Gadget Freaks

Well we are late in posting our race review from Sundays action but we though we’d make a few post-race comments. It was an amazing race full of action, drama and some absolutely sensational riding. The French weather loomed and caused all sorts of tension and uncertainty. Would it rain would it hold off. The race was declared a ‘dry race’ however, it did drizzle slightly.

Casey Stoner got a blinding start and led for the first section of the race. He was hauled in by a hard charging Rossi and was later overtaken by Pedrosa. Meanwhile Rossi was creating a gap at the front while Jorge Lorenzo was making his way up the field after a bad start.

Casey Stoner seemed to regain some composure after looking uncomfortable for a spell but that was to come to nothing as his machine seemed to expire at the end of the main straight. Stoner had to push his Ducati to get back to the pits where a spare bike with ‘wets’ had been prepared for him. Hoping for a miracle (rain), he rejoined the race two laps down. Meanwhile Rossi was in vintage form at the front while Lorenzo had amazingly moved up to second with Colin Edwards third and Pedrosa dropping off to fourth. And that would be how they crossed the finish line with Chris Vermeulin in fifth.

It was a welcome victory for ‘The Doctor’ who equalled Angel Nieto’s total of 90 Grand Prix wins. Rossi collected Nieto on the warm down lap and let the legend ride his M1 Yamaha with Valentino as passenger holding a flag that read ‘90+90′. Only Giacomo Agostini has more wins than Rossi but with 32 more to get the record it remains to be seen if even the great Vale will be able to reach the milestone.

Special mention goes to “Iron Man”, Jorge Lorenzo! What an amazing ride to come from 10th place at the start of the race to second and was actually pulling time on Rossi. Simply amazing considering the guy can hardly walk! We here at Gadget Freaks firmly believe that if he can keep himself out of trouble he will be in line for a real upset this year. We’ll have to check the record books to see when the last time a rookie won the premier class.

So a great weekend for Yamaha getting a clean sweep of the podium. Ducati, however had a weekend to forget. With Casey Stoner’s (16th) machine failure and Marco Melandri (15th) at odds again with his machinery there will be some serious searching as the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello is next and they will be certainly be hoping for a taste of the Moet on home soil.

Championship Postions After 5 Rounds.

1- Valentino Rossi Yamaha  97

2- Jorge Lorenzo    Yamaha  94

3- Dani Pedrosa     Honda    94

4- Casey Stoner     Ducati    56

5- Colin Edwards   Yamaha  47

Next Race; Italian Grand Prix Mugello Italy June 1, 2008

Ever been to an F1 or Moto GP race and been a bit frustrated at how much you can actually see? There are trees, heads, safety barriers and all sorts of obstacles that you almost wish you had x-ray vision. Portable televisions have been around for years but getting decent reception at race events has been a bit of a sticking point.

Kangaroo TV is going to be renting out portable tv gadgets at F1 races this year. For 50 pounds you can hire a small handheld tv with a 3″ screen that receives a direct telecast. You can switch between ‘in car’ cameras and get all the commentary via headphones. Read more…….

If your event doesn’t offer Kangaroo TV you might want to take along your own portable device. This neat portable TV has a cool 10.2″ screen and has an analog TV tuner and DVB TV. It also plays DVDs,CDs and basically is an all purpose Multi-Media Centre. It also has a car power adaptor and comes with a great range of accessories.

If you are not into TV but relish the excitement of motorsport you might want to throw a leg over this! This is the latest in exotica from Ducati, the 2008 1098R. This is the production model that Troy Bayliss is leading the World Superbike Championship with. It features a 1098cc twin engine with a 6 speed gearbox producing 186 hp. Traction control is an awesome feature on this model which the Moto GP team uses to great success with Casey Stoner. Weighing in at 165kg and looking sexy as hell, this is about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on! However, every rose has its thorns and with this baby it’s the pricetag, a cool 60K (approx)

Isn’t it really annoying when you sit down for your favourite sitcom and it’s as if they’ve run out of ideas and you get a  regurgative ‘ walk down memory lane’ type show. You know like on Seinfeld when they sit around and Jerry says,” Hey remember the time Elaine and Peterman……….” And 30 minutes of cliche ridden segways follows to hightlights from past episodes!  I think you get the idea. Almost as bad as the retro nostalgic trend to remake movies of the classic 60’s TV shows like Get Smart and The Thunderbirds!

