Suzuki, Kawasaki and the others in MGP

 The way things are ATM Suzuki, Kawasaki and Blata particularly are
always going to be the "also rans", I wonder why they continue to spend
millions every year knowing this. Surely they are better off spending
even more millions and getting competitive rather than dithering about
as they are now. Blata probably doesn't have the funds to spend more in
which case I ask why even bother? I mean why spend a huge sum of money
to cruise around at the back of the pack with no chance of ever doing
better?

As for Suzuki and Kwaka if they aren't really serious about investing
enough to win then whats the point?  Do they think just turning up and
people seeing the brand is enough to excite people into buying?  Surely
at this level of racing (factory teams) the idea is to be really
competitive and show the companies ability to be at the head of the
field. I'm not complaining, I enjoy seeing all the different
manufacturers compete but sometimes I just have to ask why they even
bother because they aren't competitive and will not be without serious
investment and development.

Paul

 

I think you are very wrong.  Suzuki and Kawasaki do get marketing
benefit from being out there.  I doubt many motorcycle purchasers only
consider buying a Honda, Yamaha or Ducati because those are the only
marques winning GPs right now.  On top of that, they get engineering
spin offs, and the opportunity for staff to work in the hothouse
environment of a race engineering team, which can be good for their
careers, and theefore the overall company culture.

Also, you seem to under-estimate quite how competitive MGP is right
now.  Kawasaki and Suzuki may be off the pace, but it's only by tenths
in practise, and a few tens of seconds over race distance.  And,
*someone* has to come last - how do you think it would be if all the
teams who weren't winning just quit?

 Champ wrote:

You are right just being there is important and has spin off's, but lets
face it everyone likes a winner and Suzuki and Kawasaki haven't won in
MotoGP and they aren't going to without more money invested to really
get the bikes into the forefront of racing technology, if they are
already spending dog knows how many mil a year to be also rans then why
not invest more and become winners of at least a few races, the spin
offs of those few wins would surely repay the divident invested in
acheiving that result.

Once again you are right the lap times of the leading bikes and the
others are often very small, but Suz and Kawa are always just that bit
off the pace and that will remain the status quo until they invest
enough to turn things about, if they don't then what we are seeing now
will be all we will ever see, 3 manufacturers leading the show and the
others turning up to show face.

The fact that a team isn't winning isn't a reason to quit but if your
investment clearly isn't ever going to produce the results you want then
you either need to step up or be content to stay where you are and I
doubt that the Suz and Kawa directors are content to see their teams not
being seriously competitive.

Paul

 
Paul B wrote:

As in my previous post, I think there's a significant minority of
people who like plucky underdogs.

Cheers,

Ross-c

 neal@champ.org.uk says...

Sure about that?  IIRC often the time spread for the first row is bigger
than the first 15-20 spots in 250 or 125.  If I am wrong, I am sure Mark
will catch it.
;-)

--
Tweak