Photo: motogp.com
The manufacturers which field Factory option bikes in the 2014 season, namely Ducati, Honda and Yamaha have recently learned that Dorna intends to run the series with a single ECU and only one software starting from 2016. While HRC made repeated and very serious threats of pulling out of the championship in case spec software becomes mandatory, it looks like Dorna found a way to calm the Factories: making the common development software mandatory, as well.
After Magneti Marelli proved it cannot provide a truly comprehensive racing software for the MotoGP teams in 2013 and used the code Ducati donated, all hell broke loose, and you can read more on the matter in this autoevolution editorial. However, with Dorna looking forward to have all the teams involved in creating and developing the ECU software for the entire premier class, we might see the technical battles fought in a completely different way.
Factory officials say that so far, they are willing to at least try and cooperate in the software field, though they all agree that the special features and idea discovered by the teams will from now on be either kept secret and unused in MotoGP or shared with the rest of the teams. HRC’s Livio Suppo declared that Honda is no longer talking about leaving the MotoGP, because the engineers do get a chance to further develop the bikes even on the software level.
Yamaha’s Toichi Tsuji also is stressing the need for better safety as far as tires are concerned. Both Movistar Yamaha riders, Lorenzo and Rossi have struggled to stay “rubber side down” in FP1 yesterday, but it was easy to see that they almost grew afraid to push harder, because of very poor corner grip.
What is yet not clear is how does Dorna plan to solve the conflicts which will doubtlessly appear after various bikes will underperform with the common software. And I’m not thinking about the teams which now field Open bikes – they only have to pay attention and learn from the experts, since it is a no-brainer that the new software will be a very complex one.
It’s about what we could already speculate, say, Honda no longer being exceptionally fast on the long straights, Yamaha not being able to retain the corner speed, and the like, and all this time, Ducati only getting better and better. Of course, this translates to a more leveled grid, and this will also increase competitiveness, at the expense of watching the bikes kind of losing personality.
That is, until completely new machines are developed, designed to work with the spec fuel allocations, the spec tire and spec software. A new generation of MotoGP prototypes must be created in order to comply with the new regulations, and regain personality. And we can only hope Dorna does not ruin the game once more until then, with other “interesting” ideas…
Until then, we plan to enjoy the 2014 season as much as possible, as it looks like Aleix Espargaro is up for quite a stir.
Factory officials say that so far, they are willing to at least try and cooperate in the software field, though they all agree that the special features and idea discovered by the teams will from now on be either kept secret and unused in MotoGP or shared with the rest of the teams. HRC’s Livio Suppo declared that Honda is no longer talking about leaving the MotoGP, because the engineers do get a chance to further develop the bikes even on the software level.
Yamaha’s Toichi Tsuji also is stressing the need for better safety as far as tires are concerned. Both Movistar Yamaha riders, Lorenzo and Rossi have struggled to stay “rubber side down” in FP1 yesterday, but it was easy to see that they almost grew afraid to push harder, because of very poor corner grip.
What is yet not clear is how does Dorna plan to solve the conflicts which will doubtlessly appear after various bikes will underperform with the common software. And I’m not thinking about the teams which now field Open bikes – they only have to pay attention and learn from the experts, since it is a no-brainer that the new software will be a very complex one.
It’s about what we could already speculate, say, Honda no longer being exceptionally fast on the long straights, Yamaha not being able to retain the corner speed, and the like, and all this time, Ducati only getting better and better. Of course, this translates to a more leveled grid, and this will also increase competitiveness, at the expense of watching the bikes kind of losing personality.
That is, until completely new machines are developed, designed to work with the spec fuel allocations, the spec tire and spec software. A new generation of MotoGP prototypes must be created in order to comply with the new regulations, and regain personality. And we can only hope Dorna does not ruin the game once more until then, with other “interesting” ideas…
Until then, we plan to enjoy the 2014 season as much as possible, as it looks like Aleix Espargaro is up for quite a stir.
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