Michael Scott | February 14, 2024
Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
Wind and Fury, and Another Ducati Domination
What’s in the wind for the 76th season of MotoGP? Well—you name it. Wings and winglets, scoops and scooplets, seat superstructures and bulging shapes suggest the fairings are suffering from the middle-aged spread and creeping obesity.
There were a few surprises when the latest bikes broke cover for the opening tests at Malaysia, not least that Pedro Acosta was amazingly fast, second only to Jorge Martin on the first day. Also, the new power-up weight-down Honda was the biggest improver, with Joan Mir a second quicker than his qualifying time for the 2021 Sepang GP. But he was still some seven-tenths off the pace.
Less surprising is that Ducatis dominated the show ominously in a fast three days. All 23 runners were inside the race lap record, and the top 10 inside Bagnaia’s best-so-far pole last year: 1’57.491. The real elite was in the 1’56 bracket—four of them: Bagnaia, Martin, Bastianini, and Alex Marquez.
All on Ducatis, the first three on the latest model. Of the top 10 times, seven went to Desmosedici riders. Best of the rest: Binder’s KTM in seventh, with astonishing rookie Acosta ninth, and Mir top Honda in 10th.
With another two days of testing at Qatar before engine and aero designs are frozen (although not for Honda and Yamaha, under the new concessions), one can only draw basic conclusions from preseason testing.
Likewise, some of the more extravagant bodywork protuberances might also disappear before it all kicks off in anger.
How extravagant? Very.
For example, some of the KTMs had sprouted letter-box biplanes on either side of the front mudguard, leading to frenzied speculation about whether more but smaller wings offer less drag than one big one. And whether unsprung wings like these are more effective than those pioneered by Ducati last year on the upper, sprung part of the fork leg.
The answers are speculative but important. Downforce with the bike’s upright cuts wheelies for better acceleration but adds drag. You need horsepower to carry it. We know the Ducati has plenty, and it appears the KTM as well. But it must be significant that Yamaha is way behind the fashion when it comes to wild bodywork. Quartararo’s top speed was good, but without the wings.
Downforce at lean is developing fast: sidepieces on front hubs and the swingarm supplement fairing-flank shapes.
Not everybody likes the aero. Marc speaks for many in his opposition, not least because they have made overtaking harder and the racing duller. “We are moving towards F1…the show was better before,” he told an interviewer at Sepang. The wings shaved tenths of lap times, but “it’s not noticeable to the spectators.”
Here are some of the new bits. One Ducati fairing combines a down-wash duct with a bulging fairing flank. Previously, it was either or. The ducts are said to provide side downforce at various lean angles. The bulging flanks offer more downforce, but only at high lean.
Not everybody likes the aero. Marc speaks for many in his opposition, not least because they have made overtaking harder and the racing duller.
Several had adventurous seat designs. The Honda had an elaborate combination of stegosaurus half-upright wings with a horizontal half-wing behind; KTM, a multi-duct box contraption; Aprilia, a bulging molded shape resembling, viewed from behind, Batman. The Yamaha’s simple-shaped tail looked distinctly old-fashioned in this company.
They are still just motorbikes underneath it all, and there was a modicum of encouragement for the laggardly Japanese companies, especially given their freedom to develop engines and for unlimited testing.
Yamaha is clear that the updated engine, the last inline-four on the grid, is an improvement in power, although Quartararo expressed concern about how far the team lags in electronics. “Years and years,” he told the press at Sepang. He ended up 11th, 0.85 down; new teammate Alex Rins 16th and 1.2 seconds off the pace. No revived title challenges this year, methinks.
Honda’s new engine was hailed by the existing riders as a notable improvement, especially in smoother and more predictable throttle response, as well as more power. Repsol new boy Marini has nothing to compare it with except for his Ducati of last year and he said, “The difference is quite huge.” But unlike last year, all four riders immediately settled on one of the several (lighter) chassis options. Significantly, among other new staff, HRC has added Kalex founder Alex Baumgartel to the team.
Aprilia was less than ready; even so, Aleix Espargaro was quick and placed fifth.
KTM was up among the Ducatis, a much stronger early-test showing compared with last year. The same rate of improvement will serve them well.
But the Ducatis were rampant. Last year’s bike is still good enough to win; this year’s an improvement out of the box, which wasn’t the case last year.
Their only weakness—too many fast riders fighting each other, poaching one another’s points. And one of them is Marc the Merciless.CN
Click here for all the latest MotoGP news.