Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MotoGP Tech: Where to Now? There isn't an instruction manual saying I how you should build a MotoGP bike. Thus, the manufacturers are learning how to do it right in front of our eyes . In fact, it's the first time in 30 years that we have had a race series where genu ine "blue sky" development is ongoing. Each team has different issues to deal with - different strengths and different factory needs to do to drag itself up the finishing order. Ap rilia Nothing formal has been announced, but it's looking a bit unlikely that the Evo version of the Cube will ever be raced. The Evo incorporates all the modifications that the riders have asked for, but now it needs time and money to transform it from a pro- den the Ducati is very much in the hunt . Ducatl's tests at the end of 2004 showed chassis modifications designe d to make the swingarm more stable . The ones tested didn't look very light, so a new chassis with a built-in swingarm-pivot support would be nice, as the one being used in testing looked like it added over five kilos of metal to the bike. It's nice, but a bit clunky. Honda Honda has the best bike in MotoGp, but with Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha it's well and truly under attack . The question for 2005 is what can it do to give its riders a little edge? Developments in 2004 included more revs, up to 16,200 rpm , and various options with exhaust systems. The 22-liter (5.n-gallons) fuel rule will start in 2005, and Honda will have more work to do than most totype to a racer. to get its bike to complete a race distance on The bike has a new gearbox and engine with the engine redesigned to fit in the chassis be tter and to give the bike the reduced amount of fuel. All things being equal , a five-cylinder weaknesses . This is our take on what each improved traction exiting corners . While the Aprilia has always had loads of power, it has never been able to dea l with the allimportant initial acceleration while leaned over. This lack of grip in the corner itself has always meant that the bike has been slower all the way down the straight compared to opposition with the same power. In 2004, Aprilia used very little of the flyby-wire technology that was on the bike in the beginning. Maybe now that the company has a more complete bike it can start to gain a little incentive again. Du ca t ; Ducati's had an awful year in 2004, and the team's season only really started to come together right at the end . Despite a healthy dose of Ferrari Formula I technol ogy from Weber Marelli, the bike doesn't have a reputation for being easy to ride. Ducati did manage to hang on to the power advantage it had in 2003 , but getting the bike to handle better is the missing piece of the jigsaw It is possible that switching to . Bridgestone tires could be the key. Each tire manufacturer can only pro duce a limited number of different tire con structions, and there is no doubt that hav- ing very specialized tires built to deal with your bike's handling problems is one very effective way of getting the lap times down . Michelinprobably has been showing preferential treatment to Yamaha and Honda because of those teams' front running positions . With probably having to make do with tires built for other bikes in 2004, next year Ducati will be Bridgestone's fastest team and will have tires built just for them . Development of the tires will now be directed to suit the Ducati chassis and, at the very least, it will give Ducati a chance to get very good results at the two or three circuits where the Bridgestones we re clearIy superior to the Michelins - Mugello, Rio and Motegi. If Bridgestone can help solve some of the handling issues. then we can add Catalunya and Valencia to that list (both circuits have long straights ), and all of a sud- 10 JANUAR 5, 2005 Y • engine can be revved more than a four, and the more you rev an engine the more fuel it uses. It goes w ithout saying that Honda is a world leader in motorcycle engine design, and if its engineers can't make a five-cylinder last with only 22 liters, nobody can. But they may still have to sacrifice power to do it. Given Honda's skills, however, it seems more likelythat it will just have to fight harder for any power increase s. Expect revised e lectronics and quite possibly an engine that looks slightly different to come out of the R&D process. Although there is a lot of talk of a three-cylinder engine, HRC bosses have been very firm with a view that they will continue with the five-cylinder motor - but that doesn't mean it has to be exactly the same one that they have right now! Kawasaki Kawasaki's problems this year were all engine-based . The chassis that came out of the cooperation with Eskil Suter has clearly worked extremely well, although the team did seem to have to replace quite a few chassis because of cracking. The Kawasaki engine is a classic, oldfashioned, in-line four with no balance shaft. While this package is okay at 13,000 to 14,000 rpm , the vibration this must be causing at the very high revs now being achieved is probably not helping the