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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Doing CRT Wheels
The 2012 version of the CRT had little hope of competing but the private teams may have a brighter future ahead.
Power Electronics Aspar's Randy de Puniet (Photo: Team Aspar)
No one expected the CRT teams to have much of a shot at winning races in 2012. And they didn’t.
The rules allowing for bespoke chassis and stock engines allowed some more teams to go racing this past year, but the CRT squads were outclassed when it came to outright speed. The Power Electronics Aspar team with their close ties to Aprilia dominated the CRT ranks but still found themselves looking for a second and a half (or more) when it came to the full prototypes.
One rider, American Colin Edwards, was quick to talk about his misery in 2012. Developing a chassis as well as an engine program that could compete with the leased prototypes proved to be out of the realm of possibility for the CRT boys.
The rules have been loosened up for 2014 and some CRT riders will get full-on MotoGP mills.
Organizer Dorna wanted to see the manufacturers support “the field” and it looks like the agreement to provide the private teams with better equipment was part of the compromise.
Yamaha could lease as many as four engines to teams for ‘14. An M1 powerplant in a good chassis could be just what a capable rider needs to make his mark. Colin Edwards has stated that is what he wants, even though he is racing a Kawasaki-engined FTR machine for Forward Racing in 2013.
Honda has a tradition of offering customer machines over the years and HRC vice president Shuhei Nakamoto has talked of offering those for sale in 2014 -- possibly as many as 20 bikes.
MotoGP needs a production race bike as was commonplace in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The trend towards leased machines may have allowed the factories to control their technology but lease prices have skyrocketed to untenable levels. It is said that Honda receive between $4 and $5 million per year from teams that lease their machines. Even if a production Honda will cost a million Euros, that’s easier to round up and it offers the possibility of something to use more than one year or sell.
The factories are keen to say they love a technical challenge. Well, building a production race bike or supplying an engine package for a set price is one, for sure. And it is a good place to groom fresh engineers.
Obviously these packages won’t be the “kitchen sink” when it comes to technology but they will have to be reasonably fast, easy to work on and ride, and work well with the control tire.
Otherwise, no one will buy them.
The rules allowing for bespoke chassis and stock engines allowed some more teams to go racing this past year, but the CRT squads were outclassed when it came to outright speed. The Power Electronics Aspar team with their close ties to Aprilia dominated the CRT ranks but still found themselves looking for a second and a half (or more) when it came to the full prototypes.
One rider, American Colin Edwards, was quick to talk about his misery in 2012. Developing a chassis as well as an engine program that could compete with the leased prototypes proved to be out of the realm of possibility for the CRT boys.
The rules have been loosened up for 2014 and some CRT riders will get full-on MotoGP mills.
Organizer Dorna wanted to see the manufacturers support “the field” and it looks like the agreement to provide the private teams with better equipment was part of the compromise.
Yamaha could lease as many as four engines to teams for ‘14. An M1 powerplant in a good chassis could be just what a capable rider needs to make his mark. Colin Edwards has stated that is what he wants, even though he is racing a Kawasaki-engined FTR machine for Forward Racing in 2013.
Honda has a tradition of offering customer machines over the years and HRC vice president Shuhei Nakamoto has talked of offering those for sale in 2014 -- possibly as many as 20 bikes.
MotoGP needs a production race bike as was commonplace in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The trend towards leased machines may have allowed the factories to control their technology but lease prices have skyrocketed to untenable levels. It is said that Honda receive between $4 and $5 million per year from teams that lease their machines. Even if a production Honda will cost a million Euros, that’s easier to round up and it offers the possibility of something to use more than one year or sell.
The factories are keen to say they love a technical challenge. Well, building a production race bike or supplying an engine package for a set price is one, for sure. And it is a good place to groom fresh engineers.
Obviously these packages won’t be the “kitchen sink” when it comes to technology but they will have to be reasonably fast, easy to work on and ride, and work well with the control tire.
Otherwise, no one will buy them.
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