style rules, but maybe Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and BMW will be happier |
