Yamaha fell behind in the race to understand the specification software because it did not shorten the learning curve by hiring Magneti Marelli coffins like most of its competitors. Yamaha preferred a DIY philosophy. It wanted its own engineers to find their way through the Magneti Marelli maze because after all, racing isn’t just about going in circles, it’s also an engineering university.
However, by the end of 2019, Yamaha’s management had enough of their dismal results to hire staff from Magneti Marelli and Ducati who have worked hand-in-hand with Magneti for decades.
“Now we think we should have done that two years ago,” Yamaha’s MotoGP project manager Takahiro Sumi told me in November 2019. “Other teams have done this and done well. If we had done that two years ago, we might be at a better level now. “
Maybe Yamaha is now implementing what it learned from its new hires in 2020 because the M1 electronics definitely work better this year.
All of the factories work with the exact same software that includes cards for torque transfer, traction control, anti-wheelie, engine brake control, etc.
Most important for Yamaha are the torque output and traction control maps.
In recent years, the M1 has been unable to help but overheat its rear tire, especially on tracks with multiple left-handed or right-handed users in a row that didn’t give the tire enough time to cool down. Therefore, the excessive heat caused deterioration that reduced grip and made the M1 weaker and weaker as the race progressed.
Neither Viñales nor Quartararo have complained about such things this year – at least so far. So what has Yamaha done with its Torque and TC cards for 2021?
Most factories use similar torque and TC mapping philosophies in races. You start the race with maximum torque as the rear tire is brand new so it can handle full power and the riders need all the power they can get as they fight for position in the first few laps. At the same time, they use the maximum TC card to care for the tire.
Vinales was in glorious shape at the Qatar GP but has not been to Portimao anywhere after his QP incident
Yamaha
As the race goes on, the rear tire wears out, so drivers switch to a softer torque map to protect the rear tire, and many also switch to a lower traction control map. Less TC doesn’t seem intuitive because you surely need more traction control when grip decreases?
In an ideal word, yes. The whole point of spec software, however, was to get MotoGP bikes and riders out of this ideal world where super high tech software did all the work – calculating the amount of grip available at every turn and calculating the torque and TC Adjust maps accordingly.
All of this technology is very clever, but it’s not much fun for the drivers or the fans. For 2016, Dorna forced factories to accept software with lower specs because they wanted to make MotoGP less of a science experiment than an entertainment spectacle.
When I see and hear Quartararo and Viñales in the first three races of 2021, it seems to me that Yamaha has changed the way it uses the Torque and TC maps. In the past I always thought that Yamaha riders would do what any normal person would expect them to do – start the race with less TC and then switch to the weaker torque and stronger TC cards when grip is reduced.
Of course, the problem with increasing TK while decreasing torque is that you don’t get any acceleration because even though you put less torque into the tire, there is still enough to spin the tire. And then the TC kicks in to reduce spin so you get less and less torque on the tires.
In the first race in Qatar you could see that Viñales didn’t have to rely on more TC to take care of himself and his rear tire. Instead, he used less TC and relied on his right hand to get out of corners as quickly as possible without burning his tire. It was the same with Quartararo at the second race in Qatar and last weekend in Portugal.
Because in the age of specification software, the real secret for fast lap times lies in the driver’s hand on the accelerator, not in the small black box of electronics. That’s one of the reasons Marc Marquez was so dominant until he was injured because he relied on getting the most out of the bike and the tires.
The next questions are as follows: do Quartararo and Yamaha have what it takes to keep winning on other tracks, can they handle a resurgent Márquez, and will Viñales keep their heads together week after week?