VOL. 51 ISSUE 11 MARCH 18, 2014 P123
helps deliver pinpoint, ultra-pre-
cise steering, which nevertheless
felt more planted and predictable
than the more skittish Mahindra,
and definitely more stable when
braking hard.
And while you must use the
clutch to backshift under braking
– with RBW forbidden for Moto3,
there's no chance of an auto-blip-
per – the effective slipper clutch,
which still retains a little bit of en-
gine braking, allows you to ride
the Moto3 KTM like the 125cc GP
two-strokes it supplanted. That
means down shifting through five
gears in swift succession without
blipping the throttle, while hold-
ing in the clutch lever braking
hard for the tight right-hander at
the end of that long straight.
It takes some convincing your-
self that you really can leave your
braking as late as you actually
can, but on my penultimate lap I
did finally find the limit, and had
to take to the (tarmac!) runoff.
But if the KTM's chassis is an
excellent package, the real star
of the show is that glorious en-
gine, which was way more torqu-
ey than I expected it to be, pulling
strongly upwards from 7000 rpm
on the analog Koso tach - all the
way to the fierce-action 14,000
rpm limiter (no RBW, remember).
That's a huge spread of usable
power for a bike like this, and in-
deed the KTM felt more forgiving
in midrange delivery than the Ma-
hindra did, although there's a brief
extra kick around 12,000 rpm, be-
fore the row of shifter lights flash
all together at 13,800 rpm to grab
your attention, and tell you to shift
before the arrival of the rev-limit-
er. That's only in fourth and fifth
gears – in the lower three ratios
the lights flash sooner (at differ-
ent points in each gear) so as to
optimize acceleration by maximiz-
(Left) Salom ended up finishing
third in the World Championship
after leading the title chase head-
ing into the final round.
(Above) The KTM uses twin 218mm
Brembo steel discs.
(Top right) The little Moto3 racer
uses White Power suspension.
(Top bottom) KTM's radial-valve,
DOHC single makes 56 horsepow-
er at 13,800 rpm.
