News
Nicky's Helmet available on ebay!March 21
Nicky Hayden’s signed MotoGP helmet, used during his world champion season – something you would spend a fortune on?
Then have a look at www.wingsforlife.com/ebay and grab your chance to own Nicky’s original race helmet.
These and many more extraordinary exhibits are to be auctioned at the Wings for Life Charity Auction @ eBay from March 13-30, all proceeds will be used for research in the field of spinal cord injury.
- Nick Hayden’s original MotoGP helmet: 13.-23. March 2008 on eBay
Qatar Grand Prix, Losail International Circuit- Repsol Honda Press ReleaseRace day, Sunday March 9 2008
Nicky Hayden took tenth place. The opening round of the 2008 World Championship made history as the first night-time GP in six decades of GP racing, the 5.38km/3.43 mile Losail circuit illuminated by a 5.4 million watt lighting rig.
Nicky Hayden had a tough night. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion qualified on the second row of the grid yesterday but was unable to maintain a front-running pace in the race, slipping to 12th at one point before taking the flag in tenth. The American rode a 2007 RC212V.
The MotoGP World Championship now returns to normal daytime action when the action moves to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix on March 28/29/30.
Nicky's comments
“It wasn’t pretty for sure. We wanted more than just top ten but we struggled here from the time we rolled out at the tests. We haven’t really made much progress and it hasn’t been for a lack of effort, these guys have worked really hard. We got beat bad today so we’ve obviously got a lot of work to do. I got a decent start but I couldn’t push the way I wanted to, couldn’t be aggressive and couldn’t make anything happen, so I kinda went backwards then I went forward again. I was spinning a lot, which definitely didn’t do the rear tyre any favours, I really think we just missed the setup and worked the tyre way too hard so I was spinning way too much. It honestly wasn’t the most fun race but there’s still a lot of racing to go so we’ll try and brush this one off and definitely try to move up at Jerez.”
Qatar Grand Prix, Losail International Circuit - Repsol Honda Press ReleaseQualifying day, Saturday March 8 2008
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden qualified sixth fastest in tonight’s floodlit qualifying session at Losail to put them on the second and third rows of the grid for tomorrow night’s season-opening Qatar GP.
Hayden, who is running 2007 spec RC212Vs here, rode an excellent fastest lap on qualifiers to secure the last spot on row two.
Tomorrow night’s Qatar Grand Prix will make history as the first World Championship event in almost 60 years to be run under floodlights. The race starts at 11pm.
Nicky's Comments
“We improved a lot this afternoon… heck, it’s the middle of the night! My first two runs on race tyres I improved quite a bit and in the end I was able to get a respectable lap on qualifies, nothing great, but I was able to give ourselves a decent chance. The big thing around here for us is the straightaway, we’re losing quite a bit of time, the bike I’m using is what I had at Valencia. I’m really excited to be going racing. I’d like to have a better race pace and all that but it is what it is and it’s time to line up and go for it. I’m enjoying riding at night, I think it’s cool, I hope some more tracks decide to get some lighting systems going. A big thanks to my team and to HRC, these guys have worked so hard, it’s silly how hard they have worked over the last week to get more bikes here, get more options for us, build a different chassis for Dani’s bike which seems to be a good step so I’m sure the next time I get on the 08 I’ll try one of those."
Kazuhiko Yamano, Repsol Honda team manager
“Nicky’s feeling better on the bike today, he went not so bad on qualifying tyres and race tyres are no problem for him. I think he can get a good result tomorrow.”
Qatar Grand Prix Preview - Repsol Honda press releaseMarch 3rd
The 2008 MotoGP World Championship will make history at Losail on March 9, with the first-ever night-time Grand Prix race. Repsol Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa are looking forward to this new challenge but most of all they are raring to going racing after a long winter of testing and development work.
Since last November the pair have been working hard on the latest version of Honda’s RC212V. Hayden has shown his pace in preseason tests, topping the first Sepang session in late January as well as last month’s Jerez outing. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion has a good record at the Qatar GP – he finished a close second at Losail in 2006 after taking third place the previous year.
Losail hosts its fifth MotoGP race this year, but the 2008 Qatar GP will be very different from the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 events, thanks to its night-time schedule. Track temperature will be dramatically different from previous events and that alone changes the character of the circuit and the race. Riders had the opportunity to acclimatise to these very different conditions during night-time tests on February 28 and 29. The circuit is lit by an amazing 5.4 million watt lighting system, the biggest of its kind, which could illuminate a road from Doha to Moscow or 70 FIFA football fields.
