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/128324
By MICHAEL IN THE PADDOCK SCOTT Is Change Good? T hank heavens fo r thi s: Th e problem of the too-fast MotoGP bikes ha s been solved . By the manufacturers, no less . And who sho uld know how to tame the vau lting ho rsepower better- the very same en gineers whose life's w ork is to increase ho rsepower? Talk about ge tt ing a fox to guard your chickens! As soon as 2007 (it's closer tha n you think, you know), engine size will be drastically re duced. The current overmuscled 990cc full-race facto ry prototypes w ill be consigned to histo ry's scra p heap . In their place will come ... 900cc full -race factory prototypes. And as if that were not enough already, along with a few kilos weight increase, the MSMA (the racing manufacturers' association) further suggests that it might even think about cutting the fuel capacity as well. The riders , presently in fear for their lives, must be heaving a sigh of relief. No more wrestling with 2S0-plus horsepower, like they are forced to do now (life's tough at the coal-face , you know) . In only three more years, they will be given a break . They will only have to wrestle with (at a rough guess) 260-plus horsepower, from the new power-up 9OOs. All too mad for words, really - but I think that the manufacturers , who pronounced these plans at Je rez, are simply, in their quie t and typically oblique way, giving everyone a little lesson in life and racing. Tha t since the more you change , the more you stay the same, why bother changing very much? As I wrote in these pages a few weeks ago, after Capirossi's landmark 2 15.4 mph at Catalunya tests had set the cat among the pigeons, reducing danger may be a very noble concept, but the very notion of much safer. Well, how about further limitations to the engines - a maximum of three cylinders (say), or maximum perm issible horsepowe r of 200 horsepower. Problem is, AMA and British Superbike-spec Supe rb ikes wou ld then turn faster lap times. and very polite, is prepared to go through the motions , with a couple of kilos on he re and a few ccs gone there. But really, it's only for appearances. All this came in the same week that FI anno unced radical rule changes, with st ringent tec hnical limitat ions. Out go "But is a heavier bike safer? I don't think so." slowing racing motorcycles down is a paradox in every way. And, as FI car racing has repeatedly found, it doesn't wo rk. Put a performance-restrictor in front of a racing engineer, and he won't sleep until he's found a way around it. Even if they cut engine capacity further, to 7oocc, it would only be a matter of time before speeds and lap times (if not all-out engine power) matched those of the 990s. Probably not very much time . But the bikes, tuned to the gills, would be raggedy old beasts to ride, and hardly Okay, add weight. That would work, for a bit, until the tires got better. But is a heavier bike safer? I don't think so . There's the same problem with restricting the fuel capacity. It only increases the likelihood of running out on the last lap. Cutting out midchicane in a close battle is one of the most dangerous things any rider could do . In the end , even quite major changes to rules or specifications make little difference to lap times and ultimately even to top speeds. The MSMA, mainly Japanese three-liter V-lOs, in come compulsory 2.6-liter V-Bs, which will have to last at least two races. Testing is radically cut back. Electronics and dr iver aids are swept away. There's no pussyfooting around with footling little changes . And no messing with extended deadlines either. They 'll start in 2006. This is different from what's happening in bikes. The car racers have no safety issues. It's all about cutti ng back on science, boffins and money. They're trying www.cLJclenews.com to regain F I racing as some sort of a human sport, where drivers duke it out and might even overtake one anot her sometimes, to the pleasure and amazeme nt of the fans. MotoGP racing already has all that. It needs to slow dow n because the top speeds are gett ing too high, and not only the riders are getting nervy. Since Daijiro Kate's death at the beginning of last season, the re has been a merciful dearth of serious accidents and injuries, but as ever in racing this is touch and go. There's always a lot of luck involved, and the riders remain freshly reminded of their own mortality. There are a few things to be remembered here . Firstly, that racing is a voluntary activity And it's always going to be a bit . risky. You might say: It's supposed to be. Secondly, nobody should be exposed to unreasonable danger. Like concrete walls close to places where the bikes are travelling more than 210 mph. And, finally, that the only way to slow racing down is to race on slower tracks with slower corners. A sad end . eN CYCLE NEWS • MAY 19,2004 107