Sepang MotoGP Test | The More Things Change…

Financial realities finally caught up to the paddock in 2011. The notion that manufacturers could spend freely, and lease their prototypes for millions of euros, came to a crashing halt. Sponsorship continued to dry up, as did the coffers of at least two of the three remaining factories. Anticipating this, the major parties, Dorna, the FIM, and teams organization IRTA, agreed on a formula for filling the grid with lower-priced, lower-spec machines that unfortunately have attracted mostly less-talented riders.

“Honestly, you can see my hands,” he said, showing heavy calluses. “I feel like I’ve been holding onto a jackhammer the last three days.” Edwards believed the chattering was caused by Bridgestone’s new rear tires, which offer a faster warm-up at the cost of durability. Last year the tires were blamed for a number of crashes — a good portion of the MotoGP field have suffered a cold tire crash at one time or another, including all three Repsol Honda riders on the first day of practice for the 2011 Dutch TT. Edwards was willing to return to the old tire to alleviate the chatter. “I’ll give up a little safety or whatever on the first couple laps to have no chatter.”

The NGM Forward team is the only one using Bosch electronics, but the company’s technicians made a huge leap at the test and Edwards was closer to being able to ride the bike to its potential. Edwards felt that without the chattering, he’d be up very close to the satellite prototypes. “You know, with as much chatter as I have, I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean if we didn’t have any chatter, on my kids’ lives we could do a 3.0 or 2.5, no problem, easy.” Nonetheless, the CRT teams’ competitiveness remains a major question mark.

There was no question the new rear warmed up faster, even if the temperature in Sepang was reliably in the 90s. The question was how the tires would perform at the end of the race. It hasn’t been uncommon for Bridgestone riders to turn their fastest time on their last laps. “Concerning the rear, still we don’t know durability,” Yamada said. The determining factor would be lap time. “So how fast the lap time is also very important.” If it’s two- or three-tenths per lap, “this is a big gap for the whole 25 laps.”

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who rode well in Sepang after a forced layoff following the loss of part of his finger in the Australian Grand Prix, was second to Stoner. Teammate Ben Spies, fourth fastest, was also on the pace, as was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who finished with the third best time. But everyone was watching Valentino Rossi, and he didn’t disappoint. Using the all-new GP12 with a conventional aluminum perimeter frame, Rossi kept the gap to Lorenzo at about 0.7 seconds. More importantly, he’d regained the front-end feel that was missing last year, when he matched his career high with 12 crashes.

When the test ended his confidence was soaring. “For me, now Lorenzo and Stoner ride also better than me,” Rossi began, “but maybe with Pedrosa/Spies maybe is not impossible. And already fight for the podium for us is great.” Added crew chief Jeremy Burgess, “I definitely expect us to be challenging for the podium. I really think we should be in the mix with anybody other than perhaps (Stoner and Lorenzo) and that leaves us pumped up, really, for the podium.” Burgess explained that he’d been nervous prior to the test, “but three things I wanted here were a bike that braked and turned in well and doesn’t chatter. We had those three things and it is full credit to Ducati’s chassis design group.” Rossi’s teammate Nicky Hayden ran only a handful of laps due to his shoulder injury, which was due for surgery back in California immediately following the test.

“It is more fun,” to ride the 1000, “because you have more torque and you don’t need to fight with an aggressive engine in the slow corners and you can enjoy it,” Lorenzo said. “I enjoy it a lot more than the 800.” All of the 1000s make massive amounts of power; the key will be getting the most out of it.

Now Lorenzo said he was “very happy with the power, the acceleration and the top speed. This was a thing that we didn’t have in the past and now we do. We need to work a bit more in electronics for the exit of the corner. The problem is not the wheelie, but we need to make it smoother. Yamaha has concentrated on the areas it is not good on and this is good. They concentrated in maximum power and top speed and we got it, so maybe now we have to look at acceleration.”

Spies refutes the idea that the 1000s will forcibly alter riding styles. “The corner speeds are going to be a little bit lower, but I don’t think it’s going to dramatically change anything,” Spies said. “I just think it’s going to help a little bit for me being a bigger rider, top speeds and things like that. That could really be the benefit. I don’t think these bikes — in no way, shape or form, even with a lot of power — resemble a superbike, so it’s still mainly the bikes just have a lot of torque now. That’s the only difference. Obviously with the 1000 you have a lot less rpm, just in revving and the power delivery is just so much different.”

Said HRC’s Shuhei Nakamoto, “We have to make it cheaper. I don’t think we have to make it slower. Because there are some areas of interest for the technical area. To make the machine slower there’s no reason to continue in MotoGP. I fully understand and agree for the need to make the machine cheaper, but to make the machine slower, there’s no reason to stay here.”

Ezpeleta’s proposal is that the Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha each produce a maximum of two full prototypes and two prototypes to lease for €1 million, plus crash damage. Their recent five-year deal allows them to race prototypes through 2016. But of what specification? Rather than specific technical regulations, Ezpeleta said Dorna was considering recommending freezing development of the engine or chassis for a defined period. To further limit costs, they may go to one motorcycle per rider starting in 2013. If so, the number of engines may be cut from six to five. But that’s only one of the suggestions to be offered. Nothing will be decided until late May.

“I think it’s clear that MotoGP has many problems for four or five years, every year it gets more difficult,” Gresini said. “And this financial problem is difficult. There’s no money and every year the bike is improved. And every year MotoGP riders decrease and this is clear; for Dorna it’s an emergency. The manufacturers aren’t working too much to increase the number of riders and in that case it’s necessary for Dorna to work in another different way. In that case, for sure MotoGP is finished.” He added, “There needs to be a big change. And for this reason we need to decrease the cost and invest in new and young riders. This is important.”

He continued. “The manufacturers have two riders and the satellite teams pay a lot money. OK, bring us this rider. But they don’t have the possibility to invest in young riders. The cost of the bike is too much and the teams don’t always have a sponsor to finance this project for young riders, because the cost is very, very expensive. And for this reason, it’s clear it’s necessary to change the system. And the manufacturers, for me, don’t have a good focus for the problem. They’re saying the problem isn’t for the manufacturers, but for Dorna. I think it’s a mistake.”

It may not be the only mistake. Already questions about the future of MotoGP are being answered, but the final verdict won’t be known for at least another year. SR