bigoltool
Registered
The MotoGP Season ended in November and that leaves a pretty big gap in my MotoGP Geekism until the first tests later this month and the first race in March. So Ducati beat everyone to the punch and launched the GP18 Desmosedicci MotoGP bike today (last night) and now that photos are out I started looking at the changes they have made for the new bike. Now they were already HEAVILY into the aero development on the GP16 and GP17 perhaps moreso than any of the others in MotoGP. Having access to the VW Groups engineering might likely helps a lot!
A few observations to start. The first thing that jumped out at me was the amount of daylight around the front wheel area on the new bike. The side shot shows how minimalist the new design is in comparison to even the last iteration of the GP17 raced at Valencia in the finale. It still has the huge gills (winglets) favored by Lorenzo for much of last year, though I suspect they have been revised subtly since November. Exhaust system looks to be subtly revised though that may be mostly cosmetic. It is still rocking that huge, mysterious “Salad box” (not my term I swear!) under the rear seat that first appeared early last Spring. Also still using the unobtanium Carbon Fiber Ohlins Forks I would love to have for no other reason than to hang them on my wall and drool. But I think the biggest thing I notice is that the thing seems to be just bristling with vents and fasteners and winglets. Far from the smooth flowing bodywork of old.
All I got for now. Feel Free to discuss.
2018 gallery
2017 gallery
A few observations to start. The first thing that jumped out at me was the amount of daylight around the front wheel area on the new bike. The side shot shows how minimalist the new design is in comparison to even the last iteration of the GP17 raced at Valencia in the finale. It still has the huge gills (winglets) favored by Lorenzo for much of last year, though I suspect they have been revised subtly since November. Exhaust system looks to be subtly revised though that may be mostly cosmetic. It is still rocking that huge, mysterious “Salad box” (not my term I swear!) under the rear seat that first appeared early last Spring. Also still using the unobtanium Carbon Fiber Ohlins Forks I would love to have for no other reason than to hang them on my wall and drool. But I think the biggest thing I notice is that the thing seems to be just bristling with vents and fasteners and winglets. Far from the smooth flowing bodywork of old.
All I got for now. Feel Free to discuss.
2018 gallery
2017 gallery