tommymech (August 20, 2008 at 11:23 am)

The road you mention is not in the Pyrenees but south of Massif Central. I don't know it but the area is good. The Pyrenees are enormous and between the French and the Spanish side you can find every kind of road challenge you want and much more besides. Speed Triple - handling, power, brakes (less ache on the 180s) - very quick on most roads. At the end of the day its always horses for courses - but for this test, we agree, the wrong horse (as I said in my first post tho, Dickson impresses).

DBRacingGod (August 20, 2008 at 9:54 am)

Weird - My parents live near the Pyrenees, too - Beziers. I know those roads pretty well - esp the excellent St. Chinian-St Pons road, which is closest to the Milbrook layout (though obviously steeper). If you can get a GSX-R1000 up that quicker than a well-ridden Hornet 600 you're doing pretty well I'd reckon. But still, as I say, it was pretty tight and something like a Street Triple (faster round the 'Ring than the Speed Trip) would've run it just as close as a Gixxer thou.

tommymech (August 19, 2008 at 10:00 pm)

The 'test' was set up to favour the car - no doubt (tho I never mentioned gonads). A superbike would not beat the r500 v. easily here but easy power and torque count(re-read all my comments). I live near the Pyrenees which has v.many long 'Alpine' like sections (not short tracks like Millbrook), know the Alps fairly well as well as the Massif Central. Raced cars, know how fast something like the caterham can be on 'Alpine' road and how hard you work on a bike to keep up/stay ahead.

DBRacingGod (August 19, 2008 at 12:50 pm)

I agree. But if you re-read my comments I didn't actually say the Hypermotard was the right bike - I only said that the test wasn't 'bollocks'. You don't obviously have any appreciation of the kinds of corners on this route. It's called the 'Alpine' section because, er, it's like the Alps. Which are tight, twisty and great in a point and squirt car that lets you slide around 'em...not so hot on a bike. Try it yourself in the Alps.

tommymech (August 18, 2008 at 8:56 pm)

The point being made was that the hypermotard Ducati was the wrong bike against the Caterham. 0-60mph?? Since when does 0-60mph have any relevance in the real world of biking? The reason the gixers, R1s, CBRRs etc etc are so good is that they are quick everywhere (accel, bends, brakes) and you don't have to wring their necks to go very fast which wouldn't be the case if they didn't have such stonking bhp and mid range torque. Full 160bhp not useable here but its still relevant - oh yessiree.

GerwinChita (August 10, 2008 at 12:01 pm)

What test? Looks like a lot of fun to me!

DBRacingGod (August 8, 2008 at 2:03 pm)

I don't think it's a test mate - just a bit of fun. But not for you, obviously...

pawnshops (August 3, 2008 at 5:51 pm)

Hardly a scientifically well thought out test - boringly bad

DBRacingGod (July 31, 2008 at 8:51 am)

Actually I didn't say a GSX-R1000 wouldn't beat it - I'm just telling you you'd be in the hedges withing about 10 seconds trying to use more than 100bhp. There's simply no where you can keep the throttle open for long enough. A GSX-R1000 might beat the Caterham, but don't think it's purely because of the power-to-weight, more to do with ability to lean round the corners. And, actually, the Caterham R500 accelerates faster 0-60 than the Gixer...

tommymech (July 30, 2008 at 5:52 pm)

Dude, if you are telling me that a gsxr 1000 ridden by another equally competent rider (no argument that Dickson rode well) couldn't have done a better job against the Caterham on this stretch of road then you are a mistaken - and I don't care how many journals you write for. You might not have been able to use all the gixers top end but its accessible across the board acceleration in almost any gear and ability to rapidly change direction would have leveled things significantly even decisively.