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/1495752
FEATURE I 2023 FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW P94 nology last year). All five manu- facturers spent a good deal of preseason experimenting with different aero packages, which don't just limit wheelie, but improve grip midturn. The new aero war reached near farci - cal levels at Portimao, when Yamaha debuted a Formula1- style spoiler, mounted on its tail unit, while Aprilia sampled new winglets tacked to the swingarm of the RS-GP. MotoGP is looking more to F1 for guidance on this matter. Ducati and Aprilia have hired several engineers formerly of Ferrari. KTM is following suit, upping the ante in 2023 by striking up a partnership with Red Bull Advanced Technolo - gies to have Formula1 expertise on hand to refine its aero. "We didn't grow our own experts enough for what's going on in MotoGP now," said Motorsports Director Pit Beirer. "It's super exciting and refreshing [to work with them]. We go to the wind tunnel quite a lot. We warned about this scenario for many years—it'll open a new hole in the budget. But we have the budget so now it's part of our project." In this department, Yamaha and Honda still lag behind. MICHELIN'S FRONT TIRE PRESSURE: TO PUNISH OR NOT TO PUNISH? 2023 also sees the introduction of a unified tire-pressure moni- toring system for all bikes which should see riders punished for any infringements. Minimum pressure limits (1.9 bar for the front tire, 1.7 for the rear) ex - isted last year, but each manu- facturer had its own means of measuring it, meaning there was no guarantee the data was aligned or hadn't been tampered with. It's believed many of last year's race winners were victori - ous with front tire pressures under the specified limit. That's set to change. Should a rider's tire pressure drop be- low the required amount for a certain period of time in practice or qualifying, they'll have the lap time cancelled. If it's below a certain level over a certain pe- riod in a race, a rider could find themselves disqualified. These periods have yet to be defined, however. And penalties won't be applied in the first three races, giving teams the chance to find their levels. Running front tire pressures under 1.9 bar can have poten - tially disastrous consequences. "If you don't put enough air inside the tire, the construc- tion is flexing," explained Piero Taramasso, Michelin's Head of Two Wheel Motorsport. "When it flexes you might make some rupture, the carcass could open, and it could explode." But riders are against this strict policing. Pressure in the front varies significantly depend - ing on track position. Find your- self in first position and it isn't an issue. But when stuck behind several bikes, it can rocket in a handful of laps. As Luca Marini explained, "Every rider was against this rule because it is a matter of safety that when the front pressure goes so high above 2.2 bar, it's really easy to crash. It's also impossible to predict the pressure to start because you want to stay inside the limit. If you're alone on track, then perfect, but if you have two riders in front of you then your pressure will be 2.3 and you risk crashing."