Anyway despair not! Today here at Gadget Freaks we thought we’d take a look at some of the more interesting gadgets we’ve reviewed to celebrate our 3 month anniversary here on WordPress.

Retro and nosltalgic in itself, this USB powered mini-fridge is just the ticket now that summer is well on its way. Styled on a 1950’s refrigerator, it has hot and cold controls and is just perfect for cooling a can on a hot day whilst watching Moto GP or something just as cool.

Staying on a retro theme, we really loved this MP 3 cassette player. Shaped like and old tape it is in fact an MP 3 gadget you can actually use in and old cassette player. Roll out all those 70’s hits and impress your younger friends who may have never seen such a thing!

Ah and who could forget our post and review on the 2008 Ducati Desmosedici GP 8 Moto GP bike. With its V4 Fourstroke 799cc motor pumping out 200+ horsepower weighing 148(dry) kg and hitting a top speed in excess of 310 kmh it surely is the ultimate gadget.

Anyway that’s it for our walk down memory lane. If you missed any of our past posts take your own retro read of our gizmo & gadgets reviews and race previews. Stay tuned for new any interesting gadgets and news right here on WordPress!

Wow what another amazing Moto GP race! As usual the magnificent Estoril Circuit in Portugal produced amazing racing and all the drama you could wish for with it’s changing weather and challenging undulating layout. Rain affected the free practise sessions with all teams losing valuable time in their pursuit of the perfect dry set-up.

Another stunning effort from rookie Jorge Lorenzo put him on pole for the race making it 3 poles from 3 attempts from the ultra-talented young Spaniard. Compatriot and arch rival Dani Pedrosa qualified in second with Valentino Rossi completing the front row. Curiously, this was Rossi’s first front row start on Bridgestone tyres with the next Bridgestone shod bike being Casey Stoner back in 9th spot. Stoner had a pre-race to forget as Ducati continue to struggle with set-up issues.

                                             Jorge Lorenzo takes his maiden Moto GP win!

With all eyes on the weather light rain began to fall as the riders were making their way around for the warm-up lap with Rossi pointing to the sky. With the mechanics in the pits frantically preparing wet set-up spare bikes Loris Capirossi managed to line up in Casey Stoner’s grid spot causing both riders to dismount their machines and push their bikes to the correct position while the whole field waited. After Casey Stoner’s latest string of woes he must have been wondering what else could go wrong!

When the lights finally went out it was Dani Pedrosa who led the pack into the first lap with Lorenzo and Rossi hard on his tail. A cracking battle raged between the trio with Dovizioso in tow in fourth. The Honda rider was soon taken by both Yamahas with Rossi leading briefly until Lorenzo made an audaciously brave move at the uphill chicane to take Rossi. The Doctor had no remedy for Lorenzo’s pace and dropped back to be hauled in and passed by Pedrosa soon after and fading to a distant third.

                                                  The action was fast and furious.

Pedrosa mounted challenge after challenge on Lorenzo but the rookie had an answer for every gain his bitter arch rival made. Pedrosa would pull Lorenzo back by a tenth and Jorge would reply by setting  new fastest laps and pulling out 2 tenths. He went on to comfortable victory with Pedrosa second and Rossi third. Dovizioso crashed out of fourth as did Nicky hayden with Colin Edwards taking that spot.

