With the full timesheets in hand from MotoGP.com, I crunched some numbers on the test data, just to get a real feel for how fast the 800s are. I compared times from the longest runs I could find, a 24 lap run for Randy de Puniet on Day 2, and a 25 lap run for Dani Pedrosa on Day 3, and compared the times set with the times set by Capirossi when winning last year's race.

The numbers are remarkable. On the Saturday, a day which started misty, and with far from ideal conditions, De Puniet, who set the 8th fastest time overall, ran a sequence of laps which were under 8 seconds slower than Capirossi's time for the same distance. That pace would have given him 3rd place during the race weekend, an astounding result.

But here's something even more astounding. On Day 3, in the afternoon session after the Qualifying Practice, where Dani Pedrosa narrowly missed out on a BMW Z4, the tiny Spaniard ran a race simulation of 25 laps. He ran those laps a full 3 seconds faster than Capirossi's race-winning pace, lapping over 0.1 seconds faster per lap.

There can be no doubt that Pedrosa was in excellent form on the Sunday, as Valentino Rossi, Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden all ran similar race simulations during the same session, but were all significantly slower. What a season awaits us ...


The times:

Capirossi, Race, 2006
Lap no.	Lap time	Top speed
2	1'41.25	280.7
3	1'41.42	277.6
4	1'41.8	276.4
5	1'41.57	279
6	1'41.41	276.9
7	1'41.8	277.6
8	1'41.8	275.9
9	1'41.93	276.6
10	1'41.98	274.7
11	1'41.8	277.4
12	1'41.98	278.5
13	1'41.85	276.6
14	1'41.89	277.7
15	1'41.91	278.8
16	1'41.91	276.7
17	1'41.92	276.4
18	1'42.09	278.4
19	1'41.89	278.6
20	1'42.25	277.6
21	1'41.76	278.3
22	1'42.17	275.8
23	1'41.94	277.1
24	1'42.16	277.7
25	1'42	278.1
26	1'42.08	277.8
Total time		42'26.54
Average lap:		1'41.86
Avg. speed:		277.48
De Puniet, 8th fastest, day 2 Irta test, 2007
Lap no.	Lap time	Top speed
50	1'42.57	260.9
51	1'41.82	262.9
52	1'41.73	262.5
53	1'41.58	262.6
54	1'41.99	262.1
55	1'41.72	262.6
56	1'41.99	262.9
57	1'42.17	261.7
58	1'42.01	261.8
59	1'42.08	262.8
60	1'42.09	261.8
61	1'41.99	261.6
62	1'42.23	261.2
63	1'42.18	262.5
64	1'42.06	264.6
65	1'42.15	264.3
66	1'42.15	263.5
67	1'42.25	263.4
68	1'42.16	263.3
69	1'42.65	262.6
70	1'42.56	262.6
71	1'42.56	262.2
72	1'42.7	261.4
73	1'42.32	263.4
74	1'42.42	262.8
Total time		42'34.11
Average lap:		1'42.16
Avg. speed:		262.56
pedrosa, 5th fastest, day 2 Irta test, 2007
Lap no.	Lap time	Top speed
3	1'42.64	265.9
4	1'42	267.1
5	1'41.63	267.1
6	1'41.46	265.1
7	1'41.3	264.8
8	1'41.48	263.6
9	1'41.59	264.3
10	1'41.84	264.8
11	1'41.76	265.4
12	1'41.54	267.1
13	1'41.37	266.1
14	1'41.44	266.4
15	1'41.63	264.4
16	1'41.72	266.4
17	1'41.68	267.2
18	1'41.87	267.3
19	1'41.87	265.8
20	1'41.71	266.9
21	1'41.87	265
22	1'41.48	266.4
23	1'41.8	267
24	1'41.79	265.7
25	1'42.46	267.1
26	1'41.95	264.4
27	1'41.67	265.6
Total time		42'23.57
Average lap:		1'41.74
Avg. speed:		265.88