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SEPANG MOTOJIEST SUZUKI WILOCARD ENTnV TP1'ERATURE-RESISTANT TIRES
MOTOGP FUTURE NOW
MOTOGP
Preseason testing provides answers and leads to more questions
Neil Spalding
MotoGP is seeing big changes this year. The classes have been renamed. The top class is now called “Factory” and the supposedly simpler, cheaper bikes previously known as CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) have been given the “Open” designation.
There is the debut of a control ECU for all bikes, new factory-supplied “budget” prototypes and engines for the Open class, and a reduction of the fuel available to the works bikes from 21 liters to 20. Other changes include a freeze on engine design for the year for the factory entrants, with their five engines per rider all sealed before the start of the first race in Qatar.
As if those changes weren’t enough, Bridgestone decided to make some small changes to its tire constructions to simplify supply and improve reliability by using a “heat-resistant” construction for all the rounds.
At the first preseason test at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit this past February, Honda continued to stamp its superiority on the Factory class. Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez set the fastest lap, and, in doing so, he broke Casey Stoner’s 2011 absolute lap record. The Honda is a hard-braking, quick-turning, high-power bike, and it is clear that HRC has no problems with the 20-liter fuel limit. ->
The RCV213V is set up relatively high to increase forward weight transfer during braking. This package seems to work well with the new Bridgestones. Honda racing chief Shuhei Nalcamoto confirmed that several chassis had been tried, all with the same geometries and different degrees of flexibility.
Yamaha didn’t have things as easy. Running race distance on 20 liters is more of a problem. One step is a seamlessshift transmission that now works with all six gears rather than the second-throughsixth version that debuted last year at Misano. The only external sign of this change is the additional small lever under the clutch lever that operates the “neutral gate” for the N-1-2-3-4-5-6 pattern this gearbox design requires.
On the first day of the three-day test, all the Yamaha riders were complaining of poor throttle “feel.” By day two, major progress had been made. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that most of the factory Yamahas didn’t work well on the new Bridgestone softs. For its speed, the Yamaha has relied on maintaining high lean angles in long arcs though a corner, which required good edge grip. But something has changed.
The one Yamaha rider who didn’t have a problem with his tires was Valentino Rossi, and his bike was set up differently. Rossi struggled last year with the long-arc style. He wanted a higher bike that would pitch more aggressively on the brakes— transferring more weight to the front tire, working the tire carcass harder, generating heat and grip—and allow him to turn faster. To further improve corner entry, changes were made to his slipper-clutch settings.
Yamaha was confused by the difficulties the new Bridgestones were causing its riders. YZR-Mi project-leader Kouji Tsuya commented, “Yamaha has previously had good experience with these tires; we used them at Mugello last year. The difficulties we experienced here were not expected. We need to do some work on this.”
Ducati brought yet another new bike to Sepang. Clearly a development of its 2013 model, this one had a new chassis, swingarm, and bodywork. The main change was a revised position for the 20-liter fuel tank. More of the fuel is located lower, under the seat.
Some major issues remain. Swingarm pivot position, which determines machine attitude (squat versus anti-squat) on initial throttle application mid-corner, still looks low and remains at the top of its adjustment all of the time. The bike continues to understeer at the corner apex (which can result from squat at the rear), something the Ducatis have done since they first arrived in MotoGP. It’s a sign that there is a problem with the dynamic weight distribution (or attitude) of the bike. Would it be possible to tuck the gearbox even closer to the front than it already is?
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Suzuki's test team started the first day at Sepang with one bike using a Mitsubishi ECU and one with a control Magneti Marelli. After the first day, only Marelli was used. This slowed speeds but forced factory software development. There have been new frames and dif ferent engine tunes, but the basic concept-a reverse rotating-crank crossplane inline-4 that debuted last year-remains the same.
New Ducati Corse boss Gigi DallTgna inherited most of this redesign. He is now trying to learn as much as possible about how the bike works to let him consider starting a redesign sometime after the first three races of the season. DallTgna is also considering entering all (or some) of the Ducatis under the new Open regulations. This would give him an extra 4 liters of fuel while allowing Ducati to experiment with different engine setups and mounting points, both
critical to developing a better machine. One DallTgna touch was quickly apparent when both Andrea Dovizioso’s machine and a testbike sprouted an Aprilia-style exhaust-pipe valve during the test. The valve has been used to create backpressure that assists in countering crank inertia during corner entry, but at Sepang it made only a small difference.
DallTgna conceded he has to start with what exists now. “I will return to Italy and look at the data,” he said. “I have to understand the problem before I can try to fix the bike. For sure, the problems I see with a frozen engine design are major, because if you can fix the engine, you also fix a lot of the chassis problems.”
Honda debuted its new Open-class RCVioooRat Valencia last year. The bike wasn’t as fast as everyone expected, and this was blamed on the lack of correct gearbox ratios. New ratios were made available for the Sepang test, but the bikes remained slow. Speed-gun data reportedly showed Aleix Espargaro’s Mi-
engined FTR Yamaha 6 mph down on the Repsol Hondas and the RCVioooRs a further 6 mph down on him. Honda left the test finally conceding that engine performance will have to be improved, possibly with pneumatic valve springs, but said that the upgrade project was only just starting.
Yamaha’s Open-class project has trumped Honda’s new bike completely.
Whereas Honda developed a new “low-cost” bike for sale, Yamaha took the easier route and leased factory engines and selected year-old chassis parts. Espargaro got his FTR Yamaha under the two-minute barrier, one of only four riders to do so. His bike consists of a Tech 3-spec engine that is now able to use up to 24 liters of fuel in a race. Yamaha also provided his team with works chassis, swingarms, and linkages for one year while they develop their own FTR-built pieces as replacements.
More will become clear when the season begins in late March at the Grand Prix of Qatar. CUM
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Bridgestone has decided to make its “temperatureresistant” tires standard fitment for Factory bikes. This rubber was used several times last year without problems, but at Sepang, it caused significant grip issues for the Yamahas. The tires have asymmetric compounding, and the heatresistant modifications affect the harder half, making the carcass stiffen The soft tire that is now available for the Open bikes was originally brought in because the lower-powered CRT bikes couldn’t build enough heat into the normal tires to make them work. Now, however, the soft tires represent a grippy benefit to the cheaper class. Bridgestone also experimented with new color coding on its tire sidewalls; red and green were tried this time. Getting robust markings that will last full distance is proving difficult because of the amount of flex occurring in the sidewall region.
B,l HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM BEFORE I CAN TRY TO FIX THE BIKE."
