From 2027, MotoGP will adopt a decisive change in regulations, the most important feature of which concerns the reduction in displacement from 999 cm3 at 850cm3. In the history of the four-stroke premier class, this is not the first time that the cubic capacity has been revised. So let’s see how and when there were changes in this sense.
An epochal change
The MotoGP class was introduced in 2002 with the aim of bring the world of prototypes closer to series production. Not so much for the bikes themselves, which are far from what is put on the market right from the start, but to make the transfer of certain technologies and image from racing to the road more attractive to manufacturers.
Here is the latest evolution of the Yamaha YZR 500 2-stroke
Those at the end of the millennium are also years of great popularity for the superbike, which in some situations even steals the show from the world championship. The 500s at the turn of the millennium are in fact absolutely advanced motorbikes from a performance point of view, but with very little margin for development: the regulation imposes a weight of 130 kilos for the four cylinders, the engines can produce around 180-190 horsepower. But the power delivery is brutal, included in a narrow – very high – range of rpm. Furthermore, the two-strokes have almost disappeared from production, where they now occupy the 125/250cc displacement segments, which in fact will be kept in force until 2012 for the eighth-litre and until 2009 for the quarter-litre.
The debut of MotoGP
In the first year of the world championship in which MotoGP bikes are admitted, the regulation provides the co-presence of four strokes with a displacement of up to 990cc and two strokes with a displacement of up to 500cm3. Not all manufacturers are ready or convinced of the new formula: Ducati and Kawasaki postpone their debut until 2003, while Honda, Yamaha, Aprilia and Suzuki try their hand at designing four-stroke engines. The choices are quite different: 3 cylinders in line for Noale, 4 cylinder in line for Yamaha, V4 for Suzuki And V5 for Honda. From the beginning, the engine designed by the Casa Alata technicians proved to be by far the best performing engine.
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The V5 Honda engine immediately demonstrated its superiority
In 2002 the two-strokes also continued to race: not only the Proton in an official capacity, but also several private Honda NSRs and Yamaha YZR500s. However, already from the winter tests it is clear that the four-strokes will go too fast and Loris Capirossi’s third place in South Africa – in the second race of the championship – on the Pons team’s NSR is illusory.
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The Ducati Desmosedici, since its debut in 2004, has had a V4 engine
In 2003 Ducati and Kawasaki were added: the first with the legendary L-shaped desmodromic engine which still has the same original basic structure today, the Japanese with a 4-cylinder in line. The MotoGP class in the 990 version it only lasts five seasons. The increase in performance is considered excessive for the safety standards guaranteed by the circuits and it is decided to reduce the displacement from 990 to 800 cm3 starting with the 2007 season.
The 800 engines
With the decrease in displacement the weight limits are also rethought for permitted motorbikes. In particular, the 5 cylinders are penalized, for which there is an increase of 7.5 kilograms. Given the reduction in volume and the increase in weight, Honda chooses the V4 schemewhich on the RC212V allows it to simply “eliminate” a cylinder compared to the RC211V. Yamaha remains with the 4 in lineDucati with the L-shaped layout. And it is precisely the Desmosedici that benefits most from the regulation change: already in mid-2006, in the Brno tests, Capirossi manages to lap just one and a half seconds behind the times achieved with the 990a gap that was further reduced before the world debut in 2007.
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Honda removed a cylinder, and here is the RC212V, another winning bike
The new MotoGP bikes are easier to handle and in the case of Ducati there is no shortage of horsepower: the GP7 delivers over 200compared to the 220 of its progenitor, but above all it is easier to dump them on the ground.
The return to 1000
The 800 displacement doesn’t last long either: thanks to the global economic crisis, manufacturers and sponsors are willing to invest less in MotoGP and such a compact engine it requires a lot of work to bring it to good performance levels. It is therefore decided to increase the displacement and impose a maximum bore of 81mm, which effectively reduces the margins of experimentation for alternative choices to 4-cylinder engines.
The series engines to fill out the grille
The CRT class is also introducedwhich effectively allows you to race motorcycles, always with a 1000cc displacement, but which are equipped with “road-derived” engines, such as the Aprilia engine, for example, rather than Kawasaki and BMW.
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The CRTs with engines derived from road motorcycles were a solution dictated by the economic crisis
CRTs have more petrol available (24 liters versus 21) and they can have 12 engines per seasonAnd. In this way it is possible to replenish the grid, which otherwise risks not reaching 20 bikes. The CRTs turned out to be little more than a ploy to keep the world championship alive and within two years they were abolished. Already in 2014 the Open subclass was introduced – to which Ducatiche adheres – which in addition to the previous advantages allows the software to be developed freely. The Open also has a short duration – also due to the protests of the Japanese who oppose the choice of Borgo Panigale – and in 2016 the regulation will be standardized according to the current typology.
