Tornado Warning: Grand Prix Of France


Thursday, May 15, 2008

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed "The Texas Tornado," will offer candid insight before every MotoGP event in 2008 about the characteristics of the upcoming circuit, his tactics and possible motorcycle setup for the weekend, the personalities and rivalries of the exciting world of MotoGP, and personal anecdotes about the region where each event takes place in "Tornado Warning."

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 34, is in his sixth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Yamaha Tech 3. His next race is the Grand Prix of France on Sunday, May 18 at Le Mans.

The colorful Edwards will compete in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 12-14 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

It was a tale of two weekends in China. What was so good about qualifying and so bad about the race?

We showed up Friday, and basically it was a struggle. My bike had pretty much been set up all year. We hadn't changed much, and then we went out Friday, and, whew, it was just way off. No traction, we couldn't get the thing to turn, which is weird. We really couldn't figure out why it was so drastically off pace. We tinkered around with it a bit, trying to improve it. I don't know if we made any ground on it Friday. But Friday night, my crew chief and a couple of the Japanese and the suspension guy, they got together and decided that we needed a big change. So we put a lot more weight on the rear of the bike to try and get some traction, and we went out Saturday and it felt great. Straight off the bat, it felt good. We got going Saturday morning and come qualifying time … You know, qualifying is qualifying. I ran the first couple of tires we had, and after that I was like: "Man, I know there's so much more time there. I'm just not grabbing it." At the start of my last lap I just said, "Screw it." That's kind of what you've got to do in qualifying, anyways, to get the first couple of rows. It was a good lap. I put a really good lap together, and we got pole. That was done and dusted. I've got the pole a couple of times before, obviously Superbike days, many a times. Usually for a pole lap, you're pretty much on the ragged edge. One little something might give you a slip about every corner. But for some reason, that lap in China, I don't know, man, it felt pretty easy. It usually does when the bike is working good and the tires are working good; it usually does feel easy.

Your team changed the setup for Saturday, and qualifying, to something you haven't used before. Did you have doubts when they told you what they were doing?

Yeah, totally. Friday night when everybody kind of came up with the ideas and we need to do this, I'm like, "What are you talking about?" I've never been in that realm of bike setup. I'm like, "Are you guys sure about this?" There were just things that were way foreign to what I've been using. They knew what we needed, and it was just a matter of me learning it. It worked out right.

What went wrong in the race?

There were a couple of things. I didn't do any (1:)59's on race tires. I was riding the (crap) out of it, but I couldn't get in the 59's. I was happy just to get in the two minutes, to be honest. We knew we didn't have a speed pace, but I was hoping I could get a good start and latch on the back of those guys and see if they could pull me away from the crowd, anyways. I got a good start, and one of the biggest differences was Friday and Saturday, we had probably a 15-mile-an-hour headwind coming down the back straightaway. And Sunday, in warm-up, we had about a 15 mile-an-hour tailwind. We were braking, honestly, 50 or 60 meters earlier than with the headwind. You're coming from 200 mile an hour. That kind of wind makes a big difference. You saw in the first lap of the race, a bunch of people running wide. At the end of the backstraight, that wind, especially if you're behind somebody, you just have nothing to hold you down. You just keep going. About four or five laps in, I was pushing. I was pushing hard, getting away from Casey (Stoner) a little bit. And it was looking like there was a podium possibility, and just through pushing, I frickin' ran wide. I got in that little hairpin, broke a little bit deep and rear wheel came up, and I carried the rear wheel forever. And that's not your optimum braking; you want that rear wheel on the ground. At the end of the day, I had to let the brake off a little bit to get the rear wheel on the ground, and I ran wide. I ran deep, ran over the AstroTurf, turned around and came back. And that dropped me from third back to seventh.

How tough is it to regain your rhythm when you make a mistake like that, especially when you're pushing?

It's hard. I don't make those kinds of mistakes. I just normally don't make those kinds of mistakes. This year, I crashed in Jerez. Normally I don't crash in races. I made that little mistake in China. But the one good thing about it is that we've got our bike so good to where we can push. The last couple of years, you're either dealing with chatter or you're dealing with spins or the thing doesn't turn or you don't have any power … you're always dealing with something that kind of is handcuffing you. Whereas now, we've got the bike good so where we actually can push. Push to the limit, over the limit, hover around there. That's basically what happened - just made a mistake.

I know he's a rival, but were you impressed by the performance of Jorge Lorenzo in China considering he raced with two broken ankles?

Yeah. All you've got to do is see his crash. That was frickin' huge. And then to get on the bike the next day, qualified second row and then finished fourth, that was very impressive. There's no question about that.

How do you need to set up the bike for the Le Mans Bugatti circuit?

Well, Le Mans, I got pole there last year. I should have won the race last year. It rained; we struggled. It's a track that I like. I've always liked that track. I don't know why. I don't if it's my style or how I set the bike up there, but I always seem to go good there. The Michelins, I don't know what it is. The Yamaha tends to always go good there, even in years past. As far as setup, we've always set our thing up really, as well. Quite a bit of rear weight, make sure you get some traction. It's kind of a point-and-shoot track. There's not a whole lot of real slowing. It's just kind of hard brake, chuck it in and squirt it out. The last little two or three corners, there kind of flowing, but you've still got to be aggressive.

Plus you've got a French tire on a French track, so the fix is in.

Yeah, exactly (laughing).

When you're running Bugatti, do you ever think to yourself that it would be wild to run the full Le Mans 24 Hours track, the La Sarthe, with the Mulsanne Straight?

Nah, I'm not in. I'm out on that. Our bikes, they're stable as can be at 200 mile an hour. It could be 80 mile an hour on a street bike; the thing doesn't move. But I don't know how long you want to keep it tapped. We do maybe a kilometer-long straight, and that's it. You get on a big, long-ass straight like that and you've got that engine freakin' tapped that long, I don't know. I just can't see it being good for it.

How are the French fans?

The fans are awesome. Just about everywhere we go in Europe, the fans are awesome. You've always got your hardcore motorcycle guys; it doesn't matter where you go. But France, they've got a lot of this supermotard going on now. It seems like everybody's got a supermotard bike in France. So that's just marrying the dirt to the asphalt, and everybody's in. Everybody seems to come check it out.

Is there any more loyalty to Michelin riders in France because it's a French tire?

Nah. I don't know. I can't say for certain. But I've never felt, per se, that. But I imagine there probably is somewhere in there.


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