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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Noyes’ Notebook - Big Changes Beyond 2012
Dennis Noyes explains the big changes that are on the horizon for the MotoGP World Championship.
Yamaha Factory Racing's Ben Spies (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
The most important news from the IRTA tests in Jerez came from the discussions between Dorna and the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association (MSMA) behind closed doors.
Two facts stand out above all others: Dorna is not backing down regarding the RPM limit but Dorna is backing down from imposing a standard ECU. Furthermore, the RPM limit will not be, as erroneously reported in many other media outlets, at 16,000 RPM, but at a much lower and more logical 14,500 to 15,000 RPM.
Normally at this juncture it would be in order to begin with a breakdown and analysis of the final preseason tests, but not this time. The real story from Jerez is that, in spite of some misleading speculation, the MSMA (if it even still has any power at all) is no longer making the rules and no longer speaks with a single voice.
The MSMA now consists of only three members (Honda, Yamaha and Ducati). The fall from grace of the MSMA stems from the organization’s lack of either the power or the will to enforce the contract that it signed with Dorna in 2006, which guaranteed participation by all five members. Kawasaki in 2010 and Suzuki in 2011 reneged on their commitments to enter a minimum of two factory riders at all rounds.
Furthermore, the remaining MSMA members are in general agreement with Dorna that the current series model is not sustainable. Not only costs but also performance needs to be reined in. There will be disagreement among the big three over some details, and unified distrust of Aprilia’s status as a CRT (independent) team (which grants an allowance of 12 engines rather than six and 24 liters of fuel rather than 21), but there are no grounds to reclassify Aprilia as a factory entry because the ART machines supplied by Aprilia to various teams are not leased but sold outright, unlike the satellite bikes rented out by Honda, Yamaha, and Ducati. Ultimately, the difference between factory and CRT machines is exclusively in the fact that CRT bikes are sold outright to teams.
If any of the MSMA factory teams wish to buy engines at 20,000 Euros from any of the CRT teams, they may do so at their small cost and large embarrassment, but nothing in the CRT regulations imposes any technical limitations of the CRT engines beyond those that govern factory engines. It is all about cost and I am sure that no MSMA team is going to buy an engine that contains no secrets and no components or materials that the factory teams don't already possess.
This is a situation similar to the one that occurred in World Superbike in 2003 when FGSport (now InFront Motor Sports), the promoters of World Superbike, rejected the MSMA regulations and rewrote their rulebook for 2004. The difference is that in 2003 a new SBK rules package had already been approved. FGSport, learning in mid-summer of 2003 that the MSMA was not guaranteeing factory participation by all members, simply broke the agreement.
Dorna has proceeded differently, honoring the MSMA-Dorna contract right up until it ran out at the end of 2011. Now, however, Dorna has not renewed the contract and will not until all the objectives are met.
It is a whole new ballgame and the three factories, although not in complete agreement among themselves, now accept that the current MotoGP regulations unchecked are unsustainable.
Two facts stand out above all others: Dorna is not backing down regarding the RPM limit but Dorna is backing down from imposing a standard ECU. Furthermore, the RPM limit will not be, as erroneously reported in many other media outlets, at 16,000 RPM, but at a much lower and more logical 14,500 to 15,000 RPM.
Normally at this juncture it would be in order to begin with a breakdown and analysis of the final preseason tests, but not this time. The real story from Jerez is that, in spite of some misleading speculation, the MSMA (if it even still has any power at all) is no longer making the rules and no longer speaks with a single voice.
The MSMA now consists of only three members (Honda, Yamaha and Ducati). The fall from grace of the MSMA stems from the organization’s lack of either the power or the will to enforce the contract that it signed with Dorna in 2006, which guaranteed participation by all five members. Kawasaki in 2010 and Suzuki in 2011 reneged on their commitments to enter a minimum of two factory riders at all rounds.
Furthermore, the remaining MSMA members are in general agreement with Dorna that the current series model is not sustainable. Not only costs but also performance needs to be reined in. There will be disagreement among the big three over some details, and unified distrust of Aprilia’s status as a CRT (independent) team (which grants an allowance of 12 engines rather than six and 24 liters of fuel rather than 21), but there are no grounds to reclassify Aprilia as a factory entry because the ART machines supplied by Aprilia to various teams are not leased but sold outright, unlike the satellite bikes rented out by Honda, Yamaha, and Ducati. Ultimately, the difference between factory and CRT machines is exclusively in the fact that CRT bikes are sold outright to teams.
If any of the MSMA factory teams wish to buy engines at 20,000 Euros from any of the CRT teams, they may do so at their small cost and large embarrassment, but nothing in the CRT regulations imposes any technical limitations of the CRT engines beyond those that govern factory engines. It is all about cost and I am sure that no MSMA team is going to buy an engine that contains no secrets and no components or materials that the factory teams don't already possess.
This is a situation similar to the one that occurred in World Superbike in 2003 when FGSport (now InFront Motor Sports), the promoters of World Superbike, rejected the MSMA regulations and rewrote their rulebook for 2004. The difference is that in 2003 a new SBK rules package had already been approved. FGSport, learning in mid-summer of 2003 that the MSMA was not guaranteeing factory participation by all members, simply broke the agreement.
Dorna has proceeded differently, honoring the MSMA-Dorna contract right up until it ran out at the end of 2011. Now, however, Dorna has not renewed the contract and will not until all the objectives are met.
It is a whole new ballgame and the three factories, although not in complete agreement among themselves, now accept that the current MotoGP regulations unchecked are unsustainable.
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