It was an eventful race for Casey Stoner for all the wrong reasons. Something had come loose on the bike around the left handlebar and was flapping in the wind with Stoner seen grabbing it several times and stuffing it back into the bodywork. It was later reported to be one of the onboard cameras that all bikes are obliged to carry by Dorna. Stoner clearly unhappy said later that the loose component was getting caught up in his clutch lever and was interfering with the bikes steering. Not what you need while racing at over 300 kph! He finished a credible 6th after languising around in 11th for most of the race. Needless to say Stoner and the Ducati team will be hoping for better fortune for the next round.

                   The patience of a saint. Casey Stoner must be wondering what else can go wrong!

So with Lorenzo and Pedrosa joint leaders in the championship and Rossi in third the Moto GP circus heads to Shanghai in China. A fantastic sweeping track with that 1.2 km back straight will perhaps suit the Ducati more than the last two venues. Will Lorenzo continue his dream run? Will The Doctor regain his winning ways or will Pedrosa and Honda top the podium? We’ll find out on May 4th when hopefully we here at Gadget Freaks will have recovered sufficiently from last nights race!

                               Get used to this! Jorge Lorenzo celebrates his “Dream” victory.

Over the past decade or so there has been a sharp decline in tobacco company sponsorship in all sports globally. Bans on tobacco advertising in all forms of media and motorsport have all but closed off the last avenue for the tobacco industry to parade its brands to the public en mass. An increasing number of countries have outlawed public tobacco branding even in the form of sponsorship in Formula One and Moto GP. This has pushed most companies to abandon these sports in droves and leaving with them are their huge investment dollars.

A quick look at todays F1 car and Moto GP bike reveals a whole new generation of sponsors picking up the huge bill involved. In exchange their brands are proudly displayed on the machine’s livery and plastered over just about anything involved with the teams. In fact there is more diversity among the sponsor companies with IT, financial management, airlines and even power drink corporations occupying the wings and wheels of the world’s most glamourous and dangerous sports.

One such company is SanDisk which has been a sponsor of the Moto GP Ducati Team. To celebrate, or maybe even cash in on their investment, they have released a series of computer accessories with a Ducati Moto GP theme. Boasting ‘Ultra High Performance’ the gadgets come in the style of the Ducati Moto GP team colours and are even styled like the machines and feature imagery of their #1 rider Casey Stoner.

CF Card Ducati Moto GP USB SD Card

Being the Moto GP fanatics that we are here at Gadget Freaks, we want these gadgets so bad it hurts! Considering that Casey Stoner is current World Moto GP Champion and one of the most exciting and popular riders in the sport and the huge international following the historic Italian motorcycle marque enjoys, we think SanDisk are on a winner.

Whoo ee! We here at Gadget Freaks are still recovering from an amazing days racing in Spain. Drama drama drama! After the shocking and dramatic end to an amazing 250cc race where we saw a race long battle between Alvaro Bautista and Marco Simoncelli only to see them both crash on the penultimate lap, the Spanish crowd wanted a local victory in the Moto GP class and they would settle for nothing less!

After an amazing day of qualifying on Saturday all eyes were on the starting order. Jorge Lorenzo in only his second Moto GP start had scored his second pole position! Meanwhile, Casey Stoner had a dreadful time and was way back in seventh spot. Dani Pedrosa looked ready to race in second with Colin Edwards in third continuing his awesome qualifying form.

From the start Pedrosa showed his intent- to win at home. It is no secret that both Spaniards ( Lorenzo and Pedrosa) have no time for each other. However, the eagerly anticipated battle between the two never materialised as Pedrosa pulled out a lead right from the off that no rider could bridge for the whole race. Rossi was fortunate to hang onto second, almost slowing down on the second last lap thinking the race was over. One wonders what Rossi is on these days it has to be said! Jorge Lorenzo came home a hard charging third just narrowly missing out on beating Rossi home.

Dani Pedrosa takes the win in his home Grand Prix.

