P122
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
T
he British GP was a great
race, and fascinating at
a deeper level as well as
the raw excitement of a battle
won by inches at the last gasp—
fourth-closest margin in the his-
tory of racing.
That a (relatively) slow bike like
the Suzuki, ridden by a (rela-
tively) inexperienced MotoGP
rider like Alex Rins could beat
the great maestro Marquez on
his all-conquering Honda was
almost entirely unexpected.
And yet, to some faceless
keyboard commentators waffling
on the interweb, in spite of no
more engineering or mathemati-
cal training than an earwig, it
was easily explicable.
Apparently, it is because of the
engine architecture. Like this.
The in-line Suzuki engine has
a longer crankshaft (actually
wider, in terms of how it sits in
the motorcycle); the V4 Honda's
crank is shorter. This width
apparently makes all the differ-
ence, even though they probably
weigh more or less the same
and are spinning at the same
sort of speed and in the same
direction (backward, opposite to
the wheels).
The 20,000-plus rpm reverse
spin clearly has some effect
NEVER MIND THE MARGINS,
FEEL THE WIDTH
How did Alex Rins
beat the master,
Marc Marquez, at
Silverstoe?
PHOTO: GOLD & GOOSE
