Ninjette Newsbot
March 15th, 2018, 05:20 PM
If you enjoyed reading this article, please click here to view it on Kropotkin's site, MotoGP Matters. (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/jn-IXzeir9c/2018_qatar_motogp_thursday_round_up.html)
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Qatar is always a strange place to kick off the MotoGP season: a windswept circuit in the middle of the desert (though not for long, as the suburbs of Doha are rapidly approaching the track), racing under the floodlights, around a circuit with just a single grandstand a VIP pavilion. It is an odd location with a weird atmosphere. The race feels surreal, part of a science fiction spectacular, an impression reinforced as you drive back to Doha afterwards, the huge Blade Runner-esque skyscrapers awash with ever-shifting patterns of blinking lights.
You would think that the season opener couldn't get much odder, but series organizer Dorna has found a way. In response to complaints of dew forming after 9pm in the evening, rendering the track treacherous (and incidentally, buying room to run the race later at night should a rain shower threaten to upset the apple cart), the race times have been shifted. MotoGP is now the only class that runs in the dark, with FP2, qualifying, and the race all taking place after sunset. Moto2 and Moto3 will both practice and race during daytime.
The unfortunate side effect to the new schedule is that MotoGP now has two radically different sets of conditions. FP1, FP3, and Warm Up all take place around 3pm, when the sun is still hot and the track is scorching. FP2, FP4, qualifying, and the race all take place after dark, once air and track temperatures have dropped by a significant margin. It is not quite as bad as Moto2, however: the intermediate class holds FP2 and qualifying after dark, but will race at 5:20pm, 25 minutes before sunset. They will start the race in sunlight, finish it in the dark, and heaven knows what the difference in track temperatures will be between the start and the end of the race.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?i=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=7Q72WNTAKBA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:7Q72WNTAKBA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?i=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:V_sGLiPBpWU (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:V_sGLiPBpWU) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=8QFB7NnbhRw (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:8QFB7NnbhRw) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=bcOpcFrp8Mo (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:bcOpcFrp8Mo)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~4/jn-IXzeir9c
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Qatar is always a strange place to kick off the MotoGP season: a windswept circuit in the middle of the desert (though not for long, as the suburbs of Doha are rapidly approaching the track), racing under the floodlights, around a circuit with just a single grandstand a VIP pavilion. It is an odd location with a weird atmosphere. The race feels surreal, part of a science fiction spectacular, an impression reinforced as you drive back to Doha afterwards, the huge Blade Runner-esque skyscrapers awash with ever-shifting patterns of blinking lights.
You would think that the season opener couldn't get much odder, but series organizer Dorna has found a way. In response to complaints of dew forming after 9pm in the evening, rendering the track treacherous (and incidentally, buying room to run the race later at night should a rain shower threaten to upset the apple cart), the race times have been shifted. MotoGP is now the only class that runs in the dark, with FP2, qualifying, and the race all taking place after sunset. Moto2 and Moto3 will both practice and race during daytime.
The unfortunate side effect to the new schedule is that MotoGP now has two radically different sets of conditions. FP1, FP3, and Warm Up all take place around 3pm, when the sun is still hot and the track is scorching. FP2, FP4, qualifying, and the race all take place after dark, once air and track temperatures have dropped by a significant margin. It is not quite as bad as Moto2, however: the intermediate class holds FP2 and qualifying after dark, but will race at 5:20pm, 25 minutes before sunset. They will start the race in sunlight, finish it in the dark, and heaven knows what the difference in track temperatures will be between the start and the end of the race.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?i=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=7Q72WNTAKBA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:7Q72WNTAKBA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?i=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:V_sGLiPBpWU (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:V_sGLiPBpWU) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=8QFB7NnbhRw (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:8QFB7NnbhRw) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?d=bcOpcFrp8Mo (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/MotoGPMatters?a=jn-IXzeir9c:WGL41AI79LQ:bcOpcFrp8Mo)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~4/jn-IXzeir9c