I know he raced a bit in the German superbike series last season, not sure how he got on, but as far as I know he wasn't that quick.

He was seen testing both Bayliss's Xerox duke and Corser's R1 at Portimao, and he has tested the MotoGP duke, so do you think he'll ever ride in the WSBK or MotoGP?.

I have a feeling he is going to get some wildcard rides in WSBK in 2009, and it would do the profile of the sport good from those who don't follow it, but I can't help feeling that the only reason he gets to test is because of who he is, not because of what he can do .

Yeah but when your a well known sucessful and rich racer, you can get a test anywhere, just for fun. e.g. Rossi at Ferrari yet again.

Wildcard rides doesn't sound too far fetched though.

Wouldn't it be funny if he did get a ride and went on to win WSBK/ MotoGP races, stranger things have happened.

He won't go to MotoGP IMO. He's 'old' enough to start another sport. What if he beats Rossi?

Don't forget Rossi racing in the Wales Rally GB.

you mean crashing

Am I the only person that wants to see a five car charity shootout between Schumacher and Rossi using two bikes (Yamaha MotoGP and a WSBK, two cars (WRC and F1) and a racing truck (not at the same time of course)?

You won't see him in a MotoGP race. WSBK wouldn't be unrealistic though

If he makes the cut in qualifying there is no reason not to let him ride in MotoGP or WSBK.

I guess it all depends on how fast he is, give him a chance and I bet he will do well.

He was 4 seconds off Carlos Checca in his Magny Cours test with Ten Kate, not bad.

Quote from Töki (HUN) :

He won't go to MotoGP IMO. He's 'old' enough to start another sport. What if he beats Rossi?

Well considering the MotoGP bikes have more electronics every year that's possible. Rossi would be totally destroying everyone in MotoGP, especially Stoner, if they had no electronics. I don't think Schumacher will enter a professional bike race, he is not fast enough and he likes to win.

MotoGP: No chance.

WSB: No chance for a full season but maybe a wildcard....MAYBE (thats a massive but and an even bigger maybe).

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/72117

Looks like if he wants to do it, then Honda will let him.

Well the guy has exceptional "seat of the pants" feel, (probably one of the best ever F1 drivers in that sense), and that is required in spades to be a fast motorcycle rider. Whether he can cut it at anything above national level only time will tell, (assuming he's even interested that is which doesn't seem to be the case). Just don't underestimate the talent required to acheive these kind of lap times on ANY incarnation of MotoGP bike !

http://www.crash.net/motorspor ... s_-_on_a_motogp_bike.html

Having said that his times are WAY off the pace in real race terms, (and given that these days WSBs are probably more of a handful than MotoGP bikes), but for an almost complete motorcycling novice to just jump on such a machine and be able to push it even a little without falling off is one heck of an acheivement.

He might be a racing motorbike novice, but hes had actual bikese for years. remember reading an article from back in 1994 where he alrady had a small collection of ducati's.

Quote from robt :

He might be a racing motorbike novice, but hes had actual bikese for years. remember reading an article from back in 1994 where he alrady had a small collection of ducati's.

Maybe this will put it in to perspective:

Road Bike:
Ducati 998 SPS (1998) - 123 BHP @ 190 Kg - 647Bhp/Tonne
Ducati 999R (2005) - 150 Bhp @ 181Kg - 829 Bhp/Tonne

MotoGP
Ducati Desmosedici GP5 (2005) - 230 BHP+ @ 148Kg - 1554 Bhp/Tonne
Honda Honda RC211V (2005) - 240Bhp+ @ 148Kg - 1621 Bhp/Tonne


Thats over twice the power to weight ratio. MotoGP bikes are so powerful these days that they have to be power restricted in the lower gears in order to be even remotely ridable.

For comparison:

McLaren F1 (Road Car) - 627 Bhp @ 1,140 Kg - 550 Bhp/Tonne

Get us some statistics on the old 500cc bikes, I'm sure they were a bit more mental than the current MotoGP bikes and they didn't need stupid traction control.

500s would have less power, but it's not as smooth on a two stroke.

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

500s would have less power, but it's not as smooth on a two stroke.

I think they should go back to the 500cc bikes, no traction control or other annoying electronics that flatter certain riders. I would imagine Casey Stoner would be in hospital with a shattered rid cage if that was the case, as for Lorenzo...well he would probably be in orbit around the moon.

I liken the tests that Schumi has done on bikes to Rossi's in F1. Both are fairly quick in what are, for them, unproven disciplines. Obviously both are very capable, but it's just a matter of whether they can really be competitive.

Personally, I think Rossi has a better shot in F1 than Schumi does in MotoGP or WSB.

Quote from gezmoor :

Maybe this will put it in to perspective:

Road Bike:
Ducati 998 SPS (1998) - 123 BHP @ 190 Kg - 647Bhp/Tonne
Ducati 999R (2005) - 150 Bhp @ 181Kg - 829 Bhp/Tonne

MotoGP
Ducati Desmosedici GP5 (2005) - 230 BHP+ @ 148Kg - 1554 Bhp/Tonne
Honda Honda RC211V (2005) - 240Bhp+ @ 148Kg - 1621 Bhp/Tonne


Thats over twice the power to weight ratio. MotoGP bikes are so powerful these days that they have to be power restricted in the lower gears in order to be even remotely ridable.

For comparison:

McLaren F1 (Road Car) - 627 Bhp @ 1,140 Kg - 550 Bhp/Tonne

You are leaving out another obvious comparison:

Ferrari F2005 - 900+ Bhp @ 605 kg - 1487 Bhp/Tonne

And then of course there is he issue of the driver that is added to the bike so in more realistic terms its:

Honda Honda RC211V (2005) - 240Bhp+ @ 148+70 Kg - 1100 Bhp/Tonne

They should organised a chairty bike race between Damon Hill, Schumacher, Toseland and Rossi. I think Schumacher would lose if they did that.

If it was done as several heats with cars and trucks too, I think Damon and Valentino would quite possibly hand everyone else's arse back to them in a takeaway bag. Presumably Lewis doesn't have a motorcycle licence

Didnt Damon Hill start out racing bikes for a short while?

Wikipedia says that he won the 350 Clubmans championship at Brands hatch in the early 80's.

Think so : that's why I think he'd do rather well.

I'm sure there was a race with the best of WSBK and best of 500cc GP riders one year, or am I confused?