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I for one am really enjoying the opportunity to discuss some of the aspects of engine design and technology with guys like you Dion and USAKZ1300. I've been a motorhead since understanding the screwdriver at 4 years of age. If there wasn't grease under my fingernails then my parents would have suspected that I was up to no good somewhere. Since I was a kid, I've always torn apart a perfectly good working toy or motorcycle or car to self teach and understand the technology behind what made that work or not work and it has led me in many different directions throughout life.
One book I ate from cover to cover is " The Scientific Design of Exhaust and Intake Systems " written by Phillip H. Smith www.amazon.ca/Scientific-Design-Exhaust-...ystems/dp/0837603099 . At one point during a house move, I lost the book and went out and bought a second copy only to have the first copy show up 5 years later. It's a great read to understand the fluid dynamics that goes on in the intake and exhaust tracks. The information is now dated since the advent of variable valve timing, direct injection but still is valuable information for understanding the fundementals.
We could almost open up another topic on engine development for discussion. But you're right on the money with bringing up the fact that electric is "just around the corner" We've already seen it in Formula 1 with regenerative braking. the torque of the electrics is maximum at zero RPM and diminishes as the revs come up where the internal combustion engine developes higher up in the revs. Combine the two and you've got something going on. This is where Porsche took the hybrids. pretty impressive numbers.
Enjoying the discussion. Wished I was more up on the MotoGP circuit to understand some of the comments like "the kid" " The Goat" and "Wonder Boy". Interesting the the HRC team both went down in corner two which has a known bunch of bumps in the pavement and yet the two of them were pushing to open the gap and obviously lost control in the second corner. They're both young pups which is good to get them up to 300 + Kph but not good in maintaining control when it's most needed like laying over past 45 degrees and driving through a corner.

It is.......what it is. Both Marquez brothers (Wonder Boy and Kid Brother) biffed it, two different classes, same turn....as did Mr. Arrogant (Lorenzo). I feel sorry for Dani, he is a good guy, and a GREAT rider.

The guy to avoid is anything written by Gordon Jennings. His "run the hottest plug on the planet, then, flood the engine with mixture to cool the burn" is really out of this world wrong. Drowning an engine to save the wrong blistering hot spark plug is NOT the way to do it right.

The good Gordon is the late Dr. Gordon Blair, he was an engineer we liked to converse with, taught at Queen's University - Balfast, and was one of the smartest engine people in the universe.

There are about a hundred areas to explore about our engines that would take decades to get through. I will hit the high spots when I get the chance, or, see someone asking about a specific area.

As far as aluminum heads go, Chevrolet 1968, big block, L89/ZL1 heads came in two versions, early had a D port exhaust, later, O port. Honda had a great way to vary intake valve timing in one of their earlier CB400's, one valve ran a full on hydraulic rocker, the other was electronically varied in that the lifter was filled, or drained of oil to vary the valve lift/duration. There have been other methods in cars, like a Vari-Cam setup for timing chain that used stops and a spring loaded sprocket to allow the cam to advance, or retard via engine rpm's. Possibilities are endless, only imagination level limits development efforts.

Well, the Austin ground magnet attracted Maverick, The Old man finished second, the Yamaha guys were good as well. Lorenzo remains in the cheap seats, Ducati still slow, doesn't turn well, the usual stuff. Next race, Jerez, Spain, and I will stay here. There are 4 Spain races this year, I will make two of them. Austin, well...you can dress a pig in a pink and purple tutu, but, it is still a pig. Texas is a great place, so is the City of Austin, but, one race track is just plain useless BAD.

On TV the circuit looked really bumpy - guess courtesy of the F1 Circus.
Good result for the GOAT: was interested to see if anyone would beat Marquez or if he would make it 9 out of 9 in the US: not surprised to see Lorenzo is still AWOL, I know he's not the first to find the Red Bike a difficult to master, but wonder what would happen if Stoner decided he had done enough trout fishing for a while, and fancied a run out on it.
Roll on Jerez..

Austin is just plain a mess of a race track. LOTS of cars, not much F1, tear the place a new rear. It was cold there this year, summer is late for most of America. Michelin needs to get with the program, and build tires that will work, listen to the techs and riders, inste4ad of telling everyone how good their tires are, and to set the bikes up different to use them. Bridgestone were bad towords the end, but, at least, they kept trying. I would have liked to see Dunlop come to be the spec tire manufacturer, though.

Marc made it 5 for 5 at Austin, wasn't that impressive. At least, he didn't run into anybody getting to the front of the pack, he is good at ram and fall. Stoner, well......NO, thanks.

The Ital bikes are not fairing well, as usual. Back a couple of years, they finally listened to what we wanted to do when 46 was there, and, they got a lot faster, but it was two years past the development they needed to do. Dovi is a good guy, Lorenzo, well, happy he is there and not where he was last year.

This just in about Ducati,

Automotive News and several other four-wheel-cetric web sites are reporting today that VW is mulling the sale of its motorcycle company: Ducati.

The VW emissions cheating scandal is reported to be the motivating factor in Audi/VW/ Lamborghini selling Ducati as it tries to streamline the company after this PR debacle

Geez, golly, gosh, I would have figured it was because there wasn't any more money left to operate with after paying Lorenzo's out of this universe salary.