HRC was still battling the same problem at Sepang. This work wasn’t made any easier by Márquez’s weak shoulder, which prevented the world champion from riding at 100 per cent. Much of the chassis R&D work was given to fellow HRC rider Cal Crutchlow, who found no great breakthroughs during the weekend, But the teak-tough Brit gritted his teeth on Sunday and rode the second best lap of the three days, just 0.082 seconds behind Quartararo.
Márquez and Crutchlow aren’t 100 per cent keen on the 2020 Michelin rear. Both men suggest the tyre’s extra grip exacerbates their front-end turning problems, by changing the bike’s balance entering corners. On the other hand, Crutchlow says the tyre gives him better drive grip exiting corners.
The good news is that HRC has squeezed yet more power and torque from the engine. Ultimately everything will come down to Marquez’s strength from the first race.
KTM: ‘It’s getting real now’
New frame and revised engine have boosted the RC16
Mat Oxley
If Aleix Espargaró was the happiest rider in the Sepang paddock then his young brother Pol was next. Perhaps this is only to be expected, because the brothers ride for the only two MotoGP factories that have yet to win races, and when you’re fighting your way up from the bottom it’s easier to make big steps than when you’re trying to stay at the top.
The 2020 RC16 engine has more power and works better with the electronics, both in controlling positive torque in acceleration and negative torque in deceleration, an increasingly important factor in MotoGP.
KTM’s recent shift from its trademark steel trellis frame to a steel beam frame is important, because it proves that long main frame sections offer the best combination of longitudinal rigidity for braking stability and lateral flex for good grip and turning at high lean angles.
The latest frame tried by Espargaró at Sepang gave more stability through fast corners, so he didn’t have to reduce corner speed so much. This used to be a big drawback, because it lost him speed the middle of the corner so he had to open the throttle too hard on the exit, which made the bike unstable and burned the tyre.
KTM’s vortex-shredding upper fairing
Mat Oxley
KTM also did a lot of work on aerodynamics during the winter, with several different fairings at Sepang. Details include a jagged-edge upper fairing that breaks up vortexes created by the trailing edges to reduce turbulence for less drag and lift. This technology was apparently inspired by the fins of humpback whales that improve manoeuvrability.
Espargaró was much more optimistic when he left Sepang than when he arrived. “The bike’s getting better and better – it’s getting real now,” he said.
Suzuki: Fast and a bit smelly
Brand-new frame for the GSX-RR
Mat Oxley
From the outset, Suzuki’s inline-four GSX-RR was a much better motorcycle than its V4 GSV-R predecessor. Since 2015 the GSX-RR has improved, inch by inch, because its conservative engineers don’t want to upset the bike’s excellent balance by making big changes.
However at Sepang, the GSX-RR looked more different that it has done for years. The blue and silver livery – celebrating the brand’s 60 years in GPs – was certainly different but most important was a completely new frame, Suzuki’s first since 2017.
The factory has used carbon-fibre-reinforced frames with great success since then, but the latest unit is all aluminium, with deep main beams that form huge web-shaped sections with the front engine hangers. This is not dissimilar to the design used by Yamaha in recent seasons.
The guess is that the web section is fabricated from ultra-thin aluminium, so the frame flexes nicely at high lean, while also providing massive longitudinal strength for braking. Good braking stability is vital for inline-fours, because they need to make up for the speed they lose to the V4s on the straight. The new GX-RR frame also turns better, which allows riders to move into the all-important acceleration phase sooner, again reducing the bike’s speed handicap.
Suzuki only had one of these frames at Sepang between Rins, third fastest, 0.019 seconds down, and Joan Mir, 11th, 0.382 seconds down, so it’s obviously a brand-new concept. The factory will be busy getting at least four frames ready for the season-opening Qatar GP on March 8.
Suzuki’s 2020 focus on the chassis follows its 2019 development focus on the engine, because the factory’s successful 2019 season lost its engine concessions, so engineers knew the 2020 engine had to be 100 per cent correct from the first race.
One final Suzuki point. Observers at Sepang noticed a strange smell emanating from the GSX-RRs. The smell is most likely the bike’s 2020 fuel, but could it be a special ceramic-based engine coating to improve thermal dissipation?
Yamaha: Viñales’ impressive race simulation
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/articles/motorcycles/motogp/yamaha-tops-first-motogp-preseason-tests-but-does-it-matter
2020-02-10 10:50:44Z
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