TBK-Light.com

The silly season can begin, as it is confirmed today that Pedrosa will not have a new contract for 2019. And ofcourse Lorenzo has also confirmed that he will leave Ducati.

If this sounds a bit pathetic, consider this: when a mortal gets to use carbon brakes it’s easy to get caught out by their vicious stopping power. This has happened to me a couple of times, once while testing Mick Doohan’s Honda NSR500 at Catalunya sometime in the 1990s. When I braked for Turn 9 I experienced the weird kind of weightlessness that astronauts feel in space: my backside lifted off the seat and my whole body was thrown over the front of the bike, so I was looking at Doohan’s number-one plate, upside down. I was all set for the biggest crash of my life, but somehow I was still holding the handlebars and when I let go of the front brake, the g-force disappeared and I landed back on the seat.

I learned from that bowel-loosening moment that whenever you hit the brakes with carbons brakes (carbon-carbons, to name them correctly) you must dig the soles of your boots deep into the footpegs and grip the tank with your thighs like you’re riding a bucking bronco, simply to resist the g-forces trying to hurl you forward. That was probably 20 years ago, so you can imagine the power of today’s MotoGP brakes.