With almost six weeks to go before you see another MotoGP bike in action here are the latest gadgets and gizmos seen at recent races, plus an analysis of Honda’s troubles with the RC213V
Ducati has added a carbon-fibre frame to its already busy front-wheel assembly. The frame carries the numerous cables and sensors that record various aspects of front-end performance.
There’s a total of four sensors in this photo, three of them grouped together, above right of the wheel axle. One of these cables is for the two wheel-speed sensors, below right of the axle. These are piggy-backed in case one fails, because wheel-speed sensors are such a vital part of the motorcycle’s electronics controls that it wouldn’t really work without them.
The second sensor is for the 2D infra-red temperature sensor, the little red box aimed at the disc rotor, which measures brake temperature.
The third sensor, with its cable curving below the axle and behind the mudguard near the Shell sticker, probably carries data from an accelerometer that measures up-and-down acceleration at the axle. This data is compared to data from another accelerometer mounted on the triple clamp, thus unsprung weight versus sprung weight. The difference between these two numbers is what the suspension doesn’t absorb, which is something the rider really feels, especially if he is running stiffer fork settings.
The fourth sensor, focused on the wheel rim, just below the rear of the fender, is most likely another heat sensor, measuring the temperature of the rim. Of course, all MotoGP wheels also have internal sensors, which measure air pressure and air temperature.
This year’s Austrian GP on August 21 could be particularly interesting in terms of front-tyre performance. For the first time Brembo’s biggest-ever MotoGP discs – 355mm diameter, up from 340mm – will be mandatory because the Red Bull Ring is MotoGP’s most demanding circuit for brakes.
Take a look at how close to the wheel rim the 340mm discs come on Miller’s GP22 and then imagine how close the 355s will be to the rim and what effect that could have on tyre temperature and pressure.
Aprilia’s ground-effect fairing is a big step forward. Wider fairing lower sucks the bike into the ground for better grip
MotoGP’s last few seasons have been characterised by some fairly wild downforce aerodynamic designs, so Aprilia’s latest ground-effect fairing doesn’t look that special.
But in fact it is and played an important role in Aleix Espargaró’s heroic comeback from the gravel trap to fourth at Assen on Sunday.
Espargaro tested the new fairing lower during the post-Catalan GP tests at Barcelona and used it on Friday and Saturday at red-hot Sachsenring, the week before Assen. But the fairing, which was also designed to improve internal and external airflow, would’ve roasted his right foot in the race, so he didn’t use it, even though it improved performance.
Like all aero, the fairing’s efficiency increases massively with speed. By presenting a flat surface against the asphalt it accelerates airflow, creating a low-pressure area, which sucks the bike into the ground. Therefore Espargaró found it best through the ’Ring’s fastest corners.
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“It gives me more stability, especially at Turns 9, 10 and 11, so I can push a more,” he said in Germany. “And when you have more stability you are able to squeeze the tyres more to push harder, so you can accelerate bit more. Especially when you have a lot of speed it feels like the tyres push into the ground more, which is always a positive. Maybe the bike is a bit less agile, a bit more difficult to change direction, but it’s not a huge difference.”
Espargaró could not have chosen a better place to race the new fairing for the first time than Assen, which is dominated by very fast, sweeping corners.
“I noticed it a lot,” he said after the race. “As soon as you release the brake in very fast sections I was a lot faster than the rest. In Ramshoek [the fast left before the chicane] I carried maybe 20 kays [12mph] more than the others. It was unbelievable the speed and momentum I carried.”
Espargaró’s speed through Ramshoek played an important part in his double overtake of Brad Binder and Jack Miller on the last lap.
And if the ground effect really is so effective it surely won’t be long before rival manufacturers create their own versions. Ground clearance must be tricky however, because if that extended section of the fairing makes contact with the track at full lean, the rider is unlikely to stay onboard.
KTM searching for aero solutions to its problems
The Red Bull RC16s in Germany: Binder’s bike (left) with higher-downforce upper wings than Oliveira’s
At the start of this year KTM significantly increased its downforce aero, with bigger upper wings and new sidepods added to the sides of the RC16’s fairing.
However, motorcycles have a much smaller requirement for aero than race cars, so more aero isn’t always the answer in MotoGP.
Brad Binder had problems, especially during May’s Spanish GP at Jerez, where the new aero created too much downforce, causing him to almost lose the front each time he rode through the track’s scary, super-fast double right before the final hairpin. Obviously, the more speed, the more downforce.
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At the Italian GP earlier this month KTM introduced its single 2022 aero upgrade, featuring lower-downforce wings and no sidepods. In other words, reduced downforce. Since then different riders are using different solutions at different tracks, so it seems KTM hasn’t found a certain way forward with aero in its efforts to improve overall performance.
Inevitably, each rider has his own preference, according to riding technique and so on.
At Sachsenring, Binder’s bike featured the high-downforce wings, without sidepods, while Miguel Oliveira’s bike featured the lower-downforce wings, with sidepods.