World Champion Casey Stoner made a brilliant start to the race moving up to fifth with a 200+ horsepower Ducati that looked to be handling like a shopping trolley. He was later to run off the track and rejoined the race in last place. The Aussie moved back through the pack to eleventh and found himself on the tail of a group of six riders. With plenty of time left in the race it looked as though he may finish as high as fifth, however, he was baulked by Shinya Nakano and was in the gravel again! Once again rejoining the race to finish in eleventh place.

Casey Stoner takes his second trip into the Spanish gravel!

So Dani Pedrosa now leads the Championship from Lorenzo with Rossi third and Stoner in fourth. It’s a long Championship but it has been explosive so far. We here at Gadget Freaks are already getting set for the next showdown at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal in two weeks time.

So, till then………….

Well Moto GP fans it’s on again this weekend in the fantastic Spanish sunshine. Of course Round 2 takes us to the magnificent Jerez circuit in the south of Spain and what a race it promises to be. Everyone has tested there this year and all the riders know this track intimately. New teams ,bikes and tyres should all begin to be getting settled in now so we should see some cracking competition coming from those that failed to fire in Qatar.

It has been widely reported in the press this week that 2006 world Moto GP Champion Nicky Hayden has admitted making a big mistake in Round 1 choosing to ride the 2007 RC 212V placing a distant 10th whilst fellow Factory Honda pilot Dani Pedrosa placed third on the 2008 machine. Hayden had a dismal year in 2007 and is really looking for some magic for this season as there is a hungry crop of new young riders coming up and only a handful of factory seats in Moto GP.

Also in the news, Valentino Rossi has predicted that he will shine at Jerez and that he is coming to grips with his new Bridgestone tyres ( no pun intended ). Ever the sportsman ‘The Doctor’ has spoken out in the press this week about  fellow Yamaha rider James Toseland, stating that the Briton is the biggest surprise so far this season. We here at Gadget Freaks would have thought that Dovisioso who beat Rossi into 4th in Qatar would have that honour.

Over at the Tech 3 Yamaha garage the new ‘pneumatic valve’engines run by the Fiat Yamaha Team have not arrived for Jerez as expected. The two Tech 3 riders were well down on top end power in Qatar but still managed to qualify in front of the full factory bikes. One wonders what they might be capable of with a few more ponies in the chassis!

After an excellent year in 2007 Suzuki looked to be on track to really be battling at the front this season. However, thus far they really have been struggling and it looks as though things won’t be much better for them at Jerez on Sunday. Whilst most teams have all of their 2008 hardware sorted Suzuki will be once again using hybrid bikes assembled from 2007 and 2008 spec machines. Mixing and matching chassis, suspension components and aerodynamic packages is not the start the Japanese team would have been hoping for.

The Ducati Team is of course looking good albiet only really with one rider, Casey Stoner. The 2007 World Moto GP Champion will be looking for his first Jerez podium this Sunday. Apart from Jerez and Indianapolis ( where nobody has raced before ) these are the only circuits that The 2007 Young Australian of the Year has not been on the podium in any of the Grand Prix classes. His garage partner Marco Melandri is struggling to get a handle on the 2008 Ducati. This really surprises us at Gadget Freaks as he has shown his talent in the past and a knack of riding the wheels off a bike but this Duke seems to have his number.

Ok so get strapped in for a great weekend of racing and we at Gadget Freaks will be looking forward to bringing you all the gossip and action on monday. so till then race fans……………..!

Top Ten FP 1 Times Jerez 2008

1- Colin Edwards USA 1′40.714

2- Casey Stoner Aust 1′40.828

3- Valentino Rossi Ita 1′40.918

4- Nicky Hayden USA 1′41.182

5- Jorge Lorenzo Spa 1′41.371

6- Andrea Doviziosi Ita 1′41.378

7- Dani Pedrosa Spa 1′41.419

8- Chris Vermuelin Aust 1′41.443

9- Alex De Angelis RSM 1′41.579

10- Shinya Nakano Jpn 1′41.599

Well it was worth the wait! The 2008 Grand Prix of Qatar promised to be a classic race and it did not fail to deliver. With all the team changing and the new rookies coming into the premier class this year the anticipation was high. Throw in the historic first night race and you have one heck of a pre-season frenzy. Qualifying and the race were full of surprises and drama, in fact it couldn’t have been scripted any better! So let’s take a look at what happened.

