Brother Louie
MF veteraan
Deze tekst vond ik op speedzilla, en is vertaalt van het Portugees naar het Engels aldaar 
I got this from CERacing.com, one of the members there translated this article.
This is a translation that a member of the MCN boards kindly made available on the boards over there. This is not from me as I do not speak Portuguese. I am simply passing this interview on as it's of course newsworthy. The member on the MCN boards is called Sandoreis and kudos goes to him for the hard work.
End December, São Paulo, Brazil. Barros was tunning his Audi S3 to 500cv, with 1,7 bar turbo, and nitro. Yes, he care for autos too. But the conversation gets hot only when he begins speaking about bikes. Specially the new HRC spec RC 211 V, he is about to get in February.
Everything went too fast:
Q: HRC pilot. You didn’t see it coming, right?
Barros: It all went too fast. When Valentino’s manager didn’t show up at the Malaysia GP, when he was due to sign Vale’s contract, the people at HRC went to talk to me, to know if I could ride for them. I said I’d love to, only that I had a contract for 2004 with Altadis, e that the breaking fee was too heavy. Even though I said I would try to get free, and that’s what happened.
Q: Did Altadis release you free?
Barros: Last season, the teams let the riders test their new bikes, but not this year. Honda did not release Rossi, and Yamaha decided to do the same. But I made myself clear to them: I am not willing to ride for them, that I’d rather ride for HRC.
Q: And what was the answer:
Barros: There was no answer. I must admit that since the beginning of the season, they saw my difficulties, that I was injured since the first GP, e they kindly told me that if I wanted to, I could stay away, to seek proper treatment. But to interrupt mid season wouldn’t be fine by me, it not in accordance with my character. And then I kept insisting, and seeing that the M1 problems weren’t going away, and that I was getting worse every GP. When Yamaha went for Valentino, and Honda asked me to ride for them, I couldn’t resist. But I didn’t want to be unfair. I told them I was not young anymore, am already 33 years old, and that there’s not much time left for me in Moto GP. Yamaha’s M1 project needs to be restart from scraps, with luck, they can fight for the title by 2005. But with my contract ending by 2004, what would happen to me if I did one more season just like 2003? Or just a little bit better? I would risk being fired. With HRC I would have another shot for the title, the complete opposite figure.
Q: And then…
Barros: Again, they listened carefully, they didn’t say no, nor yes to my ultimatum. Then I signed Honda anyway, I risked it all just not to loose the biggest chance of my life.
Q: But who’s gonna pay the costs?
Barros: Nobody. I don’t want to discuss all details, but Altadis can’t do nothing due to some facts that happened at Valencia GP, which would allow me to file a rescission of my contract, but now with them paying me the same amount.
Q: How’s that?
Barros: They violated some of my contract terms. Now it’s seems best for both parties not to file suit.
Q: So you are on Rossi’s spot at HRC?
Barros: Exactly. And I could also choose my team, since Valentino took with him many of the staff. My chief mechanic will be Ramon Forcada, who used to work with me at Pons, e with him will come some other guys who helped me in the Pons years.
Q: Will you be the no. 1 rider?
Barros: That is not on the contract. Honda’s contract is the same for all riders. Me, Biaggi, Gibernau, will all have the same gear. Honda made clear that the important thing is for a Honda bike to win. Repsol (HRC), Telefonica (Gresini) and Camel (Pons) are the ones who will try to make a difference here. But I must add that, all thing being equal, it is better for HRC to win. Never in Honda’s history, a non factory rider went on to be the champion. If by the end of the year the chances for the title went for me and Biaggi only, I believe Honda may probably give me enough parts to make a difference. It has always been that way with them. Now, in HRC, is between me and Hayden, there will be no difference between bikes, back as when it was with Doohan and Crivillé. I more experienced than Hayden, who is very fast, but he is in his only second year.
Q: When will you begin practicing?
Barros: Tachikawa, HRC manager, keep me informed of the last practices results by e-mail, and told me that there were no new parts tested. I spend January getting fit to debut at February 11 in Sepang. He told me that the four practices before the season starts are more than enough to me.
Q: Do you have a good relationship with these guys at HRC?
Barros. Definetely. I know them very well, and work with many of them in the many times I run Suzuka 8 H. It will be good to have people like Tadayuki Okada, former rider in 500cc, who is training to assume the Sporting Director role within the team. He’s a great guy, and together we won Suzuka 8H and have an excellent understanding.