It’s fairly easy to see the reduced surface of Oliveira’s wings, especially the lower section of the wings, which feature a Gurney flap at the trailing edges.
“This is a way to power up a wing profile without completely redesigning it,” says Formula 1 aerodynamicist and motorcycle racer Ali Rowland-Rouse.
A Gurney flap sharpens the exit angle of the airflow from the wing to give more downforce, rather than using a steeper-angle wing which would create more drag. The flap is named after American Formula 1 driver and team owner Dan Gurney who invented and developed the technology in the early 1970s.
Suzuki increases aero downforce at Sachsenring and Assen
Mir’s new aero at Sachsenring and Rin’s aero upgrade at Assen
If KTM started 2022 with too much downforce aero, Suzuki started with less than any manufacturer, which is one reason the GSX-RR moved up the top-speed league this year.
However, at Jerez, Suzuki riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins suffered the opposite problem to KTM’s excessive downforce overloading the front tyre. Many of Jerez’s corners are very long, requiring the rider to open the throttle early, which obviously removes load from the front tyre, reducing tyre contact and therefore grip, so the bike runs ride unless the rider reduces throttle opening, which hurts acceleration.
In Germany Mir rode with his aero upgrade, with large fairing sidepods, which he had tried in the post-Catalan GP tests at Barcelona.
“Here [at Sachsenring] we get a lot of wheelie, especially exiting the last corner,” said Mir. “With more downforce on the front it’s better. Also in fast corners the extra downforce gives you more support on front and better turning. That’s why the bikes keep turning sharper, because more downforce keeps the front tyre on the ground to improve turning.”
Rins was unable to test at Barcelona, due to injuries sustained in the Turn 1 pile-up, so at Assen last weekend he gambled on using a different Suzuki aero upgrade. Each aero design is per rider, not per team or factory.
“I tried the centre wings [sidepods] during pre-season testing at Sepang and I didn’t like how the bike was working,” explained Rins at Assen. “This is why I chose this different option. In the wind tunnel it gives more downforce, so on the track it reduces wheelies but it doesn’t make the bike less agile, which is what I felt with the centre wings. We have compared data here and I don’t know if it’s because of the difference in aero designs but my bike has less wheelie than Joan’s.”
A smaller top fairing can make a big difference to turning
Enea Bastianini’s Ducati GP21 has a visibly wider top fairing than Bagnaia’s GP22
MotoGP’s last few racetracks feature a lot of fast corners and many high-speed changes of direction, which is why we’ve heard Pecco Bagnaia and other Ducati GP22 riders talk so much about this year’s narrower upper fairing, which creates less wind resistance, therefore allowing riders to turn into corners faster, hold their line better and change direction quicker.
“The smaller fairing gives us better handling,” said Assen winner Bagnaia. “Last year we worked a lot to improve this area of our bike for this year, because the bike wasn’t turning, so we’ve gone from a bike that didn’t turn to a bike that turns a lot. It really helps in the faster corners at Sachsenring and Assen and Mugello, so overall it’s a big improvement.
What’s gone wrong at Honda?
HRC test rider Stefan Bradl on his way to 18th at Assen, between Luca Marini and Remy Gardner
Honda is having its toughest time in MotoGP since it returned full-time to Grand Prix racing in 1982 with the NS500 two-stroke triple. At Sachsenring the factory failed to score a single point in a premier-class GP since the 1981 British GP, where Freddie Spencer DNF’d with the oval-piston NR500. At Assen on Sunday Honda’s best finisher was Takaaki Nakagami in 12th.
Various factors have contributed to this slump. Most importantly the loss of Marc Márquez, who won six of seven MotoGP world titles from 2023 to 2019, the introduction of Michelin’s grippier, softer-casing rear slick at the start of the 2020 season, when Márquez crashed and broke and arm, and the global pandemic, which has made MotoGP particularly difficult for the Japanese factories.
Most factories had to redesign their bikes to get the best out of the new rear slick, which moved the traction balance even further to the back of MotoGP bikes. And Honda had to do this development mostly without its fastest rider.
MotoGP bikes need to be very balanced to get the best out of the Michelins, but obviously this isn’t easy when the rear tyre has so much more grip than the front, which can cause problems especially during the entry and turning phases of cornering.
“The balance between the front and the rear is what we are missing,” said HRC MotoGP test rider Stefan Bradl at Assen. “We have strong points, just in straight-line braking, but the bike is not in balance, so the front turns but the rear doesn’t want to turn. The whole bike doesn’t want to work together.
“Sometimes we have too much rear grip, sometimes not enough, so something is missing between the front and the rear to bring us smooth riding. Always we have to fight to get the bike to do what we want it to do when we are braking and turning. It makes riding very hard, so we are inconsistent and it’s easy to make a mistake because everything isn’t working smoothly together.
“We have to question everything to understand everything about the situation. The problem isn’t only the bike, it’s also that we are losing a lot of time in communication between Europe and Japan.”
Bradl and HRC will test various updates at a private test at Jerez during MotoGP’s five-week mid-season break.