The circuit itself, constructed in 2004 to bring MotoGP to the Middle East for the first time, is a sinuous test for man and machine, with the layout of individual corners inspired by famous corners at racetracks from around the world. Corner speed and machine agility are vitally important at Losail with only one straight worthy of the name – the 1.068km/0.664 mile start-finish, which demands plenty of horsepower.
Nicky's Comments
“I’m just really happy to be going racing again because that’s what it’s all about. Qatar is going to be an interesting weekend – first race of the year and it’s running at night too. The actual track is really good – the layout is awesome, the grip is good, the surface is good, there’s plenty of run-off, the safety’s great, it’s everything you could want, but you just don’t have 100,000 people going wild for their favourite rider and it’s missing that bit of history. I think running it at night is going to make a difference to that, it’s going to be real interesting how the tyres work at night and the temperature and the wind. I think it’s gonna be cool, I’m really looking forward to it because I enjoyed riding at night in the tests. You do need some ponies for that front straightaway because you come on to it quite slow and you need to accelerate because it’s a long straightaway. I’ve spent a lot of time under lights doing dirt track at home, but until the tests here, the only time I’d ridden a roadracer in the dark was practising for the Suzuka Eight Hours in 2003 and that was really cool.”
Repsol Honda complete winter testing in QatarFeb 29, Day two of two Repsol Honda press release
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden completed this winter testing programmes at Losail at midnight tonight. After acclimatising to riding under floodlights yesterday evening, he continued working at getting the best out of his RC212Vs in these very different conditions.
Hayden is now raring to go racing after a busy few weeks of testing in Asia, Australia, Europe and here in the Middle East.
Practice for the 2008 Qatar MotoGP event, the first GP to be staged in the dark, begins at 7pm on Friday March 7. Qualifying takes place at 10.55pm on March 8, with the race at 11pm on March 9.
Nicky Haydenfastest lap: 1m 55.674 (lap 93 of 94)
"I’ve enjoyed riding at night but conditions are not easy here at night – there’s the wind and the track temperature changes a lot. We tried race tyres tonight and at the end we tried a couple of qualifiers, we went quicker but we’re not where we need to be. We left Jerez feeling really confident but we’ve been brought back to reality. Nonetheless I’m happy to go racing after so much testing, that’s exciting.
Now we’ve got some work to do, we need to try to come up with something to make an improvement. I think we can get the bike to hold the line better and finish the corner better. Now Honda have got a couple of days to think about stuff and I’ve got some time to go over some lines, so hopefully come Friday night we’ll be closer to where we need to be”.
Repsol Honda begin final test session - Repsol Honda Press ReleaseFeb 28
Repsol Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa commenced their final preseason test session at Losail this evening, experiencing for the first time the 5.380 km Qatari track’s awesome new lighting system that will illuminate the first-ever floodlit motorcycle GP on March 9.
Testing began at 6pm following a spectacular ceremony to turn on the unique lighting system, the world’s largest permanent sports floodlighting project. The 5.4 million watt network is powerful enough to light up a road from Doha to Moscow!
Hayden and Pedrosa, still recovering from the broken right hand he sustained in January, complete preseason testing tomorrow night. Qatar GP practice commences on the evening of March 7.
Nicky Hayden - 12th 1.57.010
“I quite enjoyed myself, it’s a little bit different, I thought it was pretty fun. We need to get faster but the actual feeling is quite good and it’s a pretty cool experience. I haven’t ridden with anyone yet to see how that’s going to be, but as far as the lines and stuff, it’s not really much different from daytime. I haven’t had any problems with the shadows, just a bit of the glare off some of the lights is a bit strange, but the actual track, the grip, the tyres seem okay, so I think it’s good. Last year we struggled a lot here so we basically started with our Jerez settings, just checking a few things right now and trying to dial it in”.
HAYDEN FASTEST AT JEREZ. Repsol Honda Press ReleaseJerez, Febuary 18
Nicky Hayden in action at the IRTA test.
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden rode the fastest lap during three busy days of testing at Jerez, the American this afternoon riding a lightning-quick lap on qualifiers, more than half a second inside last year’s Spanish GP pole position. Testing started late this morning following a rain shower, the conditions staying cool and blustery throughout.
