P120
CN II IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
Enjoy the last year of the 1000s.
I
t's a strange MotoGP season to come, the
last year of the 1000s. And that is something
of a worry.
From
2027, a new generation takes over:
smaller, slower, cheaper. And better?
Maybe
it's a pessimistic comparison, but a
similar change earlier in the reign of the big Mo-
toGP four-strokes didn't work out too well at all.
That
was in 2007, when the original 990cc mon-
sters were dumped in the history bin. Their sin was
not only
being too fast, but getting faster too fast,
if you'll forgive the tortured wording. There seemed
no end in the rapidly increasing top speeds, as
engineers got to grips with the possibilities.
Faced with the choice of either expanding run-
off areas to the point that spectators might as
well be in the next state or finding a way to stop
top
speeds climbing, the decision was taken—
drop the engine size to 800cc.
