VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P103
software last year, and were still
seeking base settings rather
than urgently needed detail re-
finements. Not to mention adapt-
ing to the new Michelin tires.
At the same time, a new
engine design had reversed the
"WE HAD PROBLEMS ESPECIALLY WITH ACCELERATION. NOT BAD
POWER, BUT WE COULDN'T OPEN THE THROTTLE. THE OTHER BIKES,
ESPECIALLY YAMAHA, WERE MUCH FASTER ON CORNER EXIT."
direction of crankshaft rotation,
and the engine was relatively un-
developed; in particular with too
much crankshaft inertia.
Normally this could
have been addressed
with a lighter crank, but
the freeze in engine
design meant the riders
were stuck with it.
Marquez had to dig
deep into his faith in
Honda, and his faith in
himself.
season. I asked them to show
everyone how Honda is able to
react to challenges, because we
were so far from our top
level. And really, little by
little, we've been cutting
our gap to the others,
which allowed us to
have a very competitive
RC213V in the latter part
of the season.
"Honda kept their
promise," he said.
The polite kid from a
"I had several meetings with
Honda," he said. "I promised
them that I'd be more conserva-
tive and focused on getting as
many points as possible in the
first races, but they had to help
me in the second half of the
blue-collar family in Cervera, a
country town an hour inland from
Barcelona, was already a racing
phenomenon. Talent-spotted at
eight, he came to GPs on a 125
in 2008. Valentino Rossi won a
single race in his first season; it
The Italian
MotoGP was
one of the races
of the year and
graphically
highlighted
the Honda's
acceleration flaws
as Lorenzo beat
Marquez (93) to
the line.
]
