P112
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
W
ings are banned. Prog-
ress has been jammed.
MotoGP has taken
another backward step away
from being a genuine sphere of
valuable engineering research.
Or has it?
Perhaps the opposite—al-
though in areas of development
other than engineering.
Creative engineering in rac-
ing is most often not a matter
of advancing knowledge and
benefitting the human race but
instead finding a way round the
regulations. Any real advance is
by coincidence.
As the second round of tests
ended in Australia, the biggest
surprise came from Ducati,
pioneers of the modern genera-
tion of winglets, and the most
vocal opponents of the ban. The
Italian squad, revealed under-
chief Paolo Ciabatti rather crust-
ily, was going to stick with the
standard fairing, unadorned with
winglets within or without.
This makes Ducati almost
unique, by this time, all the oth-
ers had revealed their loophole
specials. All except newbies
KTM, with other things to worry
about first. Although the rule
allowing one fairing upgrade per
season gives Ducati the chance
of an about-face.
Loopholes they were, almost
literally so. Except that all of
them had winglets inside.
Yamaha came first, with
double-sided fairing flanks
PUTTING WINGS BACK IN THE CLOSET
