|
|
2006-08-21 Brno test: Hayden fastest Honda on day 1
 Be first to comment this story
 Repsol Honda factory team rider Nicky Hayden set the second fastest
time at the today’s post Czech Republic GP MotoGP test held at the
5.403 Brno circuit. American Hayden, who heads the world championship
points standing after 12 of 17 rounds, worked hard developing the
evolution chassis of his RC211V Honda, first tested at the British GP
earlier this season.
With so many races in such a short period of time Hayden has been
unable to try the new plot since the British event but today he lapped
consistently in the 1m 58s bracket and ended the session encouraged by
the progress the team have made to the overall performance of the new
RC211V since he first tried the chassis. The championship leader will
continue testing the new chassis tomorrow.
Hayden’s team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa spent his day trying to
improve his race set up yesterday and also tested a range of Michelin
front tyres on his RCV. Pedrosa, who holds second place in the
championship, 25 points down on Hayden, improved his feeling with the
bike and ended his one-day test in a positive mood.
The Fortuna Honda team worked on a variety of developments for their
RC211V machines. Marco Melandri was looking to improve both
acceleration and top end of his machine while Toni Elias was chasing
better overall machine balance in a bid to eradicate the ‘Pitching’ he
experienced early in the race on Sunday.
Melandri’s crew made adjustments to the electronic mapping and tried
some different engine settings. Elias was not looking for fast lap
times preferring to concentrate on improving stability while under
braking while riding with a full fuel load and has been partially
successful. He will continue in the same direction tomorrow.
Konica Minolta Honda RC211V rider Makoto Tamada was half a second
faster today than his best lap time in yesterdays race but the Japanese
star was not completely convinced the new Michelin tyres and suspension
settings he tested delivered optimum performance. Tamada put in just 44
laps during the test and hopes the data gathered will help carry him to
a better performance at the Malaysia than at recent races.
Team Roberts continue to improve the chassis performance of the Honda
powered KR211V. The chassis is close to the original design but with
modifications based on data gathered from the three different chassis
configurations raced this season. Team engineers prepared the machine
with a revised seating position and repositioned fuel tank and team
rider Kenny Roberts Junior put in consistently fast lap times ending
the test pleased with his days work as the team ‘Test rider.’
Honda rider lap times and quotes.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 57.653s – 79 laps.
Overall I’m
definitely encouraged by today. I got in a lot of quality laps and the
guys in my team worked hard. We were working with the chassis, trying
some of the parts we used at Donington earlier in the season, and we
definitely found some improvements. I was able to run a lot more
consistently in the 1m 58s today compared to the weekend so I’m quite
happy about how it went. We’ll come back tomorrow and try and get
another full day’s work in and look for any edge we can find.
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 58.782s – 74 laps.
Today was a good
test. We tried to find some improvement from yesterday’s race set-up
and improve on some weak points we had over the weekend. I think we
found some improvements in the feeling from the bike but of course we
will only really know for sure when we come to another race. We were
also doing some front tyre testing for Michelin which went well.
Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 1m 57.960s - 85 laps.
We tried various
set up solutions to improve acceleration and a little top speed – but
without great results. We did not have new parts from HRC but they have
been working with us today with what we have available. We also worked
to improve our performance on qualifying tyres because we have suffered
in qualifying at recent races. We did make an improvement but not by
much. At the end of the day we tested the same types of tyres we ran in
qualifying and the race so I can say today was positive in some ways. I
am quite satisfied.
Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 1m 59.435s - 62 laps.
We worked a lot on
the weight distribution of the bike, I raced with too much weight on
the front end yesterday. We tried many things on the set up and it has
been a process of elimination and I am quite satisfied with our work
today. If we carry on working in this direction tomorrow I am confident
we will can begin with a reasonable set up condition at the next few
races.
Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 1m 58.172s – 54 laps.
We have a new rear
shock system and it worked well with the font forks. We tried a series
of tyres for Michelin with the new suspension, two of them were not
better than our race tyres of yesterday but the other were very good.
In the race I ran out of grip at half race distance, after about
11-laps. With the good set today I set my fastest lap with a rear that
had run 14 lap and a front that had 18 laps on it. So we made a big
step forward on the suspension and I’m pleased with that. Now I’m ready
for Sepang and I’m off home to Australia to get ready for Malaysia.
Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 58.758s – 55 laps.
Today we
have been working on new race tyres from Michelin and some suspension
settings but without getting too much better. We tried two different
tyres the first tyre was no better than what we have had before. The
second tyre was close to the tyre we ran in the race and we were half a
second faster than in the race yesterday. But track conditions were
better this morning than yesterday.
Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 1m 58.567s – 70 laps.
We are just the
test team today. We have been working with the new(er) chassis, which
has a different riding position. The tank is also shorter but sits
higher up. We have also been working on different positions with the
rear shock and some tyres from Michelin. Basically the chassis we have
is the original with much of the stuff we have learned along the way
this season. You could say we are working towards next season in some
respects. My feeling with the bike as it is today is much better than
in the GP, its more comfortable to ride and the lap times are better,
so its been a positive day for us. We will keep going in the same
direction on chassis and suspension and see how far we can go.
|
Back to MotoGP news home
|
|
|
