Putting the bike ‘upside down'The second three-day MotoGP test of 2007 got underway at the superb Phillip Island grand prix circuit in Australia today with the Honda RC212V riders prominent on the rain curtailed first of the scheduled three-days.
The fast and flowing
Australian track is a much different proposition for the Honda riders than the Sepang circuit, Malaysia venue for the previous test, and they were eager to get to grips with the 4.448 km island venue as they strive to set up their RC212V 800cc four-cylinder machines for the track following a positive test in Malaysia.
Team Roberts spent the day going through the basic chassis set-up of the KR212V for the Phillip Island track, working especially on front geometry and linkage options. The team ran both bikes today, which is something they were not able to do in Sepang because they only had enough of certain parts to run one bike in Malaysia.
They will continue set-up work tomorrow before starting tyre testing with Michelin in the afternoon, weather permitting.
Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR212V: 1m 31.90s.
"We made quite a big step by changing the machine after lunch. We kinda put it upside down to try to get the suspension working better with the bike and we're starting to get on our way now. The changes from the last day in Malaysia seemed to carry over to here in terms of stability, though the way in which the bike goes into the corners and through the middle of the corners needs to be improved. We used standard Michelins all day and we have few more things to try tomorrow morning then we'll get into some tyre testing. We're looking ok - there's nothing too dramatic we need to concentrate on - just getting the bike a little bit better."
Honda Motor Sport