The Spectacular Qatar circuit all lit up and ready for racing!

Qualifying

All eyes were on the first qualifying session for the season looking for answers to all the pre-season curiosities. Most pundits were focused on the Yamaha camp and the controversy surrounding the tyre maufacturer split. With Moto GP Legend God -Like Valentino Rossi on Bridgestones and the other 3 Yamaha riders on Michelin all attention was on the outcome of the timesheets. As it turned out Jorge Lorenzo( Fiat Yamaha) in his Moto GP debut snatched pole from fellow Yamaha pilot James Toseland ( Tech 3) with his team mate Colin Edwards making up the front row of the grid. Ironically Valentino was back on the third row giving the paddock alot to talk about. Casey Stoner(Marlboro Ducati-Bridgestone) was 4th fastest followed by Randy DePuniet( LCR Honda-Michelin) and 2006 World Champion American Nicky Hayden(Repsol Honda-Michelin) rounding out the second row. With only 3 Bridgestone shod machines in the top ten(and only Stoner at the pointy end) the questions over the wisdom of Rossi changing to Bridestones were looking like being answered. It was indeed beginning to look like ‘The Doctor’ had made a disastrous error. However, qualifying is one thing and the race is another so most were waiting till after the flag before making any firm statements. So…….what happenened in the race?

A jubilant Jorge Lorenzo after bagging pole position in his Moto GP debut.

The Race

The pre-race atmosphere was electric as the field lined up on the grid. The floodlight track was so bright that several riders wore MP3 sunglasses and looking at John Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) he had some serious metal going on.

The pace was frenetic from the second the start lights went out with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) making a blinding start from the 4th row of the grid to lead them into the first corner. With 7 riders trying to occupy the same patch of ground there was a considerable amount of pushing and shoving going on with Casey Stoner copping a fair whack that dropped him down to 6th place. Pedrosa tried to get away but was eventually reeled in by Rossi and Stoner and later Lorenzo. At one stage James Toseland showed why he is World Superbike Champion with a massive contact passing move on Lorenzo, no doubt taking the talented rookie by complete surprise. Meanwhile Casey Stoner seemed to sit back in fifth place watching the mayhem ahead of him. However, once warmed up he began to methodically reel in the riders in front of him one by one until only Rossi, who led briefly, stood between him and the lead. It didn’t take long and Stoner was in front with Lorenzo also getting past ‘The Doctor’ who later faded to fifth and the end of the race.

At the checkered flag it was Stoner a clear winner with a magnificent and determined performance from Lorenzo in second with Pedrosa third. Another rookie to put in a fine first race result was Andrea Dovizioso (JIR Team Scot Honda) who battled with Rossi on the final laps coming out on top to finish 4th.

In summary it was an amazing race. It once again highlighted the talent of Casey Stoner as he was clearly in a class of his own on his Bridgestone shod Ducati. There are 3 other Ducatis in the field and not one was even close to the front. Hopefully finally the banter about his tyre and machine advantage that was bannded around for most of last year will finally be put to rest.

So it’s off to Jerez in Spain on the 30th of March when the hostilities resume. No doubt the Rossi camp and a few other teams will be burning the midnight oil to try and find some magic to combat the Stoner/Ducati onslaught. So till next time………….

Lorenzo #48 tries valiantly to haul in Stoner

Only a few more sleeps until the 2008 Moto GP season kicks off in Qatar. Last time at Gadget Freaks we looked at the Ducati factory squad and today we’ll take a look at their main challenger- the Fiat Yamaha team and the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team.

