Interesting interview with Chris Vermeulen in this month’s Australian Motorsport News (been looking for the link to this article but can’t find it, possible its been un-published, post it in the comments if have it – cheers)

MN: Its been an up and down year so far, but things look like they’ve started to come good with the bike later in the season

CV: The beginning of the season we had a couple of races where we didn’t score any points – two out of the first four races I didn’t score any points – so it made it quite tough, especially in the championship chase.
It was down to mechanical failures with the bike, but we got the reliability sorted out and we started to get some good speed out of the bike. Then by the mid season break I had two podiums, and then to start back after Brno to get a sixth place there and then a fifth in Misano, we proved that we were quite quick.
But you’re right, it’s been an up and down year. There are tracks where the Suzuki works quite well, and then there’s tracks where it doesn’t, so it makes it quite hard.

MN: So you feel like the bike has definitely improved as the season has gone on ??

CV: It’s improved, but not as much as we want.
I feel like some of the other manufacturers have made bigger steps than us. We’ve definitely gone forward, and in the right way, but we’ve got some work to do to get it right.

MN: Next year is getting closer, have you seen the 2009 bike yet ??

CV: I haven’t seen it.
With Suzuki, we’re going to have a chassis modification and engine modification for the start of next year, and I know the engine is going to be coming in for the Valecia test, which is on the Monday and Tuesday straight after the last GP. That’s only a week and a half away from now, so the team is working really hard.
Speaking to our project leader here at Sepang, he is really quite confident about the new engine, so that’s looking good. Fingers crossed its going to work for us.

MN: You’re had Loris Capirossi arrive in the team this year, and it will be the same next year. How has that affected the dynamics of the team, with Loris being the most experienced team mate you’ve had ??

CV: It was really great having Loris come in. You can learn so much from a guy thats been in Grand Prix for 19 years, and has had almost 300 starts. He is very experienced and its great to have him in the team from that side, for bike development, but also for me to learn from him.
At the start of the season it was difficult for him. He had to get used to the bike, but going in to next year I believe its going to be a lot more comfortable. The whole team is going to be the same. Both Loris and myself are going to remain, and so I think from the first day we start testing we are going to be a lot more productive than we were at the same time last year.

MN: There has been a big change on the Bridgestone side of the fence this year, with Vallentino Rossi leaving Michelin. How has that affected you in terms of different compounds for qualifying and races ??

CV: We have noticed that it has stretched Bridgestone, and now with Dani (Pedrosa) also coming on, its really made it tight with some tyres.
Its made it a little harder but its all going to change for next year anyway, so we have to just wait and see what happens.

MN: Single tyre manufacturer – is that going to be a good thing for MotoGP ??

CV: No, I don’t think so. I actually think it is going to be a bad thing for MotoGP, but that is my own personal opinion.
I think we are in prototype racing at the highest level, and there should be as many tyre manufacturers as want to be in there.
With going to one tyre manufacturer, developments are going to slow down, and eventually that will go through to road tyres, because at the end of the day, a lot of what we learn here goes back to the road for street guys. From that side its not going to be an advantage.
I don’t think its going to make the racing any closer. We can see this year on the 250′s everyone is on the same tyres, and the racing is no closer in that class.
I know what they are wanting to do, but I don’t think it will benefit us.

MN: It looks like there will probably not be a qualifying tyre.
Is that some that will be disappointing, not being able to strap those tyres on and really go for it ??

CV: They’re really fun to use, but I am pretty bad at getting the best out of them. It might be better for me not to have them.
The good thing is, its going to be the same for everyone, so it doesn’t really matter if we agree or not about the rule, which I don’t think is right for the championship. But everything’s going to be the same. Its going to be the same compound, and the same number of tyres available to everyone, so it will be fair on that side.

MN: There’s been a lot of talk about the electronics on the bikes this year. What’s your take on that ??
Would you like to see the bikes a little more brutal.

CV: I think so, and I think most of the riders in MotoGP would want to go that way.
Maybe some of the guys who have come from 250′s and have never ridden a big powerful four-stroke with no electronics might not be sure, because they have not done it.
From when I was in Superbikes, there are no electronics on those things and since I’ve been with Suzuki the electronics have been improving all the time.
It just makes the bike easier to ride, and more consistent, and there are advantages, because it uses less fuel, and puts the power to the ground smoother. But at the end of the day, we all want to get out and ride these things with heaps of horsepower, and light them um. That’s fun for us. Its fun for the spectators to see, but its fun for us to race this way as well.

MN: How much difference do the electronics really make ??
You often hear people saying you can simply hold the throttle wide open, and that sort of thing, but is that really the case ??

CV: (Laughing) nah, not at all.
The biggest advantage with electronics for us is in the engine breaking.
These things run so much compression that if we close all the cylinders down when we close the throttle, it just locks the rear wheel at any speed.
So the electronics keep one or two cylinders running to stop the rear wheel locking. This is a big advantage to us.
With the traction control itself, you still have to be very careful with them. It wont catch a big slide, or stop a high-side. All it does, is when the big is about to slide, it helps to keep grip into the tyres, and helps you get out of the corners a little bit faster. There’s definitely no way you can come out of a corner and just screw the throttle on. We can with a qualifier, but not at all with a race tyre

MN: Whats been the highlight of this season ??

CV: I guess Laguna Seca.
Being the only person who had any chance of seeing where Rossi and Stoner went, was definitely a good thing. We were much quicker than everyone else, but still a long way off them But it was a good weekend and things went well.
The other was my podium in the rain in Germany. After qualifying 14th to finish third was not a bad effort either.

MN: You mention Leguna Seca. You always go well there. Do you just like the place ??

CV: I guess I just gel with it.
I went there once on Superbikes and nailed my first time there on GP.
The first time on Superbike, I didn’t qualify that well, but did the double and really gelled with the track. I’d never been there before that weekend, and learnt a lot during the weekend.
Since I went there in GP my first year, I qualified on pole, and was leading the race and I had an engine problem, and since then I have had a second and a third.
We’ve always been fast there and I like it Its fun to ride. Its exciting. Its different, and I guess the main thing is that I have got as much experience at that track as anyone else, where as we go to other tracks in Europe where Loris has probably done five million laps more, like Mugello, so that makes it hard.

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