Cycle News

VOL. 55 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 30, 2018 P113 Can that happen in 2018? Depends if Honda engineers, once again, confuse themselves with yet more major mechanical changes. Something of a habit for the world's leading manufac- turer. They're never satisfied with what they've got. And who can say they're not right to do so? But they do make life harder for themselves and their riders. Over the past three years, step by step, Honda radically altered several crucial aspects. First came the ultra-light crank- shaft, which spoiled accelera- tion by making throttle response very spiky. Then they reversed crankshaft rotation, coming into line with the opposition by spinning it backwards, but giving riders and chassis engineers a whole new set of responses and equations with which to come to terms. Then last year came new bigger-bang firing intervals: another significant change. And all this while also struggling to adapt from in-house electronics to the unified software and hard- ware. With engine design frozen from the first race, no quick fixes were available. Engineers and riders were given a big hill to climb. In 2015 it proved too steep; Yamaha's Lorenzo and Rossi were first and second overall. The next two years made Marquez work very hard to get back on top. We shall see if HRC can stop itself from doing it again. In this particular regard, the dumb-down engine-freeze rules worked in favor of the fans and the quality of the racing. But it has been chancy. What favored Ducati last year, after some inspired winter develop- ment, worked against Yamaha, with Rossi and Vinales saddled with an uncooperative package that was several times beaten by rookie Zarco on a year-old Yamaha. The imponderables remain; the rules simply make it harder for designers and engineers to recover from errors. At this level, of course, an error can be very small, but have big conse- quences. So we stand by, and try to avoid reading too much into the first tests. You will recall that last year Vinales was majorly domi- nant throughout, and won the first two races. Thereafter, just one more win and his results slumped. He ceased to be a factor. Quite apart from that about Honda (which will also impact on satellite rider Cal Crutchlow), the questions that will be answered over the 18 races are manifold. Can Rossi, now 39, remain sufficiently rejuvenated to pose a serious threat? Can his teammate Vinales reverse his broken promise? And can either of the factory Yamaha riders keep themselves clear of Zarco, now in his second year? Come to that, will the Frenchman be hindered by being obliged to ride one of the under-performing 2017 M-1s? Will Ducati keep on the technical progress, and if so will brand sophomore Jorge Lo- renzo steal Old Boy Dovizioso's thunder? Or will they just steal points from one another? Will ex-Moto2 class rookies Luthi and Nakagami come any- where near last year's efforts by Zarco (and, until he fell ill, also Jonas Folger)? And who will re- place Folger at Tech 3 Yamaha, after the German's sudden and belated withdrawal on the eve of the season? Will Aprilia manage to get closer to the limelight, with Scott Redding joining Aleix Es- pargaro? Will KTM manage to sustain the impressive impetus of their first season? And will Jack Miller's switch to the satellite Pramac Ducati team be the restart the young Aussie needs, after mixed fortunes in three years with Honda? But enough of the question marks. All will be revealed over the course of the next several months. And needing to know the answers is what has kept us all coming back for the past 69 years. CN

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