MotoGP Downgrading?

I realized something today when I was watching Speed's coverage of the 250cc GP today at the Autodromo at Brno in Czech Republic. As many know, the MotoGP class is being downgraded from 1000cc engines to 800cc engines due to safety and other reasons after the 2006 season. I was comparing some of the lap times of the top 125cc/250cc/MotoGP riders at Brno after the races today, and I realized that even the 125cc guys are hitting 150KM P/Hr., relatively close to the 160+KM p/hr that the MotoGP riders are reaching. Is a 200cc downgrade in engines REALLY going to improve safety? And another thing, because of the fact that most of the tracks raced in MotoGP usually will be on next season's schedule (except Suzuka, for the late Daijiro Kato accident and safety concerns), doesn't this mean that most of the record laps and fastest laps at these tracks will become irrelevant, because the bikes will be downgraded? Anyone else wanna shed some light on this subject?  
www.MinimotoGP.tk

It probably won't do much as far as safety concerns go.  At least not in the long run.  Within five years those 800's will be making the same horsepower as the 1000's of today.  They will be much more peaky than today's 1000's, kind of a step back towards the power delivery of the two strokes.  Certainly not to the light switch-esque delivery of the smokers but not as smooth as what we are seeing now.    

i wouldnt say that the records would be irrelevent.  its just like the 500 records...
good race though  

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I was comparing some of the lap times of the top 125cc/250cc/MotoGP riders at Brno after the races today, and I realized that even the 125cc guys are hitting 150KM P/Hr., relatively close to the 160+KM p/hr that the MotoGP riders are reaching.

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Is a 200cc downgrade in engines REALLY going to improve safety?

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And another thing, because of the fact that most of the tracks raced in MotoGP usually will be on next season's schedule (except Suzuka, for the late Daijiro Kato accident and safety concerns), doesn't this mean that most of the record laps and fastest laps at these tracks will become irrelevant, because the bikes will be downgraded?

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Those speeds are the average speed for the race, so their time is computed against the race distance to come up with that figure; the 125 race was only 19 laps of the 3.35-mile circuit, while the MotoGP race was 23 laps. A much bigger difference in average speeds than it appears.

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Average speed=distance/time

The MotoGP bikes had to travel a longer distance (22-lap race) than either the 250s (20 laps) or the 125s (18 laps), thus the real average speeds are much farther apart than they appear at first glance. Contrary to what a lot of people might be thinking, they are NOT trap speeds on a straight.  

Yeah....so that means that both the 125cc bikes and the MotoGP bikes are traveling at a relatively close average rate of speed then. I don't think a couple of extra laps really makes a difference, considering the fact that the lap times of the best riders usually stay within a few seconds from their previous lap times....  
www.MinimotoGP.tk

I realize they aren't trap speeds.

Average speed is average speed, whether it's over 1, 5, 20, or 100 laps. If you calculate the average speeds for one lap using the qualifying or warm-up results, you'll see they are within a couple of kph of the race average speed.

If anything, the real average speeds are closer than the numbers given for race distance would suggest, because the smaller bikes have fewer laps to offset the slower first lap.

AT  

Ya, what he said(geek). So spin that!  

Uh, yeah, don't worry, I'm spinning...

Now that I look at it, you're right. I figured that the MotoGP bikes would finish their 22 laps in a shorter time than the 125s did their 18, but that's not the case. The average speeds are closer than I thought. However, something to think about: it took the MotoGP bikes less than 2 minutes to do three more laps than the 125s.  

i just dont see how downgrading the engine size is gonna help with safety. 180 mph is 180 mph. it doesnt matter if your on a 250cc bike a 1000cc bike or a damn big wheeler. if they worried about safety they need to start racing cages. like rossi lol. i liked seeing him spinning off track in the f1 car. but like i was saying 200 ccs less isnt gonna help safety. its just gonna take them a few secconds longer to get up to speed. if there worried about safety. run offs and other course safety features need to be evaluated and redesigned maybe. but motogp confuses me to begin with which is why i stick to ama.  

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... but motogp confuses me to begin with which is why i stick to ama.

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than i must be reversely retarded if i can understand the more confusing one but not the less confusing one  

you get what im sayin about lowering the displacement though right? i mean 200ccs isnt that big of a difference. and sure as hell aint gonna make the bikes/tracks safer  

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you get what im sayin about lowering the displacement though right? i mean 200ccs isnt that big of a difference. and sure as hell aint gonna make the bikes/tracks safer

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