Q: Let’s talk about 2003…you fell 21 times. What’s in Yamaha that make you fell that much?
Barros: Indeed. I’ve never fell that much in my life, not even when I started Gps. M1 is a very hard bike to ride. And the reason lies more on the chassis than on the power delivery. The Honda I rode, besides being more linear in its power delivery, has a chassis that allows you to do everything you want. I tested an M3 prototype, a Yamaha that nobody outside the team saw, e it had indeed a fine tuned back end, witch would slide the way I wanted, but that had a crap front end. I told them: “That’s it! That’s what I’m talking about, now do the same with the front end!”. That was before season starts, Yamaha spent all year trying to solve it, but to no avail.
Q: But when you started at Yamaha, you said that they missed Honda by only a tiny amount…
Barros: It did, but it went on. While Yamaha made some progress, Honda made much more. With Honda you do whatever you want, you can slide controllably. You put the bike on it’s side and it is like: “Ih, went too much, let me back a little here, yes, that’s it, a litlle more, let me see…right!”. I’m not kidding, it’s just like that, you can actually think about what to do, so obedient is the machine. The bike warns you, tells you that the front tire is sliding, how fast will the back gone…And so one creates a fast lap.
Not so with the Yamaha. M1’s front end goes, and goes, goes…suddenly BAM!, you’re off the bike. Of all my crashes, only one was due to the back, the last one, in Australia. All the others were caused by the front end [recalls me Biaggi in 2002, perhaps all his falls werent’t due to his style only, N.T.]
Q: How did the crash at the warm-up for the first GP influenced your season?
Barros: I was very sad with that crash. 3h before my first start, I was seriously hurt in my knee, which cause me trouble for the whole season. That GP I run against medical advice, but I finally manage moths later to manage the pain […] But when I almost done, there comes Kagayama and run into me from behind, out of nowhere, broking my hand, and breaking a tendon in my shoulder. At the time, I thought only my hand were the problem, but the worse was to come. Only at the German GP did I realize that my shoulder was to be my main concern, that my hand and keen were the least of my problems. I couldn’t break anymore, I had scrutiating pain turning right…I never thought my shoulder were that important to racing. From them on, I never raced without pain reliver injections.
Q: Why didn’t you stop then?
Barros: I didn’t want to. Not a single moment did Yamaha pressed me, nor did Altadis. They gave me total freedom to decide. By I wanted to finish the season, like all the others before. […] I had to prove to myself that I was able to overcome the pain, the difficult bike, and to honor my commitments. And in doing that I discovered an inner strength that I myself never experienced before. Only I can tell what I really felt riding that way. My last GP was the worst. When it finally ended, down in the pit lane, I stand for 15 minutes on the bike, unable to step down. I had a fall on Saturday practice, and besides the knee, the hand, and the shoulder, I had broken some ribs. I could barely breath. Finally the medical team arrived and calmly unzipped my leathers, and the helmet. It was surely an unforgettable day. After all that I took a shower and lay on the bed totally still, for hours.
Q: All that for a bad chassi…
Barros: They worked very hard, but from beginning to end, the M1 improved at most 5 %. The power improved after Portugal, and that is that.
Q: Power is than not a problem anymore?
Barros: It’s the chassis. One cannot use the available power. That bike will continue hurting riders. I fell a lot, Melandri and Nakano did too, and we all had serious injuries. Checa fell less maybe because he knows M1 the better, Jacques “tirou a mão” [roll off the throttle, N.T.]. Outside me and Melandri, the other riders knew M1 idiossincrasies, and that hurt them psicologically.
Q: Will Valentino solve Yamaha’s problems?
Barros: It is not natural for Yamaha to stay where it is. It will fight for wins. But I believe only in 2004 will it fight for the title.
Q: So who are the candidates for the title?
Barros: Nicky Hayden will have a brilliant year, Capirossi, the best team mate I ever had, is the most dangerous guy, since Ducati made an excellent bike, Gibernau and Biaggi are in excellent teams and will always fight for the top spot.
Q: What about the rest?
Barros: Edwards is a f* rider, but it is only his first year in a Honda. Bayliss is fast, but he is too aggressive, some things he does are simply crazy. Tamada is great, Bridgestone seems good enough, but they’re won’t be always be competitive in cold wheather.
Q: What about you?
Barros: I will be at the party! I’m riding for 24 years, am 33, cannot afford to loose time. It’s now or never.
Translation so far.
_______
no, it's not OUT, that's my high beam damn it!!
