Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/110408
P32 IN THE WIND volved in implementing the program of control ECUs - the Magneti-Marelli AGO 340 - that some teams are using this year and which will be mandatory in 2014. We spoke to Cecchinelli at the recent Sepang test, then followed up with e-mailed questions. This is an edited transcript of those encounters. Who's using the control ECU this year? We have six CRT riders, which is two from Avintia [Hiroshi Aoyama and Hector Barbera], two from Forward [Colin Edwards and Claudio Corti], two from Ioda [Danilo Petrucci and Lukas Pesek], and one from Paul Bird Racing [Yonny Hernandez]. Are they all using Dorna software? Yes, because they have to. This year it is offered as optional package, so you take it all or not. It is optional, but if you take it, you take it all. How is the software programmed? It is mainly based on the best available data from Marelli, which is something more or less you can buy. For instance, if you are racing a Superbike you can buy that. And it is, at the moment, updated with the features that are not something like brain strategies. It's more like making it work on all kinds of engines and machines we have here. And then from now on we start the evolution of the system with different things, like different strategies. Cecchinelli discusses things with Ducati's Paolo Ciabatti at the recent Sepang MotoGP test. What level of firmware and software will the control ECUs come with? At the moment the ECU's are flashed with software that is more or less the one that MagnetiMarelli had [the one they had on the "general" market], updated to make it work for all the MotoGP engines and bikes. This is to be considered as a starting point, and, together with teams and manufacturers, and following what happens on the track, we will from time to time introduce improvements to it. Assuming the ECUs come with a base map, will the teams be able to program the software? The ECU's will not actually come with a base map, but the teams have an initial mapping session for free from us if they wish so and if they feel more confident with it. Otherwise, the ECU is not calibrated. "Programming" the software is something that the teams using the full MotoGP package, like CRTs at present, will never be able to do, but they will be able to tune or calibrate it, i.e., given the software, the strategies and how they work, they will put numbers in that make their own machines work in the best conditions and matching their riders' requests. But, once again, this is tuning or calibrating existing software, and not programming. From 2014 on there will be the chance to use only the MotoGP ECU, and not the full package including the software, so it will be allowed to actually write or program the software, at