We don’t want to take credit where it’s not due but last October 13th when we wrote “The Factory of Champions: Let’s slow down the assembly line” in our GPOne blog We thought we gave food for thought to motorcycle racing legislators who actually today issued a new regulation regarding age and number of participants (we wrote about that here) for the start of the different feeder categories.
Incidentally, two topics that were promptly included in the new standards.
It didn’t take much to think about this aspect and it’s obvious that what we wrote wasn’t, as the Americans say, “rocket science” but just common sense.
Common sense, which is increasingly lacking in motorcycling, right at the top or not. And that’s because what was once a sport, largely dangerous and poor, has left room, too much room for business.
Even the rules, and let’s talk about the ones that exist, are often disregarded, misinterpreted and misapplied.
Let’s take for example the mandatory nature of some safety devices, such as B. the airbag for racing leather: If you must have this device at the start, it’s not clear why the driver would be allowed to restart in the event of an accident with the now ‘disabled’ system. Apart from the obvious risk of damaging a part of the bike, with an obvious risk for the other participants, When a vital system has done its job, the driver must be stopped. Otherwise the rule is disregarded. It’s basically a bit like the rider replacing an approved helmet with a Chinese-made one after passing the checks with their own.
what am i hearing Are there systems that allow two activations? Well, then we will make such systems binding for everyone. But that’s just an example. Security and the various systems that make it up, active or passive, must always be controlled and interpreted. Above all control. Like the off-corner green zone that replaced “jagged” curbs and grass.
As Emanuele Pirro, former F1 driver, five-time Le Mans winner, now FIA judge rightly says, in the name of safety, drivers today can drive an extremely unclean and precise driving style because in the event of a mistake they not only have plenty of run-off range (this is absolutely necessary), but also the possibility of avoiding damage to the car or losing excessive amounts of time in car races. Except that obviously a “linesman” was needed to punish those who moved the wheels beyond the allowed space. And then it doesn’t matter if in car racing it’s practically the whole car, while in motorcycling a millimeter of tires is enough!
In short, rules are created and evolved, and now motorcycling has new age limits that do not protect it from future accidents. but limit the radius of action. So now we’re wondering, with a little outside the box, why riders from categories – from Moto3 to MotoGP – are allowed to jump as in the case of Darryn Binder, who moved up to MotoGP next year.
You could say: he can ride, he can do it. Well, it may be true that he started the season with a third and second place finish at the Qatar GPs, but is it no small feat to say that he can skip an entire practice session? In Formula 1, for example, you need a super license, and even a talent like Colton Herta wasn’t allowed to drive in Austin because he didn’t At least 300 km required to drive a single seater in the top class. Hey, FIM… what to say or is that not a good rule?
ok, it’s true Jack Miller setting a precedent, and for those of us who are a bit older, I remember Pierfrancesco Chili, who switched from the 125 to the 500 class in Roberto Gallina’s Suzuki team in 1986, but the exception is not the rule.
It is also the task of the legislator to predict the development of certain innovations, Otherwise we end up with the situation that we have in Italy with electric scooters: they are allowed to circulate on roads open to traffic and only now we think that maybe it’s better if those who ride them have a helmet obligation and insurance. At least in sport we should be able to do it better than in politics.