I got this from CERacing.com, one of the members there translated this article.
This is a translation that a member of the MCN boards kindly made available on the boards over there. This is not from me as I do not speak Portuguese. I am simply passing this interview on as it's of course newsworthy. The member on the MCN boards is called Sandoreis and kudos goes to him for the hard work.
End December, São Paulo, Brazil. Barros was tunning his Audi S3 to 500cv, with 1,7 bar turbo, and nitro. Yes, he care for autos too. But the conversation gets hot only when he begins speaking about bikes. Specially the new HRC spec RC 211 V, he is about to get in February.
Everything went too fast:
Q: HRC pilot. You didn’t see it coming, right?
Barros: It all went too fast. When Valentino’s manager didn’t show up at the Malaysia GP, when he was due to sign Vale’s contract, the people at HRC went to talk to me, to know if I could ride for them. I said I’d love to, only that I had a contract for 2004 with Altadis, e that the breaking fee was too heavy. Even though I said I would try to get free, and that’s what happened.
Q: Did Altadis release you free?
Barros: Last season, the teams let the riders test their new bikes, but not this year. Honda did not release Rossi, and Yamaha decided to do the same. But I made myself clear to them: I am not willing to ride for them, that I’d rather ride for HRC.
Q: And what was the answer:
Barros: There was no answer. I must admit that since the beginning of the season, they saw my difficulties, that I was injured since the first GP, e they kindly told me that if I wanted to, I could stay away, to seek proper treatment. But to interrupt mid season wouldn’t be fine by me, it not in accordance with my character. And then I kept insisting, and seeing that the M1 problems weren’t going away, and that I was getting worse every GP. When Yamaha went for Valentino, and Honda asked me to ride for them, I couldn’t resist. But I didn’t want to be unfair. I told them I was not young anymore, am already 33 years old, and that there’s not much time left for me in Moto GP. Yamaha’s M1 project needs to be restart from scraps, with luck, they can fight for the title by 2005. But with my contract ending by 2004, what would happen to me if I did one more season just like 2003? Or just a little bit better? I would risk being fired. With HRC I would have another shot for the title, the complete opposite figure.
Q: And then…
Barros: Again, they listened carefully, they didn’t say no, nor yes to my ultimatum. Then I signed Honda anyway, I risked it all just not to loose the biggest chance of my life.
Q: But who’s gonna pay the costs?
Barros: Nobody. I don’t want to discuss all details, but Altadis can’t do nothing due to some facts that happened at Valencia GP, which would allow me to file a rescission of my contract, but now with them paying me the same amount.
Q: How’s that?
Barros: They violated some of my contract terms. Now it’s seems best for both parties not to file suit.
Q: So you are on Rossi’s spot at HRC?
Barros: Exactly. And I could also choose my team, since Valentino took with him many of the staff. My chief mechanic will be Ramon Forcada, who used to work with me at Pons, e with him will come some other guys who helped me in the Pons years.
Q: Will you be the no. 1 rider?
Barros: That is not on the contract. Honda’s contract is the same for all riders. Me, Biaggi, Gibernau, will all have the same gear. Honda made clear that the important thing is for a Honda bike to win. Repsol (HRC), Telefonica (Gresini) and Camel (Pons) are the ones who will try to make a difference here. But I must add that, all thing being equal, it is better for HRC to win. Never in Honda’s history, a non factory rider went on to be the champion. If by the end of the year the chances for the title went for me and Biaggi only, I believe Honda may probably give me enough parts to make a difference. It has always been that way with them. Now, in HRC, is between me and Hayden, there will be no difference between bikes, back as when it was with Doohan and Crivillé. I more experienced than Hayden, who is very fast, but he is in his only second year.
Q: When will you begin practicing?
Barros: Tachikawa, HRC manager, keep me informed of the last practices results by e-mail, and told me that there were no new parts tested. I spend January getting fit to debut at February 11 in Sepang. He told me that the four practices before the season starts are more than enough to me.
Q: Do you have a good relationship with these guys at HRC?
Barros. Definetely. I know them very well, and work with many of them in the many times I run Suzuka 8 H. It will be good to have people like Tadayuki Okada, former rider in 500cc, who is training to assume the Sporting Director role within the team. He’s a great guy, and together we won Suzuka 8H and have an excellent understanding.
Q: Let’s talk about 2003…you fell 21 times. What’s in Yamaha that make you fell that much?