2006 MotoGP World Champion Hayden, who was also fastest on day one and third quickest in yesterday’s official qualifying-style shootout session which was run in the wet, left the Spanish circuit in buoyant mood after some productive work on chassis set-up and Michelin tyre development.
The MotoGP paddock now moves to Qatar for the final preseason tests at Losail (on February 28 and 29) where the first race of 2008 takes place under floodlights on the night of Mar ch 9.
Nicky Hayden - 1'38"848Jerez, Feb 18th
“It’s definitely been a really positive and productive three days. We had high hopes coming here because when we tested here in November the bike worked pretty good and Michelin tyres normally work good at Jerez, so this is a good track for us, also there’s no big long straightaways. The wind here has made it tough, the conditions haven’t been easy, but I do feel more comfortable on this year’s bike in the wind. The team really worked hard and made some good moves and good decisions. We didn’t make a lot of big changes, we just got closer to race settings, tried a couple of qualifiers and did a 25 lap run. The chassis seems to be working good and also the tyres are working good. We tried a few different tyre options, and we’re still checking data between the 16 and 16.5 rears. But the show hasn’t started yet, we’ll find out what everybody’s really got and what we’re in for when we get to Qatar but we leave here pretty happy. At the Qatar tests we’ll see how it is under the lights and dial everything in for the first race.”
Hayden Fastest at Jerez!Day One IRTA test, Feb 08
The Kentucky Kid at the front
Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden topped the first day of the penultimate preseason tests at Jerez today.
Hayden rode more laps than anyone in cool, blustery conditions, evaluating a modified RC212V chassis with revised stiffness character, otherwise focusing on detail set-up changes. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion also recorded the fastest top speed at 282km/h-175.226mph
Both riders are using 2008 RC212V engines with conventional valve actuation and will commence the 2008 World Championship with these engines. Meanwhile the 2008 RC212V pneumatic-valve engine is under development at HRC, where engineers are focusing on improving power delivery, and will be raced by Hayden and Pedrosa when it is ready.
Today was an important day at Jerez, because the latest weather forecasts predict rain during the remaining two days of the session.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 1m 39.200s (lap 84 of 107)
“All in all, a pretty positive day. I would definitely say this was the best first day of tests we’ve had so far this year. And we knew it was important, because the weather experts are saying there’s a really good chanced of rain the next two days. I tried a different chassis, it felt slightly better with a little more feel on the front, so we used that most of the day and it felt pretty good. We went through a few other things, not making big changes because we’re getting closer to the season now, just a few little settings changes, and when I thought things felt better the stopwatch normally went along with it, which is always good. At the end I did race distance and it didn’t feel too bad. We were able to get into the 40s on race tyres, though we still need to get in there a little deeper, we still need to improve a bit.”
Nicky Hayden Continues Development on his RC212V in SepangFebruary 6, 2008
Nicky testing in Sepang
Nicky Hayden leaves Malaysia pleased with the work carried out so far, centered mainly on the chassis and on new compounds for the Michelin tyres
Nicky Hayden made an early start to his final day of testing at Sepang today and the American was quickly up to speed on the Repsol liveried RC212V Honda on a hot and humid day. The ambient temperature soared to 34 degrees with the track surface at 46 by early afternoon, rising to 60 plus degrees at one point consequently reducing the level of grip in the process.
Despite the sweltering conditions the Repsol Honda team technicians managed to improve the chassis specification of the factory RC212V and find suitable Michelin rubber to suit the set up in the extreme conditions.
The former MotoGP World Champion was pleased with the results achieved over the two days and will not test on the final day of the planned three-day test. He now leaves Malaysia for his Kentucky home and a well earned break before MotoGP tes ting resumes in completely different weather conditions at the Jerez circuit, Southern Spain on February 16 to 18.
Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 2m 00.900s (lap 36 of 90)MotoGP Testing
"Not too bad all in all a positive two-days testing. The team have worked extremely hard for me from day one of testing this year, the HRC engineers and the mechanics . Today we didn't focus on just one thing but worked on chassis comparison tests and working on tyres with Michelin.
The track surface temperature was as high as it's ever been here and we got some positive feedback on tyres in the conditions. We found a good rear that gives good grip on the edge of the tyre. The front we tried was OK but we went back to the front tyre we had used at the last test. The chassis is now OK and we will have the new engine ready for the next test. It's been a pretty busy time and we go at it again i n Jerez before the big show opens."