bike's reliability and that probably has something to do with the chassis cracking. Adding a balance shaft would kill off vibration and, because it would turn in the opposite direction to the crankshaft, should reduce some of the gyroscopic stability given by the crankshaft. And this is one of Kawasaki's main problems right now. It would also allow Kawasaki to change the firing order of the engine in the same way that Yamaha, Suzuki and Ducati have done to get the best possible traction out of corners . KRKTM Initial testing has gone really w ell. Jeremy McWilliams was let loose on the bike with Miche lin tires in Jerez and turned close to competitive times straight away. Roberts' CYCLE NEWS One of the big changes for MotoGP next year is Ducati's move to Bridgestone tires. problem now is to raise the finance needed to take the team forward so that they have a chance to devel- op the bike to the point where it can achieve posi- tive results . Red Bull's decision to buy the old Jaguar F-I team hasn't helped, as Red Bull would have been a natural sponsor. At least KTM has little choice but to supply engines since it has spent the big money designing the package and no one else is lining up to buy it. The decision by Ducati to move to Bridgestones means that there are a few more Michelins available. If Roberts can get his hands on those, they will at least be able to get the 220 to 230 horsepower of the KTM engine to the ground. Then at last we will all be able to see how good KR's beautiful chassis really is. Suzuki Suzuki stunned us all this year with its ability to get a very slow motorcycle around a race circuit very quickly with some very good chassis development and the superb Bridgesto ne qualifying tires. When you take into account that the bike is probably 30 horsepower down on the top guys, that's quite an accomplishment . There are some rumors that Suzuki may choose to go to a different engine layout, but even if it stays with its V-four it has to make some drastic changes to the power output. It has to be possible that the output of the MotoGP engine is very similar to, or even less than, the power output of the GSXRIOOO - and that's where Suzuki seems to have concentrated its development. The 2004 engine had some reliability issues with its cylinder heads, with John Hopkins blowing up several engines when cam followers and valve springs fell apart. It's sorting this out and producing an engine capable of making more power that must be Suzuki's priority. One method might be to adopt a Weber Marelli engine management system . All the other te ams except Honda , Proton/KR and WCM are using it, and it certainly helped the Kawasaki improve at the end of last year. Another option might be for new team manager Paul Denning to bring his preferred Motec technology from his British 5uperbike team . It all depends on whether Suzuki wants to win on the racetrack or whether it values the informat ion it and its OEMs are getting from developi ng the ir own technology even more. Yama ha Yamaha has already shown its new bike for 2005 - a bike that 's almost completely changed from the 2004 vers ion. But that doesn't mean the development stops there , because Yamaha is desperate to win in 2005 as the icing on the cake for its SO-year celebration of making motorcycles. The new engine still has to be developed to make real power and Rossi has already been quoted as saying that while the new layout has improved some things, it hasn't helped on others. We can expect to see different swingarms as the team tries for different flexibilities and m ore grip in the corners, and we can expect even better suspension from Ohl ins, who, as part of Yamaha, do its part in making those 50th anniversary cele- brations worthwhile. Yamaha engineers still haven't really used the full abilities of the Weber Marelli fuelinjection and traction control , and by the time they get the new bike sorted, it is possible it will be the next thing for them to try. That willbe tried in testing, howeve r, as crew chiefJerry Burgess will not allow anybody to do anythingtoo adventurous at the races. WCM WCM have linked up with Blata to pro duce a new V-six engine. T his is not yet at the casting stage so it may be some time before we actually see it. If it is late showing up, then the four-cylinder bikes will be out again while development of the V-six continues. For WCM the biggest problem is going to be the balance between fuel consumption and powe r. The biggest advantage of the six is that it can rev more than the four- and five-cylinder engines . The trouble is that once it does so, you have to keep the same proportion of fuel to air, so you effec- tively use more fuel as we ll. Given that the six-cylinder has a weight penalty, its major saving grace is sheer power. So, we can expect to see some very crafty thinking to try and save fue l. WCM might simply join the crowd with Marelli fue l-injection software, but with a new engine and an independent way of thinking this might be a time for another auto racing electronics manufacturer to decide to get used to the world of MotoGP. Neil Spalding

• Cover