Barros: Indeed. I’ve never fell that much in my life, not even when I started Gps. M1 is a very hard bike to ride. And the reason lies more on the chassis than on the power delivery. The Honda I rode, besides being more linear in its power delivery, has a chassis that allows you to do everything you want. I tested an M3 prototype, a Yamaha that nobody outside the team saw, e it had indeed a fine tuned back end, witch would slide the way I wanted, but that had a crap front end. I told them: “That’s it! That’s what I’m talking about, now do the same with the front end!”. That was before season starts, Yamaha spent all year trying to solve it, but to no avail.
Q: But when you started at Yamaha, you said that they missed Honda by only a tiny amount…
Barros: It did, but it went on. While Yamaha made some progress, Honda made much more. With Honda you do whatever you want, you can slide controllably. You put the bike on it’s side and it is like: “Ih, went too much, let me back a little here, yes, that’s it, a litlle more, let me see…right!”. I’m not kidding, it’s just like that, you can actually think about what to do, so obedient is the machine. The bike warns you, tells you that the front tire is sliding, how fast will the back gone…And so one creates a fast lap.
Not so with the Yamaha. M1’s front end goes, and goes, goes…suddenly BAM!, you’re off the bike. Of all my crashes, only one was due to the back, the last one, in Australia. All the others were caused by the front end [recalls me Biaggi in 2002, perhaps all his falls werent’t due to his style only, N.T.]
Q: How did the crash at the warm-up for the first GP influenced your season?
Barros: I was very sad with that crash. 3h before my first start, I was seriously hurt in my knee, which cause me trouble for the whole season. That GP I run against medical advice, but I finally manage moths later to manage the pain […] But when I almost done, there comes Kagayama and run into me from behind, out of nowhere, broking my hand, and breaking a tendon in my shoulder. At the time, I thought only my hand were the problem, but the worse was to come. Only at the German GP did I realize that my shoulder was to be my main concern, that my hand and keen were the least of my problems. I couldn’t break anymore, I had scrutiating pain turning right…I never thought my shoulder were that important to racing. From them on, I never raced without pain reliver injections.
Q: Why didn’t you stop then?
Barros: I didn’t want to. Not a single moment did Yamaha pressed me, nor did Altadis. They gave me total freedom to decide. By I wanted to finish the season, like all the others before. […] I had to prove to myself that I was able to overcome the pain, the difficult bike, and to honor my commitments. And in doing that I discovered an inner strength that I myself never experienced before. Only I can tell what I really felt riding that way. My last GP was the worst. When it finally ended, down in the pit lane, I stand for 15 minutes on the bike, unable to step down. I had a fall on Saturday practice, and besides the knee, the hand, and the shoulder, I had broken some ribs. I could barely breath. Finally the medical team arrived and calmly unzipped my leathers, and the helmet. It was surely an unforgettable day. After all that I took a shower and lay on the bed totally still, for hours.
Q: All that for a bad chassi…
Barros: They worked very hard, but from beginning to end, the M1 improved at most 5 %. The power improved after Portugal, and that is that.
Q: Power is than not a problem anymore?
Barros: It’s the chassis. One cannot use the available power. That bike will continue hurting riders. I fell a lot, Melandri and Nakano did too, and we all had serious injuries. Checa fell less maybe because he knows M1 the better, Jacques “tirou a mão” [roll off the throttle, N.T.]. Outside me and Melandri, the other riders knew M1 idiossincrasies, and that hurt them psicologically.
Q: Will Valentino solve Yamaha’s problems?
Barros: It is not natural for Yamaha to stay where it is. It will fight for wins. But I believe only in 2004 will it fight for the title.
Q: So who are the candidates for the title?
Barros: Nicky Hayden will have a brilliant year, Capirossi, the best team mate I ever had, is the most dangerous guy, since Ducati made an excellent bike, Gibernau and Biaggi are in excellent teams and will always fight for the top spot.
Q: What about the rest?
Barros: Edwards is a f* rider, but it is only his first year in a Honda. Bayliss is fast, but he is too aggressive, some things he does are simply crazy. Tamada is great, Bridgestone seems good enough, but they’re won’t be always be competitive in cold wheather.
Q: What about you?
Barros: I will be at the party! I’m riding for 24 years, am 33, cannot afford to loose time. It’s now or never.
Translation so far.
_______
no, it's not OUT, that's my high beam damn it!!
![:]](/styles/motor-forum/smilies/crossy.gif "Crossy :]")
