VOL. 52 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 27, 2015 P33
ALBESIANO TALKS NEW APRILIA
W
ith two major racing projects to
look after—a completely new
one in MotoGP and a whole new set of
regulations in World Superbike—Aprilia
and its racing chief Romano Albesiano
have had a busy few months recently.
The Red Devils Aprilia team, with
full technical back-up from the Noale
factory, arrived at the Portimao tests
ready to go hard from the start, but
found the weather against them, al-
lowing Albesiano to speak of the 2015
changes before the action started in
earnest.
"This is the final version of the bike,"
Albesiano confirmed. "In the previous
Jerez sessions we tested a transition bike, the
2014 bike with the engine map to give the same
power as this one. So this is the proper bike that
will be shipped to Australia, based on the new ho-
mologated machine. That helps for sure."
Albesiano also gave an indication of how much
less power the Aprilia would be producing com-
pared to 2014's more freely tuned version.
"About 15 horses," he said, and then confirmed
that it should, in theory, be more user-friendly be-
cause of the reduced top power. "Looking at the
power diagrams it looks like it should be easier, we
expect this, but it is never easier. You cannot avoid
the use of electronics. These bikes are electronic
dependent—how you say in English? Electronics
addicted."
As Aprilia makes its own electronics, they were
less dependent on others for supply of equipment
and this has meant few changes despite the new
cost-capping limits.
"The new regulation changed our electronics
situation very slightly," said Albesiano. "We were
just changing some sensors, as sensors are lim-
ited, but the functionality of the system has not
changed. We do not have a new ECU box, be-
cause the previous situation was already very
close to what is requested now."
Gordon Ritchie
vee-twin 1190 RX, after a recent
test in the USA.
"We made some laps today
but every time we go out it starts
raining," said Canepa. "We need
to ride a little bit because we have
to work a little bit on the bike. We
did a good job in America at the
end of the year but these are new
bikes, everything is new, so we
have to set everything up a little
bit. Also compared to other rid-
ers we have to understand what
is good and what we have to do."
Canepa said at the moment
each of the two different front
brake configurations have their
strong points.
"For power, the dual disc is
best, I think, but they are working
on the single disc to make more
power," Canepa said. "Especially
in handling and cornering speed
the single disc is so much better
than the dual one. The corner
speed is better because it closes
the line better. It is good. I like it.
If they do something good with
the single disc I will use it."
Gordon Ritchie
Romano Albesiano
talks Aprilia RSV4
under the new World
Superbike rules.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
