MotoGP: too much performance or too much technology?
MotoGP, on the other hand, continued to improve. Certain Dorna introduced the single tire, the single control unit, the limit on the bore maximum, he also tried to reduce the displacement; but after 21 years, lap times have dropped by an average of 6 seconds per lap, an enormity (average between Jerez, Le Mans, Barcelona, Sachsenring, Mugello, Brno, Motegi, Sepang, Phillip Island, Valencia).
This means that the engineers have managed to generate more and more power (driving and braking) and make better use of it, putting the driver in a position to constantly approach the ideal lap. In this journey, two things have happened: motorbikes are increasingly tiring to ride, transforming riders who could still smoke and have a belly a few years ago into true super athletes from monastic life. The other thing is, the closer you get to the ideal ride, and the less there is room for the pilot to improvise. The pilot can only make mistakes, while it is more difficult for him to “do his best” – as still happens, for example, in motocross.
At this point we already hear the complaints, but unless you want to do like the Americans who deliberately run with “low technology” vehicles like NASCAR in cars or the King of the Bagger in motorcycles, we must accept progress. MotoGP is not the 500, the 500 will never come back and what can be done is only to govern the development of technology to prevent the pilot from taking too much into the background.
In this short series of videos we will see then what has happened to MotoGP in recent years and how the new 2027 regulation seeks to respond to these technological and sporting challenges. We will do this with four focuses dedicated to engine, electronics, aerodynamics, tires and chassis. We’ll see you in a week with the first episode!
