VOL. 52 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 18, 2015 P81
a different matter. I think we
will come out with a very fair
priced model, because we
have so many suppliers in the
same group as KTM: WP for
suspension, Pankl for engine
components and Wethje for
carbon composite. We should
be able to make a competitive
price for the RC16. Last year
there were over 150 RC250R
Moto3 bikes running in vari-
ous championships all around
the world. And with the supply
of parts and backup it's pay-
ing off as a business, which
justifies the investment. Hopefully
a similar thing will happen with the
MotoGP bike.
Will it be a 75-degree V4, like
your last 990cc MotoGP engine
from ten years ago?
No, it's almost 90 degrees, or
in fact slightly less than 90 so as
to have more flexibility on the front
end on the different tracks. That's
what we have learned from Honda,
by studying closely what the oth-
ers are doing. But it'll be the same
designer as the 990, and also our
World Champion Moto3 engine—
Kurt Trieb. Kurt is heavily moti-
vated. You will see a tubular frame,
which is a clear statement just as
in Moto3, where we showed the
whole world that the tubular frame
is much better than anything in
aluminum—contrary to what Ducati
seems to think. They have the total
opposite opinion.
What's the timeline for the
project?
By May or June this year the
engine will run on the dyno, and we
expect to make our first tests some-
time in the autumn. We plan to go
racing in 2017 for the whole sea-
son, but maybe at the end of 2016
we can do a couple of races as wild
cards, to get some race practice.
One of your customers for the
Moto3 bike via his VR46 team
is quite a famous MotoGP rider
called Valentino Rossi. Are you
going to offer him the chance to
come and help you develop the
bike?
I think first we have to show we
have a competitive concept, but
Valentino is a very serious, very
trustworthy person, and for sure
if he wants to do something we'll
open the doors wide for him.
And will Red Bull sponsor this?
Normally when KTM goes
serious racing it's with Red Bull
support. And as you just recently
heard, MotoGP is returning to Aus-
tria in 2016 at the Red Bull Ring in
"BUT LET'S
BE HONEST,
IF YOUR
SUPERBIKE
IS REACH-
ING 200
HORSE-
POWER OR
MORE, IT'S
IMPOSSIBLE
TO ARGUE
THAT IT
BELONGS
ON THE
STREET.
IT REALLY
DOESN'T,
ANYMORE."
In the end, Miller was two points short of
Honda's Alex Marquez in the final Moto3
points standings last season.
