Sheesh
Prayers up for Jack Miller
That was a nasty crash, his head got caught between Fabios back tyre and the frame.
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Very awful and very worrying.
Thoughts with Jack and his family.
Miller confirmed to be okay.
Great news.
OMG! Its elbows out and full on racing.
This is amazing
A race that had everything- highs, lows, highs, determination, talent, skill and bravery ….
And so the show rolls on.
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There’s every chance that Pecco could win 11 GP’s in one season and not win the championship !!! Extraordinary.
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It’s a great looking bike - have eyed one off when getting the V2 serviced in Brisbane.
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I’m talking to a few mobs in Europe about EFI maps. The only real issue I have is that to get an air cooled , push-rod motor past the Euro 5 emission tests they’ve got the O2 sensors running the bike excessively lean at low , constant throttle settings. This makes it quite awkward to ride smoothly in traffic etc. ironically, it cleans up much better if you “ride it like you stole it” because the mapping changes from closed loop to open loop and ignores the O2 ratios 
. Several tuning houses in Europe are claiming to have improved the bottom end via new maps. Won’t be cheap though. But probably worth it , because the bike is a hoot to ride in the midrange. It’s not overly powerful so you can ride it “fast” without it being "give us your license , do not pass go, go directly to jail " odometer fast. And between 3500 and 6500 it gets a glorious snarl to the exhaust note and induction roar. Even with the stock muffler. And typical Guzzi, they somehow get geometry that should be one thing to handle like something else altogether. This thing is stable mid corner but still turns in lightly. Not that it’s free of Guzzi foibles, of course.
The latest 2024 models have added variable valve timing, which probably solves the fueling issues of mine, so if you like them then that might be the way to go.
I bought mine as a demo and the luggage rack had been damaged by some fool journalist , so I set about experimenting , sanding , and resprayed it. Came up reasonably well, eventually.
I began by sanding back the damaged metal and paint layers, then gradually built it up with metal primer and rust killer, alternating light sanding , then another coat of primer. Ultimately, I got it to a fairly acceptable level and turned my attention to the top coats.
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I wasted an inordinate amount of time trying match the paint finish. I bought some enamels from a model aeroplane shop , " Italian red, flame red etc" .None quite matched. A metallic red from Bunnings showed promise, but dried as the wrong hue. I then bought some tint and made a few mixtures up, one I thought was about right but when I loaded it into the spray gun and sprayed it up, it was noticeably wrong.
In the end, sick of chasing my tail, I had the colour computer scanned and a paint shop made me a mix in an aerosol pack. On the first attempt , the temperature dropped and the gloss dried with a cloudy , matt lustre. I sanded that back, waited for a slightly warmer day and ran an oil heater in the garage overnight to give it time to dry. Ha! Not bad! It needs another coat, and I can feel a tiny ripple in one spot on the frame. But I’ll wait until summer when we get some mid 20’s days and I dont need to control the temps as much. In the meantime, mounted on the bike, it looks fine. There’s a few other spots to fix as well, now that I know how.
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Season finalë will be held at Catalunya after Valencia was ruled out due to the flood tragedy. The Spanish boys will all be rapid at Barcelona.
Jorgê should become champion from here as long as he doesn’t make a mistake. Been a brilliant contest.
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Pecco has had a great weekend so far, but ultimately it comes down to whether Martin finishes the race or not. If he’s top-9 , he’s champion. And I can’t see him not finishing top 9 …as long as he finishes.
But for the Championship to come down to the last of 40 races is bloody brilliant.
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Congrats to Martin, deserved to take the #1. Bad luck Pecco, so close.
Whose idea was the thing with Martin coming out of the smoking box and shooting the trophy/helmet thing? Is that a new thing, cos it was pretty lame?
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Doesn’t seem right that Martin now moving to Aprilla, really hope that the other manufacturers can bridge the gap to Ducati next year but I can’t see it unfortunately.
GP peaked in 2020 imo.
Yamaha’s upcoming V4 is probably the best chance of anyone closing the gap on Ducati until the new rules in 2027. They’ve got to find a way because Fab is as talented as anyone if they can give him a competitive bike.
Mind you, Acosta might be brilliant enough with a years experience to put the KTM in contention at many tracks.