Seeing bike traction control live for the first time, I must say it doesn't look as sophisticated as I thought it would be. I'm not saying it's not, but Kiyonari almost highsided himself in front of us, Xaus seemed to be having great fun destroying tyres and the Ducati really looks... not that good (I'm one hell of a non-expert so yeah... Biaggi hardly ever seemed to activate it, and Corser (quicker than Xaus) was pretty smooth (as usual).
The BMW didn't seem much different to the Suzuki to be honest, but at least is a tiiiiiny bit deeper-sounding than the horrible screaming gixxer.
The Aprilia sounds fantastic, being a v-four, but incredibly the Yamaha sounds almost identical, just a little less melodic. That strange-firing il-4 makes a massive difference to the sound.
The Ducati revs a HELL of a lot lower than the 4's. I knew this to be the case, but hearing it, seemed much MUCH lower. Sounds the best imo, but that Aprilia... yummmmm....
I don't know their numbers or helmet colours, but Spies and Sykes looked pretty good on the yammies, especially who I think was Spies, who was in the top 5 times.
When we left yesterday, Fabrizio had been quickest with a 1m40.7, which is 3 seconds quicker than our superbikes. Sofuoglu was .2 seconds quicker than our national bike lap record too, on a bloody 600 with road-legal tyres !
Oh, those 600s are easily visibly quicker through the corners than the 1000s - Amazing, since those tyres are supposed to be lower spec. Can't wait for the races, I WILL be there!!!
Pics:
Biaggi
Nakano
Checa
Xaus (I think)
Corser
Fabrizio
Haga
Kagayama
Kiyonari
Spies (I think)
Sofuoglu
Pitt
My Dad and one friend got pit passes, still waiting for those photos...
