The new Ducati GP9 has a new carbon fiber chasis. l know this will make the bike lighter with enough tensile strenght. l have two questions -

1.- How the new material will affect the rigidity onf the bike?
l think this is critical specially riding fast corners.

2.- Could it be more fragile when the bike crashes?
We've all see many drivers having crashes, and then going back on the bike and continue the race, but l wonder if carbon fiber would be more fragile under those circumstances being unable to continue any race after a crash.

- 85 days for season start

your bike show be fun ..''

Hi Ciccio, l cant say l know that much about carbon fibre. or the new chassis of the Ducati, l can remember something about their using the engine as part of the frame. a tri point thing. so Im not even sure we r talking about a chassis in the conventional sense. also l think l remember something about Carbon fibre being directional (strong in one direction & brittle in another.) if so it should be ok in a slide but what about a high side when the bike tumbles ? saying that if it is a 3 point chassis then the parts wont be very big & should be replaceable fairly easily. the light part speaks for itself. l dare say if the ducati campaign is successful this year we will be seeing more carbon fibre chassis in 2010

Im sure Ducati have done there homework on this '' new '' frame.

The reason for the '' '' is is that this is not new for Ducati at all.

In 1993 / 94 The Caviga V93/ 94 was running a Carbon Subframe for the whole season. Dont forget who own Cagiva !

The whole carbon frame thing is nothing really to write home about.

Harris & Tig-Craft ( two British frame builders ) have been making these sub-frames & other stressed components for over 15 years now.

As for been good in crash.. u could drive an 18 wheeler into it, & it would still be in great shape.

And the high speed corning is easy to control.

Tajia [ Tig-Craft ] had the idea for a lower swingarm pivot point in Carbon to help the Harris Shell team donkeys years ago. It might have been John Reynold riding at the time or may be Sean Emmet, but they made the lower subframe from multiple layers of carbon that were not directly connected.

l guess the best way to think about is, if u get a ream of A4 paper from its packet, its very stiff & with all 500 sheets of paper, it can be very ridged , say on its side. However take the 500 sheets & lay them on in a loose pile & do the same thing, they will not a load at all.

The Pivot points & may be the Headstock of the new GP09 will have some way of making the bike more / or less ridged depending on rider input & track.

Both Casey & Nicky like a loose [ rough ] bike, so l am sure the boys in red will do a great job of setting things up for them.

Cant wait for 2009 to start, l just hope its not the swan-song for MotoGP all together.