What a line up both Yamaha teams have this year. Desperate to reclaim the Moto GP crown they have a line-up which is like a who’s who of World Motorcycle Champions. In the Fiat garage of course Valentino Rossi will head the team with reigning 2 time 250cc World Champ Jorge Lorenzo making the move up from the quarter litre class this year. Over in the Tech 3 pit are Superbike legends ColinEdwards and James Toseland. Mr. Toseland is of course 2 time (and reigning) WorldSuperbike champion and Edwards won it in 2000. All in all the four Yamaha riders for 2008 have 12 World Championships between them. Not a bad team eh?

Never far from controversy and the media spotlight, Valentino Rossi( 7 time World Champion) has managed to get himself a deal to run Bridgestone tyres this season whilst all the other Yamaha campaigners are on Michelins. Rossi lost his crown for the second year running in 2007 and has elected to jump ship from the French tyre maufacturer causing somewhat of a split in the Yamaha camp as they must run different garages this year as to protect their tyre technology. Time will tell if ‘The Doctor’ (Valentino Rossi) has made the right choice as Michelin have dominated GP motorcycle racing for a decade or more only losing to Casey Stoner and Ducati last year.

Now let’s take a peek at what the Yamaha camp has chosen as their weapon of choice for 2008.

The YZR – M1

Valentino Rossi 46 & Jorge Lorenzo 48- Note the differing Tyre logos!

Yamaha YZR-M1 Specifications:

Engine:Liquid cooled inline four-cylinder, four stroke, six speed gearbox.

Capacity: 799cc

Max. Power: 210 hp

Max. Speed: 320 kmh+

Dry Weight: 148kg

Tyres: Lorenzo- 16.0″ front, 16.5″ rear Michelin

Rossi- 16.5″ front & rear Bridgestone

Well folks it’s that time of year again and the 2008 Moto GP season is set to roll at the Losail Circuit in Qatar this weekend. As mentioned in previous posts this first GP of the year will be run at night under lights, quite an historic occasion. Of course we here at Gadget Freaks are out of our minds with excitement and anticipation as this season promises to be an absolute cracker!

With the reigning World Champion Casey Stoner from Australia in fine early form in testing and a host of ex-champions and rookies eager for a taste of the Moet it is going to be hot hot hot! The field this year hosts no fewer than 10 present or former World Champions (incl. 125cc,250cc,Moto GP and World Superbikes) and a host of young rookies up from the 250cc class.

Favourite for the title this year is 2007 Moto GP Champion Casey Stoner. The young Australian took the championship (and Valentino Rossi) by the scruff of the neck last year and won in convincing style. In only his second premier class season he took on all comers on his factory Ducati and won. This year he is joined at Ducati by Italian Marco Melandri (2002 250cc World Champion) a wild and exciting rider.Although it has to be said he has struggled with the new Ducati GP8 ( like most who ride the beast) whilst Casey has been setting the tracks on fire. However if Marco can come to grips with the world’s most powerful racing motorcycle he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Ducati entered Moto GP in 2003 after great success in World Superbike and immediately got onto the podium. It had been decades since a manufacturer had beaten the Japanese Big 4 at Grand Prix level but it would take a few years to claim the top spot. Now, however, they are dominating with Casey Stoner whilst the other Ducati riders ( including the D’antin satellite team) are battling to come to grips with the brute power of the factory Dukes.

So let’s take a look at the awesome hardware that the team will campaign this year- The Ducati Desmosedici GP8 !

Specifications.

Engine: Liquid-cooled, 90 degree V4 four stroke, desmodronic DOHC, four valves per cylinder, 6 speed gearbox.

Capacity: 799cc

Max. Power: 200 hp +

Max. Speed: 310kph/180mph +

Dry weight: 148kg

Tyres: Bridgestone 16.5″ front and rear.

Now that’s what I call a gadget!

Casey Stoner in action last year. This year of course he’ll be wearing the #1 plate.