Test rider for Yamaha after ending his full time career as a rider, Cal Crutchlow spoke about his current role in the japanese manufacturer, saying that his job is to make sure he expands the bike limits beyond, allowing then the remaining team riders to go faster . He also confessed to be feeling some sort of accomplishment after Fabio Quartararo became world champion.
The british spoke a little of about his work and a test rider, as told to Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast: ‘A bit of everything, essencially. What you always find in racing, in motorcycling racing in the worlds in that the guys who are fast are winning. They are very good at being fast and winning but they really, I don’t want to say they don’t understand the bike, they have to understand the bike but they don’t care. As long as it is fast they don’t care. As long as they can do the job on it… So my job is to evaluate the parts, whether that is a chassis, an engine, tyres, and give the information saying it is ok but maybe it could be better, maybe worst , don’t give them that, then give that and see what they think. It just goes like that, it’s a nice job now’.
Crutchlow then recalled the variety of riders that are on the grid, with a note on the title of the first year, to which he contributed: ‘One of the Yamaha riders won the MotoGP world championship this year, Fabio Quartararo and that was a massive thing for him, for Yamaha, but also for me, who benefit from that with a sense of satisfaction that he has won on a bike that I tried to help to develop. I can relate to cycling as well, but what is amazing for motorcycles is that there is 24 guys on the grid. 24 different bikes on the grid. Yes, some on the same team, same manufacturer, with different weight, they eat differently, live a different life, but they go around the track within a tenth of a second of each other, or thousands of seconds sometimes. It just shows that a lot of times it’s the person, the rider who makes the difference’.
The #35 then explained, briefly, what his job is really about:
– You can have one that was multiple world champion with 60kg but the next week he gets beated by a guy that never won a race and is 90kg. It’s so strange how you can get around the track when you exceed the limits of adhesion and that’s when you crash. You can only go as far as the bike, the tires, the rider or the package allows you. My job is to make sure the limits are a little further than the other bikes.