MotoGP designers will face a problem next year: the tendency of their prototypes to do wheelies.
Meanwhile with an output of 280 hp and that approaches the theoretical limit of 300, only tamed by electronics, the engineers have to reckon with the laws of physics and aerodynamics, because the 350 km / h and beyond that, this can be achieved with the current 1000 cc monsters a takeoff speed.
Downforce, where are you? Where do we find you? That is the mantra of this winter. What will actually happen next season, for example on the downhill straight in Mugello? Already at the end of the year tests in Valencia, the drivers complained that the front wheel is now “touch and go”, which makes braking passages particularly tricky.
Maybe Kurt Trieb, the designer of the KTM V4 engine, was right when he said at the latest debut in Austria: “In Mugello 350 kilometers per hour are exceeded. Perhaps the pursuit will be limited in a few years. I am not satisfied with the current performance and speed. If they had asked me what type of engine to use on the MotoGP motorcycle, I would have said a 600cc prototype naturally aspirated engine with very limited electronics. It would be interesting. Don’t get me wrong: I was happy to develop the RC16 engine, but in my opinion the current MotoGP motorcycles have too much horsepower. “