Schumacher Rides SBK Yamaha R1

Friday, November 07, 2008

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Michael Schumacher, seen here chatting with retired SBK champion Troy Bayliss, spent time on the factory R1 during a media test held after the Portimao circuit in Portugal.

There was an extra guest amongst the media journalists present for the 2008 Factory Media Test at the Parkalgar circuit in Portimao last Monday. Former Formula One star and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was invited to put on his leathers and join the invited journalists testing out the 2008 Yamaha WSB YZF-R1 machines of Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser at the all new Portugese circuit.

Schumacher is no stranger to superbikes having completed his first year in the German Superbike Championship (IDM). He spent the morning lapping the circuit on Haga’s bike before switching to Corser’s for a comparison run. Whilst the session’s where not timed it was clear the F1 driving instincts had transferred well to bikes as he showed respectable pace and clean racing lines through the complicated and technical track.
The Yamaha Motor Italia Team were very impressed with his technical communication as he came in to debrief. His ability to communicate the feedback from the bike to help modify his personal set up was reported to be excellent. He also showed a keen understanding of the individual bike components and their effects on the ride. He was then able to make small changes with the crew to develop and improve his feel for the bikes through the session . The team were delighted to have him ride with them.

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Comments

Rizky -f1 & motogp December 13, 2008 09:42 PM
I think schumi it will can't to be a great rider at world bike competition(ex:motogp) if he interest to try it.. Car and bike is definitely different.. at straight, motogp bike is can to had same speed with f1, but if they'll goin into cornering, the bike is require more hard braking than f1.. So its they will doing as different style..

Lewis Bate -Straight line yankees November 16, 2008 03:45 PM
By the way america. Im english and therefore keen to notice that yanks can only drive in straight lines. Nice country, but your crap at driving. Yet there have been many american motorcycle champions proving that,its more closer to 80% skill 20% car. 20% rider 80% bike.

Lewis Bate -Driver skill vs rider skill November 16, 2008 03:31 PM
I totally disagree about what ronald mentioned about 80% this and 20% that. I understand there are parts where riders need a lot of skill such as powersliding etc. But bikes in high speed corners are easy to go fast, so stable. Obviously this guy doesn't know the incredible amount of steering correction a driver has to make in high speed corners, especially mid-engned cars. Check out the ruf yellowbird (tuned porsche 911) lap of the ring onboard and do that on yer bike. And as for fitness, yes you have to be fit on a bike when compared to touring cars, but f1 cars, compared to motogp's 1.5g's they pull a herendous 5g's. Now can I go to bed now.

Dan the Canadian.... -Cool.................. November 11, 2008 04:20 AM
Now it would be great to see the 2 great one , Rossi & Schumacher racing Rally ??????????????????????????

froryde -Hey Jimbo - do you even know how to ride? November 10, 2008 05:18 PM
Question for Jimbo down there: are you a motorcyclist at all (riding a scooter don't count)? If you ride seriously, then you should know the amount of skill needed to ride a bike fast vs. driving a fast car.

Ian S -F1 v MotoGP November 9, 2008 11:58 AM
There was this bloke, John Surtees by name, who moved to F1 after winning the motorcycle world championship. Guess what happened? He's still the only man to have won world titles on bike and car. Nobody has ever come from the car world to take the bike title. Another name that springs to mind is Damien Hill, who left bike racing and won the F1 title. Steve Parrish is another ex bike champion who went on to win multiple truck world titles.

Ronald -flaming (in a non homosexual way) November 8, 2008 10:47 PM
F1 cars are faster than GP bikes...true. F1 divers have the reflexes of cats...true. The only way an F1 is able to go as fast as they go is due to downforce...true. An "ex-pro bike racer tried F1 and flunked out"...FALSE. Valentino Rossi- now 8 time MotoGP Champion (6 in the premier class) drove Schumacher's Ferrari in 2006 and was only less than 2 seconds "slower" than schumachers lap time (for whichever race circuit it was). Thats still faster than the bottom half of the F1 grid. Like Morley said...SKILLS...car racers: 80% car. 20% man. Motorcycle racers: 80% rider. 20% bike...its more than just clutch here, shift there, throttle some, brake more...a bike takes your whole entire body! Hanging on, gripping for your life as you accelerate and "bench pressing" twice your body weight EACH time when braking, feeling for grip and contact of the tires EACH turn (less than a width of a credit card)...only to mention a few of the skills needed. Do that for an entire race duration and well, you've got skills.

Gann -My take on F1 vs GP bikes. November 8, 2008 05:24 AM
Jimbolaya, The first part of your write-up was pretty good, but the second half was pure bull poop!! Balance has almost nothing to do with it and reflex-wise, bike racers are up there with the best in F1 (and probably light-years ahead of the Nascar turds). The main reason F1 cars are faster on 99% of the worlds racetracks is pure aerodynamic grip... i.e, downforce. Yes, superior braking performance accounts for some of it, but it's mainly downforce.... remove 90% of the aerodynamic aids on an F1 can and they'd probably post similar times to GP bikes on the high-speed-corner circuits (although they'd probably still be faster on tighter tracks like Jerez). It's technically possible to make a bike that could lap as fast as an F1 car, but it would require a total rethink of bike-design..... something like a ultra-modern version of dustbin faired racers of the 60's with super wide rear tire..... but then no rider would probably have the strength to turn the damn thing (not even Mladin). The point is, GP bikes are already too fast to be inside safety guidelines at most tracks.... Fact: Run-off areas at corners need to be longer in order to be approved for a MotoGP race as opposed to a F1 race..... the riders may be cornering at slower speeds, but there's already a greater risk to life..... Just try to imagine a bike high-siding while taking Suzuka's famous 130r corner at the same speed as a F1 car..... the car would lose grip, spin and end up in the dirt or tire-wall but the driver would probably walk away with concussions.... the rider on the other hand would almost certainly be deader than dead.

luiz -moto November 8, 2008 03:56 AM
ok lets supose they made a bike that´s faster then a 2008 formula 1 ferrari.... Imagine how crazy it would be, leaning at 280km/h, braking superhard, i mean even knowing its not possible, i doubt someone could ride a bike at the pace of a F1, must have sobrenatural skills hahhaha, superstrengh to hold on the bars. Ahhh lets hope schumi dont kill himself on this hobby.

Jimbolaya -prepare flame throwers now November 7, 2008 03:29 PM
I know this will be met w/ howls of indignation. The following is based on the assumption that F1 cars still put down considerably quicker lap times than MotoGP, as a result of F1 having a tire contact patch (estimated to be) double the area of the MotoGP bike per same weight unit. IMPORTANT: "weight unit" REQUIRES total load of fuel, pilot & all race gear for both vehicles, adding an estimated 25% to the MotoGP race weight & a far lower percentage to the F1 car. Short version is F1 is considerably quicker round the track. You've all seen on TV F1 cars corner like on rails & insanely short braking distances that humiliate bikes. By comparison Indy/IROC cars are quite sluggardly. A few years ago (may still exist) an IROC team modified an outdated, couple year old race car to take passengers behind the pilot. For money, fans could take a few laps in the passenger seat after signing an iron-clad contract to be responsible for the outcome no matter what. IIRC every non-pro-race & non-Navy pilot passenger tosses their lunch & needs chiropractic to get out of the seat. So, I think the reflexes of most of even the best bike racers is too slow to compete in F1. Didn't an ex-pro bike racer try F1 & he flunked out? The inherent gift of the best bike racers is, IMO, balance. Quick reflexes yes, but slower than the absolutely fastest F1 pilot. Only my opinion; go ahead, flame away!