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/1370554
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 19 MAY 11, 2021 P117 and all were violent. One of them, in Moto2 warm-up, sent Vietti's bike right over the air- fence. They revealed a hitherto ignor- able fact. The barrier may be air- fenced, but it is a lot too close for comfort, and this is a result of the faster speeds. Jerez joined the calendar in 1987, and winner Wayne Gard- ner's Honda NSR500's lap record was at 84.9 mph. In 2021 his son Remy set Moto2 pole at 98.2 mph. And that in just the intermediate class. In MotoGP, Vinales's new record was 102.4 mph. The bikes are going more than 20 percent faster. The run- off areas are the same. Then Quartararo—robbed of a dominant win by arm-pump. This was hardly a one-off. Most striking is just how common this complaint has become. Just this year, after the first races, Jack Miller and Jorge Martin had the op—a slash of the enclos- ing fascia membrane. Scarred forearms from corrective surgery are everywhere in the paddock— something of a badge of honor, or at least evidence of having passed an uncomfortable initia- tion ceremony. Arm pump is a temporary problem: overworked muscles swell up within the enclosing fas- cia membrane, causing pain and enfeeblement, which subside after less than 30 minutes rest. It can be prevented by simple surgery cutting a lengthways slit in the fascia, though (as in Quartararo's case) this can heal, requiring a repeat. Carpal tunnel syndrome, afflicting the tendons, is rather harder to deal with. Both were once a rarity. The growing prevalence is easily explained. Tires that grip harder and brakes squeeze better (currently offering some 2G of deceleration). This imposes great strain on arm muscles which, with today's sophisticated advanced riding techniques, combine precise throttle use at the same time as heavy braking and steering effort. These problems are all more or less solvable. Well, not so much the close racing. Social distancing is never going to catch on there. But speeds can be reduced and tire grip cut. It's all a matter of regulation. Maximum permis- sible power outputs, and a con- trol tire manufacturer sourced from the local budget tire shop, with a maximum allowable coef- ficient of friction. Easier still, with wet racing slower and thus safer, per- manent irrigation systems to be installed on all tracks. Be something of an extra expense in the desert of Doha, but then the Qataris have never minded spending money. Love doing so, actually. Then there's always the pos- sibility of adding chicanes. If not speed humps as well. But this is getting silly. Even sillier than the spectacle of the MotoGP Stewards Panel try- ing to stop Moto3 riders from maneuvering for slipstreaming in qualifying. (Talk about herding cats.) Better to accept the progress and exult in it. And to live with the frisson of fear that accompa- nies one on the sofa, watching a tooth-and-nail race. Because in the end, using the body count as the ultimate cri- terion, racing is much safer now than back in the old days, when it was a whole lot slower, but you could count on at least a handful of riders not making it through the year. CN Mechanical, electronic and financial dumb downs notwithstanding, lap times continue to drop and top speeds to rise. ] ]