We discussed numerous subjects, and perhaps the most interesting responses came from Burgess, the man who helped steer Mick Doohan to five world championships and now responsible for preparing the machines of Valentino Rossi.

Jeremy Burgess on the differences between Rossi and Doohan – “Mick absolutely loved the winning, Valentino really loves the racing, but of course he also loves the winning. Both champions of course, and both very skilled at what they do.

“Rossi was educated and raised on the smaller GP machines, he learned how to get the best out of a 125 engine, and then a 250 engine. This is much different from Mick Doohan who came from wrestling big superbikes, an average type of motorcycle in those days and not a purpose built race machine. Then we he came to 500 and brought the same approach with him, he refined it of course.”

Burgess on how the level of competition in recent years – “The competition is very high now, especially compared to say 15 years ago when there was really only two works bikes, one for Lawson and one for Gardner. It was really only a Yamaha versus Honda thing.

“Then Mick came along and there were a couple more riders on Hondas, in the end there were five or six on the same machine as Mick. And now with Valentino there is going to be even more riders on the same sort of machine. So in my opinion the competition has got a little tougher each year.”

Burgess on Honda and the new four-stroke competition – “Honda is supplying more bikes to improve the competition and make better racing, not to just be the dominant manufacturer, but unfortunately that will go hand in hand with it, or I should say, could go hand in hand with it.

Burgess on Rossi possibly moving to four wheels – “If you talk to him (Rossi) he does have rally as a hobby but it certainly is not his job. I don't believe any switch to four wheels being in Valentino's immediate plans. He would have to lose a lot of interest in what he is doing before he would make a career change. As long as he enjoys motorcycle racing he will be here. But really, riders are like light bulbs, if they start to flicker you screw one out, and put another one in.”

Mick Doohan stated he never had any intention of switching to four wheels – “I never seriously had any intention of racing a car. I do enjoy having a bit of fun in a car but would never consider trying to take it seriously.”

Michelin’s Nicolas Goubert also raised a pertinent point in relation to how racing improves their product – “Michelin competes in various forms of motorsport but perhaps motorcycling is the only place where racing technology can really benefit our street tyres for the consumer.

“This is mainly because of the performance differential. Compared to say F-1, where a normal sports car is so far behind the performance of a Formula 1 car that not many similarities can be drawn. While today's high performance street bikes are really not that far behind a race machine, so we definitely find improvements that we can directly apply to our sporting tyres for the street.”

Mick on an early RC211V