I have it on a very good source that the promoters are looking to have a MotoGP race at Laguna next year. Any thoughts? Art
I read that today too. I am actually a little surprised by the possibility. The article said that extensive changes would have to be made for safety in turn 2 and the bridge. I've always liked the World Superbikes there, hopefully they will continue to race at laguna but it looks doubtful in the future. If they do race MotoGP at Laguna it would be cool to see Ben Bostrom race as a wild card on an RCV. He's won seven WSBK races, three of them at Laguna. He cleaned up on Sunday winning both of his AMA races as well. While I would love to have another USGP I'm not Laguna would be the ideal place for the big four-strokes. Road America would really let them stretch their legs. It seems like Barber or Laguna would force them to ride around in second gear. For purely selfish reasons I was also hoping for Road America or Road Atlanta because California is way too far away to ride for me. It would never happen, but racing MotoGP on the Indy F1 course would be incredible. They would be hitting 210 before turn 1.
Steve, I agree that Laguna might be a bit confined for the MotoGP bikes. It would be sweet though. Barber might be a better choice or even Road America as you said. It all comes down to money though. Any track over here would have to spend money on safety issues.
At Barber the superbikes can only get up to 3rd gear. that would be no fun for a gp bike. i wish barber was bigger i only live a couple of hours away.
I'd go to Laguna in a heart beat if MotoGP was on the calendar. If I hadn't been so busy this year, I would have made it to the Rio GP as my buddy was there. Somehow I never got into superbikes, probably because I never learned any of the names. Saw a couple of bikes last week on trailers looking like they were heading up to the AMA event. Did anyone see the movie "FASTER"?
True, Barber doesn't have the straights for 200+ mph speeds. However, during this AMA Sportbike season, the first place rider at Barber had an average speed of 94.961 mph while the average speed for first place at Laguna Seca was only 64.317. I would rather have a MotoGP race at Laguna because I'm not too far away.
Actually, the track is 2.238 miles long and the lap times (superbike) are about 87 seconds at Laguna. That is about 92-93 mph avg speed, so Barber and Laguna are similar is average speeds. At either track, I'd just hate to see the MotoGP monsters idling around in third gear with a top speed of "only" 170 or so. Then again, on the tight track maybe one of the two-strokes would be competitive. Proton could roll out the three cylinder 500 one last time. To get off the subject slightly, does anyone remember in the mid-nineties when superbike lap times were nearly equal to the 500 two-strokes times? At some tracks (Donington, for example) a Ducati superbike actually held the all-time lap record for a while. Now that these MotoGP bikes are around with their incredible acceleration, I don't see their lap times in much danger. Pole time for MotoGP vs. WSBK seem to be about 2-3 seconds faster. What is suprising is that top superbikes are still faster han some of the MotoGP backmarkers at the same tracks, however.
Laguna would be pretty good for Moto GP, but I would also like to see it at a repaved Road America (it will never happen, but the idea of the run through the woods on a Moto GP bike would make my willy tingle). As for Faster it is a great movie, the funniest part is Valantino Rossi's comment in the first 2 minutes of the movie, "The first time you ride the 500 -faaaaack!"
Sounds interesting. There was rumors of MotoGP coming to the states so it's nice to here. Unfortunate it's on the other side of the country for me.
Actually, Steve, the average speeds that I posted are off the AMA's web page for the races that have taken place this season. They are correct, unless the AMA got the numbers wrong. Laguna probably has slower corner speeds that lower the total average speed. AMA didn't post any top speeds at any races so far this season, which would have been nice. You are correct on the length of Laguna Seca, however, the fastest lap time this year was by Ben Bostrom with a time of 1:25.961. That lap time is a bit faster than the fastest lap time at Barber at 1:26.126. Not sure why the averages of the two tracks are so different, unless Laguna's corner speeds are really slow. Oh, for comparison, World Superbike fastest lap this year at Laguna Seca was a 1:27.043
87 seconds/2.238 miles = 38.874 seconds/mile (3600 seconds/hour)*(1mile/38.874 seconds) = 92.61 miles/hour The AMA site is wrong. Don't be suprised, it happens all the time over there.
While your division is correct, it cannot be applied to "average" mph for a given race track. You calculate 92.61 mph, but this number doesn't take into account accelleration, braking, corner speed, and top speed. Is the AMA wrong? Possible, but doubtful. As stated before, the possible slower corner speeds through Laguna Seca might account for the lower average speed.
LOL I think you need to check the AMA site again, they seem to have corrected their mistake when I just went there. Average means average. It is merely the distance travelled divided by the time it took you to travel that distance. How fast you go at any time in the interval is not considered. Which car has the highest average speed? a) A car travels at 60 miles/hour for one hour b) A car travels 30mph for 30 minutes and 90 mph for 30 minutes. c) A car travels 150 mph for 10 minutes, 120 mph for 10 minutes, and 22.5 mph for 40 minutes? d) they are all the same Just busting your chops a little...
damn, where's that calculator LOL. No worries, Steve. What link did you go to to find average speeds? I'm still finding the ones that I posted. Oh well.
